Celebrating Pride Month & a Pride Pils Collab

Welcome to the DC Beer Show, where we celebrate the passion and camaraderie of the DC beer community. In this episode, we're raising a glass to Pride Month and local breweries, and we've got a lot to cover! 

We're discussing everything from beer festivals to collaborations among our favorite breweries. We're also highlighting the work of Jamal Lemon, who recently won a James Beard Media Award for his research on oysters and beer. 

But that's not all. We're also diving into the challenges of owning a brewery during a pandemic and how to stay afloat. Plus, we're chatting with Simon Bee from Red Bear and Brandon Skall from DC Brau about their experiences in the brewing industry and how they are continuing to support the LGBTQ+ community through the 6th annual Pride Pils, the first that it's a collaboration! 

Cheers to a happy Pride Month!

- Favorite beers & events
- Celebrating Jamal Lemon
- Upcoming beer events
- Wheatland Land Beer Fest
- Pride events & support
- Red Bear & DC Brau interview
- Collaboration for Pride Beer

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Creators & Guests

Host

Brandy Holder

This southern girl got a late start in the beer world, but with such a bold and intoxicating personality behind the name, booze was destined to be a part of her endeavors.

Host

Jacob Berg

Jake’s beer education began when his dad brought home a 6-pack of Brooklyn Lager in the mid-90s. It was love at first sip.

Host

Jordan Harvey

As a born and raised Georgian, lover of music, and HBCU advocate, Jordan’s affinity for craft beer kicked off after being exposed to the craft beer scene in Pennsylvania and the legendary beer scene in Europe.

Host

Mike Stein

Michael Stein is President of Lost Lagers, Washington, DC’s premier beverage research firm. His historic beers have been served at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the Polish Ambassador’s residence.

Producer

Richard Fawal

President of DC Beer Media LLC and Publisher of DCBeer.com and The DC Beer Show

What is The DC Beer Show?

The official podcast of DCBeer.com! Everything you need to know about the people, places, and brews that make the DMV America’s best beer scene, including the best local places for eats, brews, trivia, live music, and more! Learn about the latest trends in craft beer – from the beers, to the breweries, to the business – from the editors of DC Beer.

Jake Berg 00:00:06 Welcome to the DC beer show, everyone. We are at DC beer across social media. Mike Stein, what is in your Stein tonight?

Mike Stein 00:00:15 Well, thanks for asking. Jacob Scoops Berg. Tonight I am having Bullpen Pilsner, the great American Beer festival. Award winning Pilsner. And the reason I'm having that is because my good friend Jamal Lemon is a James Beard Media Award winner for the food waste category. And I have helped Jamal research his comehill or high water oysters brewing and how the Comeyas and beignez could end sea level rise in Charleston. So collectively, we are James Beard Award winners and it feels so good. So why not celebrate with a medal winning beer? Atlas BrewWorks bull penn, pilsner.

Speaker 3 00:00:58 Brandy.

Mike Stein 00:00:58 What are you drinking now or what have you recently had to wet your whistle?

Speaker 4 00:01:03 This magically appeared in my refrigerator and I'm really not mad about it. It's root and branch, which I really do like their stuff. I was hanging out at Andy of the Andy Awards and we drank a couple of root and branch. This one is Historical Society. It is a English dark mild ale. It's so good. Um, ABV is not on it, um, but it, uh, has East Kit Golding Hops, so that's pretty cool. So shout out to, uh, root and branch, because this is a delicious beer. Mr. Uh, Jordan, uh, what's in your pint?

Speaker 5 00:01:38 Sticking with the Hayes Craze as I still mourn my beloved Astralab, rest in peace, but obviously a tremendous run. I'm sipping some other half. That's my next neighborhood. Hayes factory. And shout out to Third Hill. We're excited for what you guys do next, but having some stacks on stacks, southern Hemisphere double dry hopped Imperial India Pale Ale, uh, delicious brew. Enjoying that. Uh, excited for all of the other half. Trivias, we have to come, so definitely come check us out on Wednesdays. But yeah. Jake, what are you drinking?

Jake Berg 00:02:12 I've got here the Bitter Geezer, the ESB. Speaking of goldings Fuggles and all things British from Elder Pine, paired very nicely with a cabbage, uh, stir fry. I'm going to do that again. Little, umami, from the malt, umami, from the soy. Nicely done. Good job. Elder Pine. I recommend it. All right, we've got event upcoming. Jordan, you want to start us off? What's on the docket?

