DC Brau will have a busy day on November 24, Small Business Saturday, when they both host a Holiday Market and release two experimental beers for the first time. Not content to just focus on their Christmas shopping, the brewery team will release five new beers between November and December. Alpha Domina Mellis, their double IPA, dropped earlier this month, and next Saturday the brewery debuts Wake Up in the Future, a barrel-aged Imperial Russian Stout, and Sugar Leaf, a hazy IPA. All of this is in addition to their annual holiday market celebrating small businesses in and around the DC area.

“One of the most anticipated benefits of our new brewhouse was having the freedom to create and craft spontaneous one-off brews that showcased our creativity,” says Brandon Skall, CEO & co-founder of DC Brau. “We’re excited to see this dream realized, and can’t wait for everyone to taste these beers!”

According to a press release, Wake Up in the Future is a hefty Imperial Stout aged for nine months in Wheated Bourbon Barrels at the brewery. This bruiser weighs in at a whopping 15.5% ABV thanks to massive amounts of chocolate malts and "character" from the barrel. The beer features a "concentrated nose of raisin, orange marmalade, and black strap molasses" that "gives way to a palate of roasted cacao, malted milk balls, and decadent Dutch chocolate interspersed through layers of toffee and vanilla. Thick and silky with a smooth, yet warming impression, this is a gem enjoyed now…or in the future." This one is available exclusively at the brewery in single 16oz cans and on draft.

Sugar Leaf is Brewmaster Jeff Hancock’s take on a Hazy IPA for all the Haze-Heads out there. A press release notes "the beer has an attractive light golden color brimming with ample aromas of tropical honeydew, grapefruit, strawberry, pine and lemon." The hop bill includes Herkules extract, Mosaic, Wai-iti, Huell Melon, Falconer's Flight, and Azacca hops with Pale 2-row malts and 1056 American Ale yeast, Sugar Leaf delivers a solid bitterness akin to levels of The Public Pale Ale with only 5.6% ABV. Sugar Leaf will also only be available in 16oz cans (4-packs) and on draft in Boston, DC and Philadelphia markets.

For the fifth consecutive year, DC Brau wlll transform the brewery into a crafters’ marketplace. The holiday market includes live music by Reed Appleseed & DJ Budman and games and activities for all ages. Food Trucks will include Dangerously Delicious Pies, Rock Creek Food Co, People’s Bao, Sloppy Mama’s BBQ, and Captain Cookie. General admission is free and doors open at 2pm, but if you feel like you need a little more time you can spend $10 for VIP tickets that include early admission at 1PM for an extra hour of shopping and a free branded DC Brau tote. Buy your tickets here.

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The Holiday Market is kid friendly. During VIP hours, children 10 and younger are free. However, due to large crowds and the location of the market, dogs/pets will NOT be admitted inside. Please leave your four-legged friends at home unless they are a service animal. They also request that you plan to leave the stroller in the car (they'll have limited “parking” space to store strollers near the entrance).

PARTICIPATING VENDORS INCLUDE:

Earlier this month, the brewery released the sixth iteration of its seasonal Alpha Domina Mellis (ADM). This year’s version — available for the first time in cans — is a double dry-hopped Hazy IPA that incorporates gallons of wildflower honey from Burnside Farms in Haymarket, Virginia, along with Proximity base malt, flaked barley, flaked oats and acidulated malt (for natural pH adjustment), and a combination of six different hops and extract. Clocking in with a 9.7% ABV, ADM 6 is a deep golden ale with a heavy pungent and punchy aroma with notes of grapefruit, mango, guava and pineapple along with a light bitterness on the palate without the “hop burn” on the throat. ADM is available in 16oz cans (4-packs) as well as on draft in all markets (DC, VA, MD, Philly, Boston & NY).

The brewery also has plans to re-release its popular Turbo Boost Multiball experimental IPA in various markets along with a Keller Pils, which will only be available at the brewery, in early December 2018.