This last weekend was a brutal one for draft beer in DC. With the closures of City-State Public House, Pizzeria Paradiso Georgetown, and Tap 99 in Navy Yard, the District lost over 150 draft lines, more than half of which were pouring something resembling craft beer.
The pandemic literally did a number on beer in DC, by some measures cutting barrels sold by a third. “Washington, DC was always a 6,000,000 case market,” DC Brau’s Brandon Skall told us last year. “But 6,000,000 cases total for all of the beer that was consumed in DC. And that means, you know, the macros, the micros, everybody. And when the pandemic hit, that number went from 6,000,000 cases down to 4,000,000 cases. And it never really came back. It just sort of flatlined. There was, like, a little pop of lights here and there, but, you know, what would be gained one month would then be lost the next.”
Well, by my count DC lost the 99 taps at Tap 99, at least 17 at Pizzeria Paradiso, and 34 at City-State, which adds up to 150. My analysis: that’s bad, though at least 7 of those taps at Pizza P Georgetown were already long gone. More on that below.
There is some good news, though. “We’re actually seeing growth in draft but you have to work incredibly hard for it,” Skall told us earlier in the month. “Our custom tap handle program is definitely partly responsible for our optimistic draft results. Also Old Time, which is very value driven, accounts for a large portion of our draft business…. On the positive side, I feel as though we’re seeing more openings than we have seen the past few years.”
Additional “less bad” news: Pizzeria Paradiso Georgetown’s Birreria Paradiso in the basement was already long gone, having been turned into Paradiso Game Room in 2018. That move saw draft lines removed and a focus on cans. While we mourn the closing, this branch was down to 10 taps as of last week as opposed to the 17 the beer program opened with (at one point it may have been 20). The Dupont Circle location has 12, Spring Valley 14, and Hyattsville 16 if you’re curious.
“The days of just brewing a great beer and releasing it on draft and expecting it to do well are still gone. In order to grow draft people need to engage with more than just the traditional model or quality of the beer,” says Skall. “The chance for growth is there, but it requires a lot of labor and tracking down the new accounts before they open so you can be on those opening draft lists while at the same time making sure you’re not taking your foot off the gas with your existing clientele.”
There are beer-centric openings on the horizon as well. Last year The Harp, Cask & Kiln opened in Brookland with 25 draft lines. Breweries like Silver Branch and Crooked Run are expanding with taprooms, and Dacha still has plans for the former Denizens location in Silver Spring.
