Exploring DC's Beer and Cocktail Scene with Jessica Sidman from Washingtonian

In this episode, we welcome Jessica Sidman, Food Editor at Washingtonian, to discuss the latest trends in the DC food and drink scene. They explore the importance of supporting local breweries, the challenges facing restaurants and bars, and the rise of neighborhood bars. 

The conversation also touches on the significance of food trucks and the community's engagement with local establishments. Throughout the episode, the hosts share their favorite drinks and experiences, creating a lively and informative discussion about the evolving culinary landscape of DC.

Follow what's happening in the DC scene at DCBeer.com and @dcbeer on social media. Support us at Patreon.com/DCBeer

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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.

JB (00:06)
Welcome everyone to DC Beer Show, the first episode of 2026. are at DC Beer across social media. Brandy, what are you drinking tonight?

Brandy (00:15)
I going to do a little plug to introduce what we were going to talk about in a little bit, but I am currently drinking Bluejacket's Lady Bird. I'm kind of obsessed with this beer by kind of. I'm very obsessed with this. This is my third four pack of this. Not tonight. I'm not drunk tonight, but it's the Lady Bird. It is the red IPA, the red pale ale, and it is just

I have no notes. I have no notes. Good job, Ro and Colin. ⁓ I look forward to talking about our brew day with Ro and Colin ⁓ very soon. Also, you can't see it. you might be able to because we record video now, but I'm donning my new blue jacket sweater shirt thing. I'm so excited. Mr. Stein, what are you drinking?

Michael Stein (01:07)
Well, hey, Brandy, I'm having Port City's Baltic Porter. We just published our Baltic Porter roundup. And as you know, Baltic Porter Day is upon us. If you don't know, it's the 11th anniversary Baltic Porter. had Poyala, the Estonian brewers on the pod last episode. ⁓ So we're leaning into Baltic Porter Day with a local one this time from Port City. We have a very special guest tonight.

Brandy (01:10)
Mmm.

Michael Stein (01:34)
Jessica Sidman, who covers the people and trends behind DC's food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was food editor and young and hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad. Jessica, welcome again. Welcome to the show.

Jessica Sidman (01:55)
Thank you so much. I didn't bring a cool drink with me and now I feel really lame.

Michael Stein (01:57)
So, yeah, well, why don't you give us something? ⁓

Brandy (01:59)
Hahaha!

Michael Stein (02:04)
I should really ask Jake what he's drinking, but before I ask Jake what he's having, ⁓ give us something that knocked your socks off, wowed you. A wine, an NA cocktail, a beer, a cider, a matcha, a coffee drink. What's something that's wowed you?

Jessica Sidman (02:06)
you

Ooh,

can I go cocktail? Is that against the spirit of a beer show? Okay, okay. So, well, so I just turned 40 a few days ago and I am gonna have a birthday party. Thank you, thank you. ⁓ I'm having a martini party for my birthday and it's gotten a little bit out of control where I have like five different batch cocktails.

Michael Stein (02:20)
Mmm.

JB (02:23)
No, no, we love cocktails here.

Brandy (02:24)
No.

Welcome to the club.

Jessica Sidman (02:46)
⁓ Batch martinis that I'm trying to make and some of them I Got the recipes from different bars. So like one of my favorite martinis in DC is ⁓ the clean dirty martini from your only friend and They were kind enough to give me a version of their recipe because the actual recipe involves a centrifuge, which I don't have at home

But I bought like, has this like, had this clarified olive brine that has MSG and lactic acid, which I had to buy on Amazon. So we'll see how that's going, but it's in my fridge right now. And hopefully it can come together before this weekend.

Brandy (03:14)
Most breweries don't even have a centrifuge.

Michael Stein (03:36)
That is dedication.

Brandy (03:37)
absolutely

love the martini party. I love a martini and my go-to martini place now is obviously Ebys because they have all of the martinis and ⁓ I wore one of my martini. I had these little hair clips, side note, ⁓ and I had a dirty martini one and I just was so inspired because Selena at

Jessica Sidman (03:40)
you

Yes.

Brandy (04:01)
Ebys made me a dirty martini one day and I was just like, do you want my clip? I love you so much. So I like gifted my dirty martini hair clip. But kudos to the martini party. Now you've inspired me. I love that.

Jessica Sidman (04:15)
Yeah, the most important part

is the garnish bar. I have like six different kinds of olives and the pickled onions and little peppers and it's gonna be epic. It's over the top, it's too much.

Brandy (04:30)
Nice. Jake, what are you drinking?

Michael Stein (04:30)
It sounds like it.

JB (04:33)
⁓ that's

right. I get to do this too. I have here Atlas's Half Street, Half of Eisen. ⁓ So keeping it local like Stein, also Central Eastern European. ⁓ I try and think about like every January, which local beer could conceivably like snag like a World Beer Cup or a Great American Beer Festival medal. And so for 2026, my two are DC Braus Vienna Lager.

Jessica Sidman (04:37)
You

JB (05:03)
which we've talked about in the site and we'll continue to, because it's fucking phenomenal. And right now, half street Hefeweizen, something like the Atlas half street flagship beer, it's clear not cloudy, maybe more like a Crystal Weizen. It's really locked in. It's just absolutely delicious. So I am on can number two because what, know, five, five and a half percent. It's 2026, there's no rules anymore.

I could chase it down with a martini. I could make it skate, ⁓ know, little ice chips on the side, how people like it. Good times.

Brandy (05:39)
I that I could spend an hour just raving about the beer that I had at Elder Pine yesterday, but I'm not going to, but I'm just going to say two highlights from Elder Pine visit. ⁓ They had a mosaic West Coast, just nothing but mosaic, and I was in love. Obviously, I'm a mosaic whore. Then we took home a four pack of the pills, and it's just

It's perfection. I mean, I've never had a bad beer from Elder Pine. ⁓ yeah, kudos to our Maryland breweries and meteries. We went to a meterie yesterday, which I will talk about later, but I want to hear all about Jessica Sidman's ⁓ ins and outs.

Michael Stein (06:13)
Yeah.

I will say Brandy ⁓ Elder pine has a Baltic Porter. So shameless plug for another Baltic Porter in the most recent article up on DC beer.com. Jessica, let me ask you about ⁓ you have so many pieces on Washingtonian right now. We really, we really had a hard time narrowing it down. ⁓ So I figured I would just take some of your words, give our listeners a little flavor and then have you react and comment on them so we can get a bit more.

⁓ In the top trends of 2026, you wrote, I think we take for granted some of the places that have been around. I'm annotating that quote. Do you feel this is true? Obviously for restaurants, we're talking about restaurants, bars and pubs, but do think this is true for breweries and pubs in addition to restaurants? And you know, what did you have in mind when you were mentioning the places that have been around?

Jessica Sidman (06:52)
Let's do it.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, everything is, I think, especially in this social media area era, so focused on what's the newest thing, what's the hot thing. And, you know, obviously my job is very centered around news and what's opening and what, you know, what's new on the menu, what new product. And we sometimes forget that these places exist that have been around, you know, literal

decades and for good reason. And, you know, for not visiting them, they may not continue to survive. We had a lot of, you know, institutions really that closed last year. ⁓ And, you know, I was kind of taking stock of the year and thinking of some of the places that I have loved in the past and realizing I haven't been there in ages, you know, places like ⁓

Bon Me DC Sandwich, which is actually in Falls Church. The best Bon Me in the whole area, way overdue for a visit. ⁓ What was some of the other ones? ⁓ Taqueria La Placita that's out in, is it Hyattsville or somewhere in Maryland? ⁓ Edmonds, yeah, yes, I think you're right. It's not quite, yeah.

JB (08:31)
We're gonna call it like Edmonston, Riverdale. Yeah, that's my hood.

⁓ Tremendous tacos out that way. Also a couple of really good like left of center ice cream spots if you're into tropical and more exotic fruit flavors.

Jessica Sidman (08:40)
So good.

⁓

yeah, what's that place called? I know what you're talking about.

JB (08:49)
Yeah,

I know it's like on the tip of my tongue. We'll drop it in the show notes. Yeah, good stuff.

Jessica Sidman (08:53)
Okay.

Yeah, and I think, you know, the last few years have been very focused on this maximalism and vibe. ⁓ And I do think we are gonna see more of a return to comfort and nostalgia. So this is actually the perfect time to revisit some of the oldies but goodies.

Michael Stein (09:23)
Yeah, I certainly feel it's the case with, with breweries as well. You know, ⁓ port city is older than blue jacket, which is what brand is having, ⁓ Atlas can be older than blue jacket when they opened. But of course their new brewing facility in Anacostia is, is the youngest of all the, the DC breweries right now, even though the brand itself is, you know, a decade plus in, in the, in the brewing industry. ⁓ so friendly reminder, visit your local favorite.

because we want we want to see them around for another decade. ⁓ Yeah, for sure. I hate to go into the negative. But as we know, ⁓ some of our best articles have to do with closings. It's just the nature of the beast, sadly. And so also in this top trends of 2026 piece, you wrote, ⁓ I think another rough year for DC area restaurants. ⁓ 2026 will be a year of caution.

