Henceforth, There Will Be Beer. DC’s Newest Brewery Set to Open

“Beer drinkers are growing up, breweries are not growing up with them,” Michael Spinello, founder and managing partner of Henceforth, tells us. Henceforth is about to become DC’s newest brewery–perhaps as soon as this weekend–and Spinello aims to stand out. Across three bars and two floors, a rooftop will open later in the spring, you’ll see no picnic benches or backless steel stools found in many new breweries. Counter height chairs and hooks for every purse, clutch, fanny, or backpack greet customers at the bar upon entry. Henceforth has no high top tables. Indeed, every seat has a back. This endeavor is going to be for grown folks. Spinello wants people to get comfortable and get to know their H Street neighbors. 

1335 H St NE, soon to be a third space for the community, used to host the H Street Country Club. The building’s owners remain, but the interior is very different. Pretty much every brewery that has opened in the District over the last 15 years except for Bluejacket has done so in a single story building designed for manufacturing or industrial use, but not this one, unless laundry at the turn of the century counts. 

The first bar you see when you enter Henceforth features twelve drafts, nine of which will come directly from the brite tanks, visible via clear doors. This is intentional, Henceforth wants customers to see the brewhouse and the labor involved; what goes into making beer is a conversation starter. This setup was not without challenges; there is 3/4ths of an inch of clearance between the tanks and the first floor ceiling, and installing a drain required 4 feet of poured concrete, a far cry from the comparatively drain-ready former auto body shops so many breweries call home. 

A carefully devised menu of drafts planned by co-founder and head brewer Benjamin Mullett will allow Henceforth to hit the ground running and offer district drinkers a high-quality product that DC folks have become accustomed to since DC Brau opened in 2011. Mullet formerly plied his trade, and won a few Great American Beer Festival medals, at Skipping Rock Beer Co. in Staunton, Virginia. His Belgian Dubbel took gold in that category in 2022, and an amber lager he brewed in 2021 took bronze; you’ll see similar beers make an appearance at Henceforth, along with a cream ale and an ESB with all-British ingredients. 

Tank to tap has a history in DC. Right Proper’s Shaw brewpub employs this setup from three to six taps at any given time, and brewpubs of the past like Capitol City, District ChopHouse, and Gordon Biersch used them as well. Gordon Biersch Navy Yard in fact had twelve lines with ten of them coming from their brite tanks, and two from kegs. Henceforth will feature the most tank-to-tap draft lines in DC with Bluejacket a close second. The Navy Yard brewery and restaurant has eight, though not all brite tanks are pouring drafts at the ballpark-adjacent powerhouse.

Why does tank to tap matter? In a word, quality. “Beer is a dynamic beverage,” writes Mullet. “Time, temperature and movement are all important factors in the final product. When we serve our beers direct from the tanks it minimizes the number of ‘touches’ we have during the process. Every hose, tube, gasket, coupling or vessel that the beer moves through or to, allows for that many more chances of loss, contamination or oxygen pick up. By limiting those movements, keeping the beer at consistent temperature, at the carbonation level we set and pushed to the system in draft lines we maintain, we can tightly control the overall quality. When we slide a beer across the bar to you at Henceforth, you (and I) can rest assured it is being served as close as possible to what we intended that beer to be.”

Not a fan of beer? Spinello worked in the wine business prior to the beer one. A second floor bar facing H Street focuses on grapes. There will be local wines, but given their cost for more reasonably priced offerings from the West Coast and Finger Lakes as well. A third bar also on the second floor features a communal table, and all spaces combine mid century modern with 21st century design concepts that foster conversation amongst patrons. If Kendrick Lamar told the co-founders to turn the TV off, were Spinello and Mullett listening? They plan to have no screens in their establishment, with the goal of fostering conversation amongst patrons.

These conversations may occur over beer or wine, but they will also be bolstered by food and ace bar staff. Executive chef Walfer Hernandez runs the kitchen, and you’ll see Megan Loux and Erin Karla Young, who have worked at bars and breweries in the area, behind the bar. Worth noting: when Hernandez was executive chef at Barrel a local newspaper (owned by the world’s third richest man) proclaimed he had orchestrated one of the best pub menus in town.

“We’ve assembled a super dynamic and experienced leadership team that is now on board full time. It’s a team we’re both supremely proud to get to work with and in whom we have the utmost confidence. Our job now is to help them get across the starting line, make sure they’re resourced and empowered, and then get out of their way so they can build a business in which the neighborhood can be proud,” says Spinello. With multiple brewery closings over the last year, it’s delightful to see some good news. Please know your visit helps bolster our brewing and hospitality scene. 

As Lost Generation co-owner Anne Choe recently told us, there is an advantage of being “the new kids on the block. When you’re the new kid on the block and you’re popular, everybody wants to check you out.” So go check out Henceforth, then go see them again in June, July, and August.

Henceforth’s opening beer menu:

Jacob Berg and Michael Stein jointly wrote this article, with photos from Brandy Holder.