Speaker 5 00:02:43 Most definitely. So today being Friday the 9th, I want to give you guys something to look forward to for next Friday. Definitely make your way down to Old Alexandria. There's a port side in Old Town summer festival that'll be taking place starting at 530 on Friday and it carries over into Saturday as well. I think they'll be kicking things off at twelve on Saturday and 530 on Friday. Outside of that, uh, one of my beloved Hayes factories of the New England corridor. Trillium, they'll be doing a tap takeover. Excuse me, a total takeover. Pop up can release on the 17th, which is that Saturday as well. That starts at ten at Church Tea. And then if you come back later on that day at Church Tea, you can still get some of those good old Trillium Brews and meet some of the folks come down to represent Trillium. I'm obviously looking forward to that. There'll be a hip hop and craft beer bottle share with, uh, Trillium M starting at 04:00 P.m. On June 17. That Friday. Excuse me. That Saturday. And, uh, that's just something to keep in mind for those celebrating Father's Day as next weekend as Father's Day weekend. Outside of that, I'm really looking forward to drinking with good old Wheatland Springs for their Land Beer Fest on tomorrow, Saturday the 10th. What are you guys tracking in terms of events?

Speaker 4 00:04:07 Yeah, I'll be there. Jordan will be there, jake will be there. Jake and I are going to ride all the way out to Wheatland together and we'll get there fast because of how we both drive. So can't wait to see everybody and, uh, hopefully we'll see some awesome women's Brew Culture Club folks there, too. But then Sunday is Beer Day. It's, uh, a very busy weekend and our livers might be a little upset with us on Monday, but that's okay because it'll recover, it'll be fine. But our beer share this month is at Blue Jacket. So much love to Blue Jacket. You guys are putting out the best beers and doing great events. Sending love. So if you still need RSVP for the beer share, make sure you do. So just reach out to us. We'll get you in touch.

Jake Berg 00:04:54 The RCP is DCBeer.com newsletter and I can give you three reasons to attend the beer share. Each one of those reasons is a liter of Sierra Nevada celebration in a three liter bottle, courtesy of our very own Mike Stein. Good looking out.

Mike Stein 00:05:10 There three leaders coming at you, not to be confused with three leaders who will hear from two of them later on the show tonight. But what else do we have aside from our DC beer? Our, uh, June DC. Beer share taking place at Bluejacket. Jordan, what do you got?

Speaker 5 00:05:28 Just, uh, to circle back to, I mentioned other half. Is that's what I'm having at the moment? But Atlas BrewWorks. They're having a telecorny dad joke on Father's Day. So you definitely get a free beer at Atlas Ivy City this Father's Day if you want to check them out or if you're in the area, that'll be on Sunday starting at 01:00 P.m.. So you can definitely sleep in a bit. Rest up from those that might be going to the Wheatland Land Beer Fest and those that might just want to split their time between our beer share and Atlas. You can make it a fine DC day and do some Navy Yard and then do some Ivy City. And lastly, we have Guinness, a open gate brewery hosting the Arts and Drafts Festival. June, that's the following uh uh, the subsequent Saturday. So two Saturdays away or, excuse me, three Saturdays away. Since today's Friday, there's something to look forward to, obviously. Happy Pride. Shout out to everyone celebrating Pride. Shout out to everyone celebrating any and everything this month. Graduation, being out of school, Father's Day, all the fun things. Yeah, these are just some of the beer events that we're tracking.

Speaker 4 00:06:39 I want to shout out some people, our Patreon members. Hey, Patreon members, we love you so much, as always. Lovely, lovely. Thor Cheston and Bill Butcher of Port City, and Justin Brody, who actually will be our next guest later on this month. So shout out to Justin and exciting things coming down his way. And then I want to give some kind thank yous to a few of our Patreon members. They're there and they're doing stuff, and I love you guys for that. So, Matt Winterholter, thank you for supporting us. And Stephen Clays, thank you for supporting us. Matt B. Julie Adenizen. Thank you. And, of course, Bill Debon. So shout out to everybody. And if you are interested in being a Patreon member, you definitely should, because you get lots of discounts and you get to hang out with us because we're really, really cool. At least. We think we're cool. We're nice, at least.

