In 2026 the United States of America turns 250 years old, but before July, DC Brau, the first craft brewery in the District of Columbia, turns 15. They’re celebrating with two new beers, an event at Churchkey on Thursday, April 16 that features two cask treatments of one of them, and a party at the brewery on Saturday, April 18. Let’s dig in.
“Brewed in celebration of both DC Brau’s 15th Anniversary and America’s upcoming 250th anniversary, Declaration is a crisp, elegant German-style Helles lager brewed with traditional ingredients and modern precision. The beer reflects the brewery’s commitment to classic brewing traditions while celebrating the spirit of independence that defines both DC Brau and the city we call home. You can expect to see Declaration everywhere in town, both on draft and in retail,” Brau CEO Brandon Skall tells us. Pilsner and Cara Pils malts, Hallertau and Saaz hops, 4.5% alcohol by volume. Given how good we think Dueling Grounds Vienna Lager is, we’ll be all over this one.
Beer number two:
Brau will phase out In Session IPA, replacing it with an even lower alcohol hoppy brew. Please welcome Baby Wings! “A playful companion to DC Brau’s cult classic On the Wings of Armageddon, Baby Wings is a lower-ABV IPA (3.5%) designed for maximum drinkability while maintaining the bold hop character fans expect. This beer represents the next generation of brewing: flavorful, balanced, and built for enjoying more than one, targeting consumers looking for less alcohol over all. We’ve wanted to explore this area for a while but after releasing Dueling Grounds just last year, it’s fresh in our minds how much time it takes to build new brand recognition from scratch. At the same time, our customers continuously ask us to brew more OTWOA but we find that releasing it multiple times a year causes it to lose momentum. This is a great way to give our consumers what they have been asking for while not damaging the sellability of our most sought-after brew. Honestly, we were also inspired by Treehouse and their riffs on Julius, particularly Juli-ish,” Skall writes.
Low alcohol IPAs are having a moment in DC, see also Dad Strength, and Brau is betting that the national trend of lower ABVs has staying power. The original Wings, at 9%, packs a punch, but head brewer Alex Spencer is ready. “Between the multitudes of IPAs we’ve produced over the years (In Session, Wings, everywhere in between), we know the intensities we’ll get from our ingredients at all sorts of use rates and beer strengths. So it wasn’t particularly challenging to zero in on an adapted recipe very quickly,” he tells us. “Regarding the ABV scale-down, ensuring we didn’t end up with an overly hopped Baby Wings was top-of-mind. The first session IPA we ever brewed was Ground Wolf, a collab with Meridian Pint, and we fell victim to an overly hopped final product. Since then we’ve always paid particular attention to getting the ratios right. We succeeded in that regard on In-Session and we feel like Baby Wings strikes that balance perfectly,” Skall adds.
Churchkey, 3/16, 4pm:
