The DC Beer Show

The hosts discuss their current beer selections, upcoming events in the local beer community, and the beer of the month. They delve into industry news, including recent (failed) mergers and acquisitions, and explore the dynamics of local breweries and their community engagement. The conversation also touches on the future of craft beer, market trends, and the significance of Baltic Porter Day, with a special guest appearance planned.


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Creators and 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
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 (00:06)
Welcome everyone to the DC Beer Show. are at DC Beer across social media. Brandy, what are you drinking on this fine December evening?

Brandy (00:14)
I just finished my last sip of Spite House, the Port City West Coast Pale Ale. It is so good. I think this was my last can from our visit actually. ⁓ Jake and Mike piled in my little car, but I got us there. ⁓ So I just finished that and opened yet another Port City beer, the Baltic Porter.

⁓ Huge hit and I feel like they were almost sold out even though they had just released it. So I'm having a good Porter night. What are you drinking Stein?

Mike Stein (00:51)
Well, in the words of the immortal Fife dog, this shit is hidden. I, ⁓ I am having a Yorkshire Stingo from Samuel Smith's, although I have to comment on your choices. Brandy, the spite house and the Baltic Porter from PCBC were really hitting great visit with walk. love that Jacob scoops. What are you scooping out this evening?

Brandy (01:09)
Yeah.

Jake Berg (01:17)
I am still basking in Snallygaster Afterglow. So I've got here Goldfinger's Vienna Lager. ⁓ Delightful, sweet, bready, toasty, and it's got like this lovely bread crustiness to it, sweet malt. Like, I feel like, Mike, we've been talking a lot about Vienna Lager lately. And the reason is because Vienna Lager is just fucking awesome. ⁓ Yeah, there's nothing bad to say about this beer. It's delightful.

Brandy (01:24)
Ooh, nice.

Jake Berg (01:47)
Thank you Goldfinger for coming to Snally and thank you Allied for making sure that Goldfinger is available in Virginia and in DC.

Brandy (01:56)
Cheers to that.

Jake Berg (01:57)
Richard, super producer. What are you sippin' on tonight?

Richard (02:02)
Well, friends, I'm not drinking beer tonight. It's been a long, hard day. I'm enjoying a rye whiskey from Company Distilling in Townsend, Tennessee, ⁓ just 30 minutes away from my lovely home and just on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, literally about five minutes from the entrance to the park in Townsend. Company Distilling makes amazing

gin, vodka, ⁓ bourbon, scotch. Well, actually, they don't make scotch yet. They brew beer, but Company Distilling was founded by the former head distiller for Jack Daniels, who decided he wanted to do more than make the same thing over and over again. So he opened this beautiful distillery when you, my friends, come and visit ⁓ to us here in East Tennessee.

Brandy (02:46)
Ooh, fancy.

Richard (03:00)
in the Appalachian foothills, we will go and enjoy the wares at Company Distilling.

Brandy (03:07)
What's funny, Richard, is that the last several, I'm going to say months, I have been so over DC and driving and I'm like, I'm just ready to move somewhere that is not DC right now. I think of you and I was like, I still got to go visit Richard. ⁓ As much as I want to get out of DC as of late, I do have to say meeting the owner of Goldfinger and him buying me a beer at shelter, that's hard to...

you know, you move away. So I'm kind of on both, both team Richard and Jake. And speaking of Richard, I want to, because Jordan's not joining us tonight. Hey, Jordan. ⁓ Jordan called Richard something so funny today. And I have to shout it out because I did a spit take of my water earlier when I read it. I was like, my God, this is so good. What did Jordan call you, Richard?

Richard (04:00)
Ha ha ha.

I believe he called me the Podfather.

Brandy (04:06)
The Podfather. Because everyone, we call Richard Papa Beer. He's been Papa Beer for years, which I think I started that, sorry. ⁓ But The Podfather. Thank you, Jordan. Slow clap for that one. Very good.

Richard (04:08)
Ha ha ha ha ha!

⁓ Now,

Mike Stein (04:22)
Yeah, no, we love it here.

Richard (04:24)
I

want to say something. I want to respond to Brandy's like, ⁓ know, so and so bought you the beer at shelter. I want to point out that at my local, one of the four breweries here in Maryville, Tennessee, the one that I spend all of my time at, Peaceful Side Brewery, Karen and I just happened to be there the other night.

⁓ enjoying a little dinner, a little date night at the brewery talking to our friends. When who happens to walk in for a couple of beers? None other than Garrett Oliver. Just shows up at the brewery. Apparently his brother was in Townsend, playing some music at a gig and he thought he'd hop down because he actually helped to found Blackberry Farm Brewery, which is now Peaceful Side Brewery.

So yeah, you guys got some cool people who show up there, but our little town has some cool stuff that happens here too. So, all right.

Brandy (05:25)
Does that mean we're starting a Snallygaster ⁓ Tennessee edition?

Mike Stein (05:27)
Yeah.

Richard (05:30)
I am, it's so funny, because here's, I have two things to tell you, right? So that brewery, that brewery also has a Furkin Festival every year, right? So, ⁓ and it's fantastic and lots of folks come up, but there's a thing, there's a ⁓ smokehouse here called Benton's. They make Benton's bacon. Some of you may have heard of Benton's bacon. So Furkin Fest, which was a couple of weeks ago here, the

Mike Stein (05:31)
Tennessee Snail-E-Gaster.

Brandy (05:35)
I could never take on that work. Like, that's so much work.

Richard (05:58)
owner of Benton's bacon has this thing he's invented. It's a cone with a long stick on it and he sticks it in the fire and it gets like glowing hot. And then he puts bacon in it and the bacon melts out the bottom. And they use that to cook Rappahannock oysters from Rappahannock oyster company, who was also in town for Ferkinfest. Unfreaking believable. Oysters cooked in bacon fat.

Brandy (06:18)
Mmm.

Mike Stein (06:21)
Yeah. Yeah.

Richard (06:28)
Just was amazing. Anyway, I think we get to do some stuff

Mike Stein (06:30)
Yeah, well, you know, if

Brandy (06:30)
That sounds brilliant.

Mike Stein (06:32)
if the food is good enough, Garrett Oliver is just gonna magically appear, ⁓ which, you know, you've mentioned before, but I can't wait to have some some rye some rye whiskey with you, Richard, when we are your company. ⁓ But Brandy, I'll say you know, Tom, that was Tom from Goldfinger who bought you the beer. But it's thanks to allied allied distribution who we've actually had on the show before on the DC beer podcast. ⁓

Richard (06:45)
Yeah.

Mike Stein (06:59)
But we're looking ahead, we're looking back wonderful experiences we had. We're also looking forward. Brandy, what are you really excited about? That's just around the corner now that we are in December.

Brandy (07:13)
I am gonna wrap out or wrap up the year. ⁓ I think as we came in at Blue Jacket, we are back at Blue Jacket for our December slash last 2025 beer share. And I'm excited because everyone loves the Blue Jacket beer share and it's like all the members show up to that one, you know?

and it just feels like we're in such good company and we're enjoying great beer. And then we're doing the Women's Brew Culture Club. Amber and I, will be at Clear Skies Meadery in Rockville. We haven't actually been up to Rockville in a while and we haven't had a Women's Brew Culture Club meet up there at all. So I'm looking forward to that. We'll see who shows up and are mead lovers and mead not lovers. ⁓

I also want to check out since it's very close by Mayan Monkey. I haven't physically been to, but I know that their beer is very good. And we were just chatting with them in Werodaka about the delicious Motelis. ⁓ So I hope that we can check that spot out too. Thanks for asking, Stein.

Mike Stein (08:27)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we've had

some interest from our Maryland brewery friends. And if they're listening, if you're listening now, Maryland, we love you, Maryland breweries. Thanks for tuning in on December 21st. It's our listeners only supported member only supported. If you're not a member, go to patreon.com forward slash DC beer. I am going to bring some things.

And Dave Dellaplane, who is the manager at Blue Jacket will be there as well. He always has some goodies on hand. I can't get in and out of Blue Jacket with him being like, Oh, I just uncovered this 2021. we have a Phil Runco says on that I forgot about. Oh, here's an upland paw paw persimmon fruit and sour. I forgot I had from 2016. It's like, okay, we're bringing some heaters out today, I suppose. So we're really looking forward to that support us on Patreon and come.

visit us at Blue Jacket.

Jake Berg (09:27)
Since, Brandy, you mentioned Waradaka, they're having their anniversary this upcoming Saturday. I believe it's their sixth. ⁓ This beer, the Smoked Hellas, La Lumbre, it is a mulberry wood smoked hellas. is phenomenal. ⁓ It is a GABF, Great American Beer Festival, winner. It is one of my favorite beers of the year. It's an absolute delight.

Brandy (09:44)
It's phenomenal, like, yes.

wish that could be our beer of the month, but I'm not sure that that's widely distributed.

Mike Stein (10:01)
Wait a minute.

You said the magic word beer of the month. Jake. It's the DC beer playhouse. Jake, what is our beer of the month?

Brandy (10:07)
That's what Pee Wee Herman has.

Jake Berg (10:13)
Our beer of the month over at the brew shop in Arlington, which Patreon members can get this beer for 10 % off. is Silver Branch, keeping it Maryland, gnome for the holidays. So it's really, the holiday version of their saison It's bigger because it's the holiday version. I believe it's like 7.5, 7.6%.

It's going to have a little bit more of the festive holiday spice notes to it. It is, as Silver Branch does with their saisons, very well carbonated. And it packs a punch. ⁓

Brandy (10:57)
I want to say when you go visit Silver Branch to get Gnome for the holidays, if you can't make it all the way out to the brew shop, hey Julie Beth, we love you so much, ⁓ make sure you drink the new Coffee Chronicle. Holy crap, I was just there ⁓ for a ship beers with Bea episode with the brewers over at Silver Branch. Hey Alex and Roger, thanks, nice to meet you. ⁓ And I just adore all the brewers at Silver Branch.

bubbly, fun, kind, know, young, but like very passionate ⁓ and they made a damn good beer. The Coffee Chronicle is a chef's kiss times 300. So go get Gnome for the holidays.

Jake Berg (11:43)
I paired Coffee Chronicle with the pies at Thanksgiving. And if you have figgy pudding on your mind for your Dickensian Christmas holiday, I strongly recommend one of the Chronicle series. Maybe it wouldn't go coffee, but there's a barrel aged version that I think would play very well with your figgy pudding, date pudding, toffee pudding, persimmon pudding. Pudding, you know what to do.

Brandy (12:08)
to know how you eat pudding. Do you scoop it? Jakes, do you have any scoops for us scoops?

Richard (12:08)
you

Jake Berg (12:15)
I do. By the way, folks,

these British puddings are really like very soggy moist cakes made in bundt pans. I know the British, they call things pudding that aren't like jello pudding. Anyway, here's your scoop of the day. And this one's really for you, Richard. Let's get your reaction. Aslin tried and failed to buy DC Brau last month.

Richard (12:41)
Wait,

Jake Berg (12:42)
So, yeah.

Richard (12:43)
Aslin, wait, no, hold on. I'm gonna repeat

this just to make sure that I heard you right. Aslin attempted a hostile takeover. Okay. They tried to buy DC Brau. Okay, so tell me the story. I have to hear this story.

Jake Berg (12:50)
Yes. Attempted. Well, not in so many words.

Mike Stein (12:59)
This is editor, the takeover is editorializing.

Jake Berg (13:03)
Yes.

So, yeah.

So recall that we teased this out over several months earlier in the year that there was going to be a major brewery merger acquisition on the horizon. And what it came out was, that Aslin was going to buy, merge, incorporate Manhattan's torch and crown brewing.

Brandy (13:31)
They still haven't completed that. Like that's still, it's, yeah.

Jake Berg (13:33)
which they still have not completed, yeah,

into this thing called the Driven Collective because a lot of these mergers and acquisitions, you form some sort of collective. We've seen this with like Victory, Bold Rock, Six Point Southern Tier, they have a collective. so Aslin, they're the Driven Collective. They said they weren't done adding. And the reason they said that was they were in negotiations with DC Brau

But those negotiations fell through. And what I have here from Andrew Kelley with two E's, one of the co-founders ⁓ of Aslin is that, and I quote, as we got further into the process, it became clear that the transaction no longer aligned with our priorities. So we decided not to move forward. We wish the DC Brau team nothing but the best. ⁓

We don't have a comment from Brandon Skal, CEO and co-founder of DC Brau yet, but that is your scoop over the week of the month of 2025 is that

Richard (14:36)
Hmmmm

Well...

Jake Berg (14:48)
Wow, all right, Mike, what does this mean?

Mike Stein (14:50)
treating it as

yeah, I'm treating it as a scoops du jour because today is a day, you know, like like any other day. However, I will say ⁓ you should hear David Infante out. And this is from an article I wrote with slate. ⁓ So our last podcast episode, we had David Infante, an award winning journalist, but he quoted me when I had him on slate quote, the problem for midsize Brewers

is that there's a whole massive long tail of tiny breweries that's even more agile than them, says Dave Infante, who writes fingers a newsletter about drinking. So to me, this is really indicative of you want to keep growing stagnancy in beer is death. We're in a new age now where craft beer as cringe as you may think to call it craft, be craft beer is now just beer, which is awesome, right? We had this raising tide

lifts all ships and this onslaught and this golden double digit growth from let's say 2005 to 2015. But in the last 10 years, we've seen more and more contraction where it's really hard out there right now. ⁓ So Aslin is not quite on the spending spree. They told us they weren't done when they were moving to acquire Torch and Crown in New York City, because they were in negotiations with Brau negotiations fell through.

amicable agreement on both sides, but there are still there's still like 29 when this comes out 20 plus days left in 2025 to see some white like we we thought this was the year to be the most wild just let's just wait and see ⁓ where we shake out in the first quarter of 2026.

Richard (16:31)
Anything could happen.

Jake Berg (16:42)
And like the new story here, shouldn't be that DC Brau is for sale. It's 2025 beer is stagnant everywhere. Every brewery, every brewery is for sale. There might not be ongoing negotiations. It's just that no one has made an offer for that brewery to accept, right? For a split second there for a full calendar year.

We had Heavy Seas, by the way, happy 30th anniversary to them also this Saturday as the largest independent craft brewer in Maryland. Houston saying all the right things like flying dog left, dewclaw left, Guinness has downsized their Baltimore footprint. Well, now Heavy Seas is part of this B3 collective really sort of led by two roads out of Connecticut, Stratford.

North Haven.

So that's, yeah, that a brewery is for sale.

Brandy (17:48)
Isn't there some drama

at Elder, not Elder Pine, ⁓ Manor Hill? Isn't there Manor Hill drama too that I just read?

Jake Berg (17:54)
Yeah. there's

yes. And so I believe that the largest independent brewery in Maryland, once this is all said and done, is going to be unions employee owned operation in Baltimore. But Manor Hill makes an awful lot of beer. And right now Manor Hill and their neighbors appear to be feuding over an access road, among other things. Baltimore media has covered this well.

And it may be the case that Manor Hill is not making beer for a little bit. If you're not making beer and you're Manor Hill, you're not making money. The next six months, eight months are going to be very, very, very interesting. We haven't even gotten into all the, you know, the class of 2015, class of 2016 with 10 year leases up.

Richard (18:46)
Hmm.

Brandy (18:47)
Hmm.

Yeah, I didn't think about that. That's depressing. No. Okay. Take us at a higher note, Mike.

Jake Berg (18:51)
It is indeed.

Mike Stein (18:52)
Well, let's let's reframe it. Yeah, let's

reframe it. OK, so I'm going to go back to another thing I wrote a few years ago. This one for Washington City Paper. I was quoting James Warner, who was then owner and founder of City State Brewing Company, and it was sad then it was about the closure of three stars, which was another ⁓ early opener in the DC brewing world. DC Brau was the first production brewery since Prohibition. ⁓

alongside chocolate city and three stars. So anyways, an OG if you will in the scene. So Warner says, I think it signals that we're coming to the end of chapter one in the modern DC brewing store story says James Warner. but what's interesting about, about city state is they have transitioned now from a brew pub brewery production brewery with brand building potential to different brew houses when they first opened to being a public house, a common house.

a bar, tavern, tap room combo. So if there can be a future from someone who saw runway getting shorter and said, Oh, we need to pull up and course correct on this plane and get this aircraft to the next, uh, airport before we touch down. That's good news. We want that to happen. And what's crazy is I'm, you know, I'm working on this book about quote unquote ancient times from colonial times to the present in DC brewing.

it's been done before in DC beer history. We've had lager brewers who shifted their lager houses to pubs. We've had publicans who decided to open a brewery. So there is room and there is a niche to fill in the market. You just have to have enough runway. And I know that's a euphemism for money lease, a landlord who's willing to work with you, but I think it's interesting.

Jake Berg (20:46)
We're also talking about some of the larger breweries here that are really designed to get their beer into stores. There's a lot of competition there. And so, yeah, maybe there isn't room for another brewery the size of DC Brau, DC's second largest brewery, which as Mike Stein has noted on our site earlier in the year, 10 or 11,000 barrels of beer per year.

They're designed to put that beer into grocery stores, into kegs, it goes to bars, restaurants, a baseball stadium. But there's plenty of room at say the level of lost generation. Every neighborhood in DC could support a brewery like that if the product is good enough. And so yeah, there's this bad news and there's a shakeup.

at the top and at the middle of craft. But as Mike and Dave and Infante mentioned earlier, the smaller folks are still pretty agile and they're able to serve their communities. You want to be the next Sierra Nevada? I think that ship is sailed. You want to be the next lost generation? You want to have a brew pub, meet people where they are? You can still absolutely do that. It's just getting that end cap, you know,

at Harris Teeter when you turn the corner and it's like six of your brands right there, that's gone. That's not happening anymore. But there's absolutely plenty of room for a neighborhood place that makes 3000 barrels a year, sells 90 % of what they've got out of the tap room. Yeah, that's great. We can all still do that.

Mike Stein (22:39)
just to put it in historical context Jake, you'd mentioned Sierra Nevada. If you want to be the next year in Nevada, that ship may have sailed. Maybe not. As you mentioned, every brewery has their price. So you might be better off buying a brewery that's already at 100, 200, 300,000 barrels production size. But I want to point out that, you know, we had elections. There's electoral news in DC with mayor Bowser stepping down, but

specifically in New York City in my birthplace, have ⁓ mayor elect Mamdani who's the first democratic socialist since I was a child in New York. David Dinkins was actually the last one. And when I was a wee Stein in New York City and David Dinkins was the ⁓ socialist democratic mayor of New York City, Sierra Nevada was already five years old then that was 1989. So it's kind of crazy to think about

that cycle and that long term of a cycle. But if you can think that far out, you'd be wise to say, okay, there's going to be all these 10 year leases going out in 2016. Who's not going to re up who wishes they could stay but doesn't have cash flow who has a landlord who's just the biggest jerk on the planet needs a new landlord, right? Like if you can think a little more strategically like that, you might be able to succeed.

Jake Berg (24:01)
Mr. Stein, would you please be my mayor? You'd be doing us a really big favor.

Mike Stein (24:05)
Ha ha ha.

boy. Love love the rock and roll Hall of Fame, a tribe called quest musical reference. Mr. Berg as always.

Jake Berg (24:17)
Yes, indeed, indeed.

Richard (24:17)
Well done.

Is that our second Tribe Called Quest reference so far? I think so. I think that's two.

Mike Stein (24:21)
That's that's good.

Jake Berg (24:28)
You you have your scripture and we have ours and it's okay.

Mike Stein (24:32)
Hehehehehe

Richard (24:33)
I

want to let me tell you a little bit as long as you're having this let me tell you a little bit from a different angle right like the DC area you've got all these breweries it's a large metropolitan area one of the things that I've noticed here where I live in a suburb of Knoxville Tennessee right so one of the most successful breweries in the area I live in is of course Xul Brewing Company but for those of you who know

anything about Xul you probably know that Xul's number one selling beverage is not in fact a beer. It is in fact a seltzer and it is their PB &J mixtape. They sell hundreds of thousands of dollars of this every single month. ⁓ And they sell a lot of ⁓ beer. ⁓ But they have two locations. I believe they're opening a third, although the third location may not have a taproom. It may just be a brewing facility.

⁓ They are in a neighborhood with three or four other breweries in Knoxville, but each of those breweries specializes in something. And that's one of the things that I've found really interesting is you've got Xul which specializes really in a variety, wide variety of really different, interesting kinds of flavors. They have a food truck and they have a game room, like a video game room. They have things to keep people entertained.

