In June, Axios published “DC Brau tops list of top local craft breweries,” but is the headline truthful?
In a word, no. Other Half brewed around 16,000 barrels in DC last year. DC Brau brewed 10,800 barrels in Washington, DC. Objectively, 16,000 barrels is more than 10,800 barrels. Sixty percent more, even. “But wait,” I hear you asking. “Isn’t Other Half a Brooklyn brewery?” The answer is yes, the brewery was born in Brooklyn and still operates there. And perhaps brewers and the larger beer world sees them as a Brooklyn brand.
But they also operate in DC. And they’re producing more than anyone else within city limits. The Other Half DC production facility specifically brewed about 16,000 barrels according to Other Half COO Andrew Burman.
In December, the Brewers Association promoted its former chief economist Bart Watson to president and CEO. For years Watson painstakingly compiled data on the barrels produced by nearly 10,000 breweries. Often brewers wouldn’t report and the BA had to do their best with guesstimates and filing in data that can be hard to find.
In 2021, Watson listed the following regional breweries in our area at 10,000 barrels or above: Flying Dog Brewery, DuClaw Brewing Co, Aslin Beer Company, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Three Notch’d Brewing Company, Starr Hill Brewery LLC, O’Connor Brewing Co, DC Brau Brewing Company, Evolution Craft Brewing Co, Port City Brewing Co., Union Craft Brewing, and Solace Brewing Company. Of note, in that year Watson told me he hadn’t broken apart Other Half’s total barrels, meaning their overall numbers were for multiple breweries in multiple locations.
Understanding the Axios reporting requires knowing that the numbers provided by the Brewers Association did not list Other Half in DC. If Other Half is listed as a NY brewery, why would they be considered a DC brewery? They wouldn’t, unless you’re a keen beer blog with an understanding that no matter how you feel about a brand, or whether you consider them a local brand or a Brooklyn brand, they still manufacture beer in DC proper, employing area residents and paying taxes and other fees in the District.
Did Axios simply leave out Other Half as they’re listed as a NY brewery according to the BA? It could be as simple as that. Probably, even. As a New York brewery, Other Half brewed 39,431 barrels last year.
When you’re talking numbers it can be a bit abstract so I want to try to contextualize for you, dear reader, how much beer Other Half brewed in DC. They brewed about 16 times more beer than Lost Generation Brewing. Lost Gen made under 1,000 bbls.
Other Half brewed more than double what Atlas Brew Works brewed, between 6,000 and 7,000 barrels, and nearly quadrupled the barrelage of Right Proper Brewing Company, who produced between 4,000 barrels and 5,000 barrels according to Brewers Association data.
In 2023, Guinness brewed between 3 and 4 times as much as Other Half did in DC in 2024. According to the Maryland Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission annual report for fiscal year 2023, Diageo America Supply Inc (Diageo is the company that owns Guinness) brewed 62,693.2 barrels.
Essentially for every big fish, there is another fish that’s bigger. What makes Other Half unique is not necessarily the number of brewing locations they own, though there are 10 places to visit on their website, but the fact that all these locations can act as retailers. Beer brewed in DC can be sold in NYC, Centre Street, Domino Park, Rockefeller Center, Finger Lakes, Bloomfield, Canandaigua, Buffalo, Philadelphia, or the District itself. The same is true for a beer brewed in say Philadelphia, that Other Half can serve in DC.
Compare that to Lost Generation, who have only one brewery and one taproom from which to sell their beer. Their DC production facility is also their taproom and nearly all of their beer is sold there.
Jared Pulliam is head brewer and co-owner of Lost Generation. We asked him about Lost Generation’s model:
We are a taproom focussed brewery that really thrives on engaging directly with our guests. The “taproom model” was one we saw a lot on the West Coast when we lived out there and we loved the connection it made between the consumer, the producer and the actual place all of it is produced in. We had found this was an underrepresented model in DC (largely due to laws that only started changing in 2014, in fairness). We do distribute some, but it is certainly far from a key component of our business model. We brewed 882 barrels last year and only about 10% of that went out into the market. The rest was sold in house, by us. Our production area is very small and an adherence to proper lagering with such a hefty percentage of our barrelage being dedicated to them doesn’t help us “turn and burn”, but we’re more than ok with that. What we consider “Back of house” is roughly 2,500 sqft, though that includes our offices and cold box. The actual production space is less than 2,000sqft. This year, we hope to reach 1,000 bbl and with the new tanks we are installing, in 2026, we can greatly exceed that, while still selling the majority of our product inside our own four walls.
As you now know, Other Half is DC’s biggest brewer. The reasoning they were left out of the Axios article is not entirely clear but because the Other Half brewery confirmed they brewed 16,000 barrels in DC proper, there is no doubt they are in fact the largest producer. It will likely be some time before any brewery born in DC tops that.