Jake Berg 00:07:44 And you fund all of my articles that are exclusively about Maryland beer exactly.

Speaker 4 00:07:49 Whether you like them or not.

Speaker 5 00:07:51 Yeah, because for one, I don't like them unless they're expanding. So shout out to Silver Branch in their recent news.

Speaker 3 00:07:57 That's good work.

Speaker 5 00:07:59 Yeah, we definitely appreciate all the support, all of the love. And again, if you don't like us, we're at least where the beer is, so come see us for that reason.

Jake Berg 00:08:09 Lexiara, we have the goodies. I do want to shout out one oh, that was a throwback event. I got people cracking up in the background. Very nice. Two more events worth noting. Denizens is doing a Pride event. It is a spoken word queering sound. It's a mini festival on the 13th, so that'd be coming up next week. We're gonna keep it Pride with Red Bear and DC Brow in a moment, but we're going to mention that one. And then our occasionally very own Phil Runco is going to be pouring at the Arlington Brew Shop. He's going to be pouring ocelot beers. And you can listen to the previous podcast because we had Julian Beth on that one. But anyway, since we're talking guests, let's kick it with Red Bear and DC Brow. Brandy, take us away.

Speaker 4 00:09:03 I have not one, but two lovely folks joining the podcast tonight. One of my dear friends, simon B of red bear and my other dear friend Brandon skull from DC brow. Hi, guys. Thanks for coming on.

Speaker 3 00:09:22 Hey, Brandy. Hey, thanks for having us.

Speaker 4 00:09:24 It's been a while. I think Simon's been on several times. I think it's been a while since Brandon's been on. So let's start with a couple of questions. Brandon, with DC Brow being the longest running brewery in the district, what do you think has kept DC Brow going so strong with so many other breweries closing? And what advice would you give a new brewery owner? Owners?

Speaker 3 00:09:49 Oh, man. The tough questions right from the start. Wow. Well, first of all, look, the past several years have been very hard. The Pandemic has has really hit our industry in a way that I think is going to be hard to see the full impact of until about 24 ah, maybe two years from now, I think we'll be able to finally see the impact that COVID really had. Um, but it's been a challenge, it's been hard. And we pivoted on a few things during the Pandemic that helped to get us through. We started contract brewing with much more serious intention. Um, we really took a hard look at all of our finances. Um, we started subleasing space at the brewery that we weren't using. There's been several things that we did, but we pretty much took a, uh, look at our business and look for any places that we were leaving possible income on the table, and not just the traditional revenue streams. What alternative revenue streams can we create? I mean, people don't get into opening breweries so that they can eventually sublease extra space to other businesses, but at the end of the day, this is a, uh, scrappy industry, and we all started with what we could in order to get our breweries open. And Pandemic sort of reset our mindset at the brewery, at least into that survivalist how do we get through to the next year mentality. So, I would say for new breweries starting out, always remember that this is a business first and foremost. It's really easy to get sidetracked because of all the passion we've all got for what we do. But you do have to keep that business mentality. So I'd say always, um, put your books first, uh, even though that can be hard. And, um, always make room to be flexible. Don't get too set in your ways with anything. Always be ready that if you might have to pivot or you might have to look for an option that you didn't think you would have to a year ago, that's okay. That's all right.

Speaker 4 00:11:52 That was an excellent answer. Well done, Brandon. And very true. That everything. I was, like, shaking my head, uh, fervently the whole time you were talking, I was like, yes, exactly. Um simon, I wanted to ask and I'm good. It's going to be a big question, um, but, uh, the climate is really shitty right now for the LGBTQ. Plus people and their friends and family. Give us some words of wisdom and tell us how Redbear is making an impact in the community during this tumultuous time.