⁓ And then you've got Yee-Haw, which is, I will be honest, not my favorite brewery, not a big fan of them, but they have an enormous space with giant televisions. ⁓ Also, you can get Nashville hot chicken there, which is one reason to go, but that's a different story. But they are, that's where the sports fans go on the weekends to watch the games, right? We're in the South. Obviously Knoxville is home to the University of Tennessee, lots of sports fans. ⁓

Then there's Crafty Bastard in the same neighborhood. Crafty Bastard is like your tiny little ⁓ dive bar of a brewery, right? They make great beer, but it's maybe the size, I'm trying to think of a comparison. Like the whole thing is basically the size of the sort of main taproom, little taproom area with the bathroom at DC Brau. You know, can y'all...

Brandy (26:59)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mike Stein (27:01)
Yeah,

Richard (27:01)
envision that

Brandy (27:01)
Mm-hmm.

Richard (27:02)
right there's a counter there's a bathroom there's a cooler there's some tables and chairs like that's pretty much the size of crafty bastard ⁓ it's tiny it's small they do have a patio where you can sit outside those are three of the breweries that are all walking distance to each other but they're all very very unique and they sort of specialize in their own things

Mike Stein (27:02)
yeah.

Richard (27:21)
So there are plenty of people who'll go to Yee-Haw, but they haven't been to the other two. There are plenty of people who go to Xul, but have not been to the other people. And then there's the people who are like, Crafty Bastard's my place, right? I don't like the other shit. I like good old lagers and stouts and porters and they go to Crafty Bastard. ⁓ And that's one of the things that I've seen here that I don't recognize from DC is like every brewery is like, this is our thing. And many of them focus just as much on their food as they do on their beer.

So just something that I've noticed that I saw different, like there's not a lot of breweries that are opening all the time. And if they are, they're like, this is what makes us unique and special.

Mike Stein (27:57)
Yeah. No, it's, it's a good point. ⁓

Jake Berg (28:01)
No, I think it's a very good point. I I'm drinking this lager from Goldfinger there in the Chicago suburbs. I don't know if Goldfinger makes any beer that is not a lager.

Mike Stein (28:05)
Yeah.

Jake Berg (28:15)
You'd look at another Chicago brewery that Mike's already mentioned Dovetail, for example, right? Dovetail does lagers and mixed fermentation, Belgian style, yacht and land, like lambic inspired beers. And that's what they've got. And in a way, every single DC and DC area brewery on some level does try to be more of an all things to all people. And ⁓ that's different.

Mike Stein (28:20)
Eeeee-yeh.

Jake Berg (28:45)
And it might not always work out for the best. I I know that like Brandy's got two Port City beers tonight. Port City hits these styles very, very well. But I think that to like the casual beer drinker that tends to make them underrated because they're not making PB &J mix tape or this like double mashed Imperial stout.

aged for 18 months with Cook Island's vanilla like what Xul does. And I know I'm not being fair to Xul here because I've had a very lovely Schwarz beer from Xul. They brought it to DC because they wanted to show, hey, look, this is what the brewers drink while they're making the other stuff, to which I say, great. What I want and what we want isn't necessarily what the beer drinking public

Richard (29:26)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Mike Stein (29:39)
Yeah, I think.

Jake Berg (29:44)
once.

Mike Stein (29:45)
I think there's a piece to it, Richard, that you've brought in here, which is like fish don't know water's wet. You ask a fish if the water's wet and they're like, what's water? ⁓ right. Like that's the old adage, but, ⁓ I brought, some port city beer and some blind house beer. We've actually had blind house beer at a Roanoke on the show. Go back a couple episodes and listen in, but I brought them cobblestone sour from port city. Easy drinking 4 % ABV, no fruit, just

straight up little tartness, little sourness, ale, and then blind house. He's ridiculously complex Asian wood, oak fermentation, sometimes botanical or flower, like dry, urban dry flowering. And they liked them both. They love them both. But my, my sister-in-law was like, port city session, sour, you know, I think every sour I've had in 2025 has had fruit, ⁓ fruit zest.

flowers, herbs, etc. She's like, it's so nice to have a 4 % sour beer with nothing in it just like, you know, barley water, yeast and microorganisms. And I was like, yeah, like, I kind of forget. But port city's niche is very much making like, easy drinking beer, whether it be a strong Baltic Porter, or a small, as they say, session sour. ⁓ And, ⁓ you know, I think what port city does really well is they want

people that keep coming back, they've now announced the taco, the permanent stand there. ⁓ And, you know, what they've done is they've created an environment where people keep coming back and not just people, you'll see employees on their day off on their shifts not working show up there. ⁓ And that's a wonderful culture to see at a brewery. And we really hope we'll continue to see it. Brandy, I'm going to ask you about Baltic

Porter, do you have something about Baltic Porter for our listeners?

