Last week was a busy one for Atlas Brew Works. The brewery, based in DC’s Ivy City neighborhood, won the RAMMY–the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s annual awards–for best beer program. Then they confirmed what we’ve long suspected: their original Ivy City location, open since their beginnings in 2013, will close when their new Anacostia brewery launches in the Bridge District, across the Frederick Douglas Bridge from Nats Park.
Atlas Ivy City will have their last day on September 27, 2025, and all month long they’ll have $5 drafts at that location to drain the tanks before their move to Anacostia.
This has been in the works for some time; in June we noticed that the Ivy City building at 2052 West Virginia Avenue had a “for lease” banner above the brewery and in July they let their outdoor seating permit expire. When we inquired with Atlas about this last month they never responded, and calls to the landlord went unreturned. On Friday, August 8, the Washington Business Journal broke the news, publishing an interview with Atlas co-founder and CEO Justin Cox. In that article, accessible to cardholders with the DC public library system, Cox told WBJ that Atlas is targeting a fall opening for Anacostia, with test batches as soon as late August. We suspect it will be October or November.
Per the article, “The new space is both larger by square footage and taller, room enough for four times as much production. It will be equipped with a 30-barrel, four-vessel brewhouse with 120-barrel fermentation vessels, a substantial increase over Ivy City, with a 20-barrel brewhouse with 40-barrel fermentation vessels.” Anacostia is about 24,000 square feet while Ivy City is closer to 16,000, and Atlas invested over $6 million in the project. 4,000 square feet of the space is devoted to a kitchen and taproom, with the remainder serving the brewhouse. There is an additional 6,000 square feet of outdoor space and yes, Andy’s Pizza will provide the food as they do at Atlas’s Navy Yard and Alexandria locations.
This expansion puts Atlas in the same category as Other Half and DC Brau; the District’s two largest breweries each have 30-barrel brewhouses. Atlas will increase production of their beer as well as the Dad Strength lineup. However, Atlas also brews a Kolsch-style ale and an amber ale for Capital City Brewing Company, which will close its remaining location on 11th and New York Avenue NW on August 28. We’ll have more on that closure soon. We don’t know if Atlas will sell any Cap City beers at their locations, or end up dumping it. “We’re very saddened to hear of the closing of Cap City,” Cox told us last week, citing the brewpub’s status as “a pioneer in the beer scene of the area. When I first moved to DC in the early aughts, I lived on the north side of Capitol Hill and used to go hang out at the Cap City by Union Station, so it’s a personal loss for me as well. Atlas did produce both Cap City Kolsch and Amber Waves for them after they closed their Shirlington production facility and we’re very excited to be a part of that entire project.”
As for Ivy City, it’s another hit for the neighborhood, which lost both Joseph Magnus and Bo & Ivy distilleries above Atlas, as well as One Eight Distilling a few blocks away. Cox “rejected the idea of downsizing to a smaller footprint with just a taproom, or maybe a taproom plus smaller brewery, in part because of how substantially the vibe in Ivy City has changed over the past decade,” according to the WBJ. “Decimated by Covid,” Cox told them, noting a decrease in foot traffic.
We at DC Beer also observed a decline in patrons. When we inquired about Atlas’ plans for Ivy City in 2023 the brewery’s public relations specialist told us the “Bridge District will not replace Ivy City at this time. It will become Atlas’ mothership when it opens due to its size and ability to expand production capacity and operations,” but evidently smaller crowds led them to rethink their plans. Atlas had hoped to keep Ivy City open a bit longer, but DC’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA), had other ideas. You can ask Cox and the Atlas team about that while enjoying $5 pours at Ivy City next month, and we’ll keep you updated on the Anacostia opening, itself a milestone in DC brewing history because it is the first production brewery “across the river,” an economic, racial, and psychological barrier for many Washingtonians in addition to a geographic one.
2052 West Virginia Avenue Northeast, Washington, District of Columbia 20002
1401 Okie Street Northeast, Washington, District of Columbia 20002
Republic Restoratives, 1369 New York Ave NE, Washington, District of Columbia 20002
Don Ciccio & Figli, 1907 Fairview Ave NE, Washington, District of Columbia 20002
DC Brau Brewing Co, 3178 Bladensburg Rd NE, Washington, District of Columbia 20018