Speaker 6 00:12:27 We're doing all sorts of things. Like, we're trying to really, uh, support our drag performers. Um, as you may or may not know, um, well, your audience may or may not know. Uh, we actually do that all year round. Uh, we have the house. Uh, Queen Desiree. Dick. Hey, Desiree does a lot of shows with us. Uh, she's actually been on this podcast, I think a couple of times. But, uh, anyway, so, uh, really making sure that we are supporting these performers, do do shows with them year round, but we're really hitting it hard this year. We actually just had a show last weekend with Raj O'Hara, which is one of the stars from RuPaul. So that was a really good show and it was a great opportunity for a lot of our local talent to be able to kind of mix with that and be able to perform in a higher level show. So that's a lot of the stuff that we're doing. Um, Pride Month is just generally a crazy busy month for us. Being known as an LGBTQ brewery, I mean, it's just madness pretty much all month long. But I kind of want to highlight the things that we do year round. So, um, every second and fourth Tuesday, uh, we always do drag bringo, so that's probably something that, uh, if you look out, um, pretty soon it's going to become a weekly thing. Um, we also do RuPaul, um, All Star showings on Friday right now. So we do a lot of things that just kind of connect to the community. And, uh, we're in a very weird kind of unique, uh, space because, uh, in a lot of ways, we operate a little bit like a gatewater. Uh, but we're also, uh, very much invested in the brewing scene. So we're always treading that line between those two different things, which is difficult and weird, but also a lot of fun.

Speaker 4 00:14:13 Yeah, you both have fantastic brew stuff. Um, I adore the folks over at Brow, and Devin and Nicole are crushing it over at Red Bear. So kudos to both for having fantastic folks on the brew deck, um, and putting out endlessly great beer. So shout out to your staff. Speaking of the beer, can you tell our audience why specifically you're here with us tonight? Um, what year is this? The 6th annual. 6th annual Pride Beer that DC Brow always does. This year it's a collab with Red Bear. So tell everybody about that.

Speaker 3 00:15:03 Well, it's the 6th year we've done it, but it's the inaugural collab. It's the first time we've ever collaborated for Pride Pills, and it seemed like it was time to bring this idea of this beer out from just being something that was just DC Brow and start to expand it into the community. And I would love to see it expand in future years as well, welcoming other breweries into the fold. But for us, it was just a really exciting experience to reach out and give, um, Pride Pills a little bit more of a dynamic, um, flavor. Uh, and also just bring in some of our friends to be a part of the process. And we thought of Red Bear right off the bat.

Speaker 6 00:15:46 Yeah, we're so thankful for that. Um, it was such a fun experience and um, I feel like, uh, the release party went really well. Um, and it's awesome beer. It tastes great, it's super crisp. Um, yeah, uh, we couldn't be happier.

Speaker 4 00:16:00 To be part, uh, of this one beer every year, but I assumed that this was the first year there was a collab, which is awesome. But usually you have a contest for the art, though, which gets everybody so excited about it. Yeah, so tell us about the art too, if you don't mind.

Speaker 3 00:16:18 Yeah, so last year and this year, Cord Bizarre did the art, who is an awesome artist that was arranged through the Washington Blade and Steven Rutgers over at the Blade. Um, but, uh, it's the first year. Last year was that we had moved away from the contest structure, which was um, basically community submitted art for the label. And then we would have an online contest where people would pick the winning label or get us down to the top few winning labels. But that was a lot to manage. And going through the pandemic, um, it's just like everybody's resources had been a lot less tight and uh, a lot more tight. And so last year when we brought this idea back, we tried to streamline it, make it a little bit easier to operate. And that was when Cord came in. And both of the labels he's done for the beers have been fantastic.

Speaker 4 00:17:16 They're gorgeous.

Speaker 3 00:17:17 I don't think we could be more pleased.

Speaker 6 00:17:20 Holy cow. Yeah. This one this year is so striking.

Speaker 4 00:17:23 There we should be poster, it should be shirts. Um, I know Brow. I used to walk with DC. Brow in the Pride Parade many years in a row. Actually wore my old school, uh, one of my parade shirts yesterday. Um, Simon has Red Bear walked in the parade, like, made a big thing about it.

Speaker 6 00:17:45 We have the very first year when we were opening and we've been wanting to do a little bit more. We are even talking about doing a plow. But unfortunately, um, as Brendan was kind of talking about earlier, uh, the, uh, pandemic has caused several, uh, years of, um, unfortunately having to, uh, pivot and do other things. So we haven't been able to do anything for the last couple of years. But probably next year we'll figure something out, whether that's a float or if we walk in. But we'll be involved in some ways.

Speaker 4 00:18:19 Um, is there like a fundraiser attached to? Or like, um, isn't it going some of those proceeds go to yeah, they.

