Think “1920s meets 2020s” says Anne Choe, General Manager and Owner of Lost Generation Brewing Co., with regards to their space just off the Metropolitan Branch Trail in the Eckington neighborhood of Northeast DC. With the help of staff from art studios next to and behind the brewery, at 327 S Street NE, the Lost Generation team was able to reclaim and refinish much of the wood from the hundred-year old building, which was once home to a Nabisco warehouse and factory and then a bakery. In fact, you can still see some scorch marks on the ceilings from baking gone awry, and the wooden supports are original as well. It’s not the first beer business this neighborhood has seen; before Prohibition Schlitz bottled lager across the street on Randolph. Schlitz, however, didn’t have a taproom, let alone one with the charm of Lost Generation. The use of wood, original brick, and high ceilings contribute a timeless quality to the site, a space designed by old souls.
If you were fortunate enough to attend Snallygaster, you may have had the first two beers Lost Generation released: An Age of Islands is a 6.6% alcohol by volume hazy, with Nelson Sauvin and Riwaka hops, and There Are Always Hops, a 6.7% American IPA with Strata, Simcoe and Mosaic.
When the brewery opens to the public on Saturday, October 29th, they’ll pour another IPA, this one called Feather Kitty, an 8% hazy double IPA. Double dry hopped with over five pounds of Citra and Mosaic per barrel, the beer explodes with candied citrus, mango, and, ahem, sour diesel cannabis, yet the finish is on the dry side for a hazy IPA, not at all cloying.
Also look for a “crisp lager”—Head Brewer and Owner Jared Pulliam mentioned this phrase multiple times when describing the beer—which is 4.7%. It’s called Shift, and has a slight kiss of Hallertau Blanc, with off notes of a medium acidity white wine. “Jared’s gotten into a glass of white as his shiftie,” notes Choe. “Being surrounded by beer all day, it’s just something different and this is his ode to that.”
Shift is joined by Graveshift, a 4.9% dark lager that stylistically is closer to Moonlight’s famous Death and Taxes than a schwarzbier or tmave pivo. Pulliam used to work the night shift, brewing at Lagunitas, and Moonlight is Petaluma, California’s “other brewery.” A dark lager at 6am would signal the end of the graveyard shift.
These two lagers, along with There Are Always Hops, point to a heterodox streak in Lost Generation’s initial offerings. That American IPA straddles the line between the West Coast and hazy. These beers are in conversation with style guidelines–helles, schwartzbier, American IPA–but are not beholden to them. Instead, they taste like the product of a confident brewing team, of people who know exactly what they want.
Think “1920s
meets 2020s”
—General Manager and Owner of Lost Generation Brewing Co, Anne Choe
Two seltzers are fermented with fruit juice, not purees, and are joined by two kettle sours, one a gose-style ale with grapefruit and the other a peach and vanilla sour designed to mimic peach a la mode. To round things out, a wheat ale with Mandarina Bavaria hops will also be on tap, and a northern German-style pilsner is lagering, awaiting a release date.
Both the “shift” lagers, the American IPA, and the double IPA will be available in four packs of sixteen ounce cans at the brewery. Some kegs will go into distribution in the District and Virginia shortly.
The taproom will be open from Wednesday to Sunday to start. Look for events and a food truck schedule soon, and please welcome Lost Generation to DC and the neighborhood. After all, aren’t we all a Lost Generation?
Listen to The DC Beer Show Podcast with Lost Generation.
