DC Brau Brewing

DC Brau was one of the breweries that restarted commercial brewing in the District, and it operates a taproom at 3178-B Bladensburg Road NE in Ivy City, the industrial pocket in Northeast that has become the city's brewing and distilling quarter. It was co-founded by Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock. The reason it belongs in this directory is NA Brau, which launched in late April 2024 and is billed as the first canned non-alcoholic beer brewed by a DC brewery - a distinction Washingtonian and DC Beer both noted at the time.

The beer itself is a 0.3% ABV pale ale modelled directly on The Public, DC Brau's flagship pale ale, using the same Centennial and El Dorado hops along with Caramel 40 and Munich specialty malts, which is where the pale golden colour comes from. The production method is the interesting part and it is worth explaining, because it is why the beer does not taste stripped. Most non-alcoholic beer is either dealcoholised after fermentation or stabilised with tunnel pasteurisation, and both processes cost flavour and carbonation. DC Brau instead uses a hybrid Lallemand yeast strain that produces very little alcohol in the first place, then protects the finished beer with Chiber, a mushroom-fibre extract from Chinova Bioworks that works as a natural antimicrobial. The result keeps its carbonation and its hop character; Skall has said that in trials it is very hard for people to discern that it is NA. What lands in the glass is light, crisp and grassy.

Practical notes. The taproom is open Thursday through Sunday only - 3pm to 9pm on Thursday and Friday, 1pm to 9pm on Saturday and 1pm to 7pm on Sunday - and NA Brau is on the taproom list alongside the full alcoholic range. Cans are also sold widely at bars, restaurants and retailers across the region, so this is one of the few entries here you can drink without visiting. Ivy City is not walkable from a Metro station; it is a short drive or bus ride from NoMa-Gallaudet.