Speaker 3 00:18:28 Go to two nonprofits. Yeah. So the, the proceeds are split between Smile and the Blade Foundation. Smile does a lot of really awesome work, um, with youth, um, which I think is really crucial. Um, and then the Blade Foundation does a lot of archiving and preservation of records and stuff and stories and media. And obviously Steven Rutgers is associated with the Blade Foundation.

Speaker 4 00:18:56 So who came to who about the collab? And, uh, have you guys done a collab before? Because Simon, I know you've done some collabs with Silver Branch and Viking M.

Speaker 6 00:19:10 Yeah, Brandon, um, came to us, uh, in fact, just shot me a text one day. It was like, hey, what do you think about this? I was like, yes, obviously.

Speaker 3 00:19:18 Yeah. Well, Simon was very excited to collaborate and in the spirit of collaboration, wanted it to be just that, a true collaboration. So, um, he came to the table with some ideas of how he could change the beer. Um, and we all liked them. Um, he thought, hey, Pride Pills has always been a traditional German style pills. What if we use some of the new American varieties and made more of a new school pilsner? Um, and so he actually, uh, brought some citra hops into the equation and I, um, think the beer turned out really, really well.

Speaker 6 00:19:51 Yeah, we tried it and thought it was pretty great. So, yeah, we're excited.

Speaker 3 00:19:57 That's awesome.

Speaker 4 00:19:58 And I'm assuming it's available at both places, at both your breweries available the.

Speaker 3 00:20:03 Breweries, and you'll also see it throughout town. And one note is that over the past six years, we have raised almost $50,000 for these two groups. And this year we anticipate that we will push that line up above the $50,000 mark. So it feels good that, huh, this is a project that raises real cash for nonprofits that do need these funds right here in the Nation Cup.

Speaker 4 00:20:26 I love that. That's awesome.

Speaker 6 00:20:28 Yeah, that's, uh, so awesome. And definitely core to our branding as well. So, yeah, the whole thing just works out great.

Speaker 4 00:20:35 Great. So folks, I know it's Pride Month and it's the busy, lovely month, but definitely go find the Pride Pills, go support, go visit DC Brow. DC Brow has like, open mic nights every Friday. They have all kinds of events. You could also find DC Brow Beer at the 930 Club and the Anthem, which is very exciting because Brow now has a partnership with Impair. Um, uh, always, constantly, endlessly has really fun, um, gay friendly, family friendly events. Tons of drag. So nobody's going to drag them down. They're going to always have their drag going on at Red Bear. So go check everybody out. Brandon and Simon, thank you so, so much for coming on. I can't wait for everybody to hear more about all your upcoming plans and adventures. And I'd, uh, love to have you guys on again soon. Even do like a M mini, mini pause.

Speaker 3 00:21:40 Love it.

Speaker 4 00:21:41 Yeah, happy Pride and, uh, we'll see you soon.

Speaker 3 00:21:44 Yeah.

Speaker 6 00:21:44 Happy pride.

Jake Berg 00:21:48 Thank you very much, simon at, uh, red Bear. Thank you very much. Brandon at. Uh, DC Brow. It's really cool to see these two breweries come together. Um, I know times it's hard. It's hard times out there. We see the headlines, um, that this sort of solidarity in DC is much appreciated right now. All right, parting shot.

Speaker 3 00:22:11 Thoughts?

Jake Berg 00:22:12 Obviously, bunch of beer events coming up. Um, this weekend, we will see you all out and about.

Mike Stein 00:22:19 I'm, uh, sorry for your loss. That's all I'm going to say. We're losing breweries left and right, but if you want to see your favorite brewery, stay open. Frequent them. Go see them. Talk to them. Let them know you love them. And even if their business isn't doing well, you want them to stay in business. So let them know. Support. That's what we do, and we urge you to do the same. Thanks to all our Patreon subscribers. Thanks to everybody out there in beer land for listening to us. DC beer media can be found across the social media platforms at DC beer. Send us a DM slide in there. Let us know. Hey, that article was great. Hey, that article didn't like it so much. Well, why was that? Let us know. We thrive off your feedback, and we love getting new Patreon subscribers. Hit us up. Let us know what you think.

Speaker 4 00:23:11 Happy pride month, everyone. Cheers.

Speaker 3 00:23:13 Cheers. You close.