Brandy (31:43)
thought you did because we were talking about the next guest. Who's our next guest? ⁓

Richard (31:48)
Back at ya, Stein.

Mike Stein (31:50)
Yes, we do. It's Baltic

Porter Day coming up in January. And so our next guest is going to be Pojala. They're in Estonian brewery, and they were here for Snallygaster. And I got to meet the brewery owner and the head brewer there. ⁓ Had a wonderful conversation with him before. And then after you know, post-Snally, we're gonna have the the Baltic Porter brewers. They're literally Porter brewers.

They live in one of the Baltic countries and we're going to have them on the next episode to preempt Baltic Porter Day.

Brandy (32:28)
wish we could have a, well, we might actually have a get together in January right around that time if we manifest our live in-person podcast. So we're still in talks. It is actively manifesting ⁓ and ⁓ we aren't going to tell anyone where it might be, but we are going to have a meeting this Friday and I'm really looking forward to if we do have it.

Richard (32:41)
It is manifesting. It is manifesting. Yes it is.

Brandy (32:58)
having it there, having it there. ⁓ It's gonna be quite lovely. And I want to know, I wanna have like a Baltic Porter celebration in honor of Baltic Porter Day, which was the 20ish, 18th? ⁓ And yeah, it'll be right around that time. So keep your eyes and ears glued to DC Beer so you know when we're gonna have our live in-person recording and the Podfather.

AKA Papa Beer will come all the way from Tennessee just to be here.

Mike Stein (33:28)
Hehehehehe ⁓

Richard (33:28)
You

I will be there. I'ma

Mike Stein (33:35)
Yes.

Richard (33:35)
be, y'all will be there.

Mike Stein (33:35)
We've made the Podfather an offer he cannot refuse.

Brandy (33:38)
⁓ Michael McDonald,

yay!

Ha ha ha!

Richard (33:45)
cannot refuse.

Brandy (33:47)
Thanks guys. ⁓ I want to say I'm thankful for all of you. I didn't get to see you for Thanksgiving, but I'm thankful for my DC Beer family. I adore you all.

Jake Berg (33:50)
Alright folks.

Mike Stein (34:03)
Feeling is mutual.

Jake Berg (34:03)
And we thank

you and we adore you and we thank our listeners and especially the good folks at patreon.dcbeer.com slash patreon for your support. We will see many of you this Friday at Churchkey for Allagash. And a tap takeover, little anniversary of sorts. I believe they're going to have 30 beers there. I won't say I'm going to have them all, but if I get halfway there.

Richard (34:08)
Yes, we do.

Mmm.

Jake Berg (34:34)
That's great. Yeah. We can meet in the middle. It'll be cool. Yeah. All right, folks. Yeah. ⁓ they'll be pictures. I may have him sign my hat or something.

Brandy (34:34)
I'll meet you the other way.

Mike Stein (34:41)
Go say hello to Rob Todd and Brandi and Jake.

Brandy (34:50)
That'd be so cool. Nerds. Okay. Happy holidays, everybody. Yeah. Join us the next episode.

Jake Berg (34:51)
Yeah. Nerds. Alright, folks.

Richard (34:54)
It's been so much fun joining y'all for this episode of the DC

Mike Stein (34:58)
Thanks for joining us.

Richard (35:00)
Beer Show.

Jake Berg (35:01)
Yeah, right before we go, we are @dcbeer on social media. Check your brewery social media as well for Christmas and other holiday markets. Shop small, support small businesses at a small business like a craft independent brewery. All right, thank you all. Until next time.

Brandy (35:21)
Cheers.

Mike Stein (35:22)
Bye bye.

Richard (35:22)
Cheers.