The bestest beerfest on the East Coast returns this fall on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, with tickets going on sale on July 8, 2025. Over 180 beverage producers, the far majority of them breweries, pouring over 475 beers and ciders, plus Underberg, wine, cocktails and maybe a few meads.
First, let’s meet some of the new kids on the block.
Hill Farmstead and Keeping Together took last year off, but they’re back. We’re especially excited for the return of Averie Swanson from the latter brewery, as their brewhouse supplier closed after Keeping Together had paid for most of it, but before the brewery took delivery. She makes some very cool saison and farmhouse adjacent beers, and she’s an excellent person. Speaking of excellent people, Breeze Galindo’s MiLuna is making their Snallygaster debut. Galindo is also Director of Operations for the Michael James Jackson Foundation, and was in DC in March to help fundraise for that organization. Further afield, hypey IPA merchants Brujos from Oregon will attend.
Local newbies include Mieza, who we’ve praised before. Alex Lynch‘s mixed fermentation beers in Alexandria are about to get a national audience. Southwestern Virginia’s Blindhouse Beer Company got rave reviews in last year’s Beer in Review, and they’ll be making the trip up for Snallygaster as well. Over on the Eastern Shore, and now Annapolis, RAR is returning to the festival, too. You’ll also see some classics, like Eggenberg from Austria and Belgium’s Brasserie Dupont, and American classics like Cigar City. Might we see Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout make an appearance this year?
Per the usual, tickets come in two flavors: VIP, the basilisk, is $150 and gets you unlimited pours from 12-6pm and VIP amenities while the general admission kraken is $75 and covers 2-6pm. VIP will sell out, so be ready to smash that button on July 8.
Choosing breweries for the festival can be fraught, with some hurt feelings, especially for local breweries. Outside of Bluejacket, a Neighborhood Restaurant Group property, we count Anxo, Aslin, Crooked Run, DC Brau, Lost Boy Cider, Mieza, Port City, Right Proper, Soul Mega, and Upweller from inside the beltway. Pen Druid, Sapwood, and Wheatland Spring will return as well.
For the second year in a row, Snally goes up against the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. This is less than ideal, but booking downtown DC isn’t easy. If you’re trying to attend both, we want to hear from you. Regardless, we’ll see you on Pennsylvania Avenue in October, and probably before that at a brewery. Most importantly, the festival is a fundraiser for the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a more equitable and sustainable local food system in the DC area.
