My 2025 resolution was to drink more cask conditioned beer. Shortly after publishing my resolution, comments began breezing in and sure enough I am not alone with my obsessive love of cask. Half-a-dozen comments later and editor Jake “Scoops” Berg updated the article with a useful DC Beer cask conditioned beer map.
Are you a similarly obsessive lover of cask, looking for even more breweries making cask conditioned beer? Have I got an event for you!
Denizens Winter Cask Classic is the answer to the question: where can I try local cask conditioned beer, from DC, Maryland, and Virginia all in one place? $40 gets you in the door with a souvenir glass and all the cask you care to try. Don’t like pale lager? Mild it is! Don’t like witbier? Oatmeal stout is the order! The 6th annual iteration of the classic runs from 1-5 PM Saturday, February 22. We strongly encourage a metro or cab ride home, drink responsibly – imbibing and driving don’t mix!
Denizens is the best place to try over a dozen cask conditioned beers in one place. The brewery is hosting friends Atlas, Brewer’s Art, Manor Hill, Maryland Meadworks, Pub Dog, Port City, Franklin’s, Streetcar 82, City-State, DC Brau, Right Proper, and Upweller Beer Company. The lineup of participating producers shows the pull of the friendly Denizens. Julie Verratti and Jeff Ramirez (Denizens co-owners along with Emily Bruno) have assembled breweries and producers who are hyperlocal from two to four miles away, like Maryland Meadworks and DC Brau, and still local but likely the three furthest from Denizens: Port City, Manor Hill, and Brewer’s Art.
From a beer style standpoint there is great diversity in the offerings. Abbey-style ale, witbier, stout, mild, cyser (apple mead), winter warmer, pale lager, dark lager, brown ale, the list goes on. Of course there is IPA with hops in the cask, but of more interest to me is a Czech-style Pilsner with German hops in the cask. All three of these are from DC breweries, though the one of most interest to me is a beer I had a hand in: Senate Bock. Full disclosure, my beverage research firm, Lost Lagers, works with both the Heurich House Museum and Right Proper.
Thanks to the Heurich House Museum and their relentless interest in public history, Senate Bock has come back to life from a primary document my colleague, Peter Jones, found in the National Archives. Today, Senate Bock is 5.4 % ABV, just as it was in 1948.
The full list is below. The only thing more exciting than the cask-conditioned beer on Saturday will be seeing the brewers and cellar workers who made these beers possible. Speaking with Josh Chapman (Upweller and Right Proper), and Julie Veratti (Denizens) the excitement to see the people who comprise the industry we have is very real. So get a ticket and come see us Saturday, I thank you in advance for helping me make good on my New Years resolution. Again, tickets available via giftrocker.