I've annotated you said a couple of restaurant and bar owners are holding off on new projects because they feel things are going to get worse before they get better. ⁓ Yeah, I'm not gonna ask you to out your sources, but tell us the vibes from these restaurant would be new restaurant new bar owners who are, you know, overseeing the places they operate right now and are feeling trepidatious about a year we find ourselves.

Jessica Sidman (10:33)
Yes.

Yeah,

I mean, we were kind of discussing earlier, you know, the vibes in DC are just bad right now. And 2025 was a really hard year for a lot of bars and restaurants and, you know, anyone who's in the hospitality space, especially here in DC. There was so much chaos with this new administration, with, you know, the tariffs and these mass federal layoffs, people not wanting to

spend money, the National Guard spooking everyone, this huge immigration crackdown, making workers afraid to just go to work, literally the longest government shutdown in history, and then on top of that, all this drama over the tipped wage happening in DC. So it was just really one thing after another.

Brandy (11:21)
you

Jessica Sidman (11:47)
I hate to say it, but there's not a lot of sunshine on the horizon for 2026 at this point. ⁓ I would say one of the bar owners I spoke to who was anonymous, had ⁓ this place. It was honestly, I can't say what the location was, but it was actually kind of an iconic location.

And he'd always wanted to open a bar there and the space was available. And he ended up kind of backing out with the landlord because there was just too much uncertainty. know, he was worried, you know, is Trump going to deploy more military on the streets in D.C.? What effect would that have? Even just building out the bar to find the labor, you know, he already has another

place in the works and he's struggling to find, you know, people to work on that. So to find ⁓ people to work on this new project with this immigration crackdown. ⁓ And there is just this sense, like you said, that things may get worse before they get better.

Michael Stein (13:04)
Yeah. One thing bright on the horizon is we have a beer coming out. We we the DC beer show. Hey, hard turn sharp turns there. ⁓ We have a beer coming out at the end of this month, which we're really excited about. ⁓ And we can get into a little bit more. But ⁓ the big hard hitting question is, can a restaurant bar, brew pub or brewery have

Jessica Sidman (13:11)
But what a transition!

Brandy (13:11)
Yeah

Michael Stein (13:34)
enough hooks.

Jessica Sidman (13:36)
This is, yes, this is one of my biggest pet peeves and I have been thinking about it a lot frequently because I feel like I go to like a nice bar or a nice restaurant and everything about the service and the food is on point and then I go to the restroom and I'm like, where do I put my purse?

Michael Stein (13:36)
Everybody wants to know the answer to this.

Jessica Sidman (14:00)
Do I put it on the floor? How dirty is this floor? Am I going to try to hold it awkwardly? Do I put it on the door handle? Is it going to fall off or unlock the door? And I'm just like, please invest in a hook. They're literally $3. I don't know. And so I did a little rant about this. And I posted it on Twitter.

Brandy (14:17)
you

Jessica Sidman (14:26)
Honestly, it was one of the most viral things that I've posted in a long time. It got like thousands of likes and shares and everything. ⁓ It was particularly resonant with women, I think. But I don't think this is something that affects everyone. Everyone has a coat. And...

I do think there might be a correlation though between bars that are owned by men and where I've seen this issue. I think if it was bar owned by a woman, you would have hooks galore.

Brandy (15:09)
Absolutely. I'm with you.

JB (15:11)
You know who has hooks henceforth on H Street owned primarily by two dudes? Obviously the beer there is really good. I know like there's a lot of gloom and doom here and I think 2026 will continue that trend. But we're also seeing a couple of spots. We've mentioned one of them, E.B.'s is slammed. Chai Peni, like it's difficult to get in, you know,

Jessica Sidman (15:15)
⁓ okay, I appreciate that.

Okay.

Yes, yes.

JB (15:40)
before nine unless you want to eat at like 530 and have a blue plate special. So there are restaurants, there are bars, they're out there where things are working.

Jessica Sidman (15:51)
Yeah, Eby's is really interesting to me because it's really just a basic bar that has a good burger and like does things really well. I just went actually for the first time a couple nights ago and Emily, the owner, was saying that on that Friday night, I believe they had 150 people.

waiting in line when it opened at 5 p.m., which is just insane. ⁓ And you know, like every now and then one of these places comes around to D.C. where everyone feels the need to line up and wait for whatever it is. And usually, you know, it's hot, ⁓ hot new chef, like trendy cuisine. This is very unique because it's really just a bar.

But I think it's a very telling of the moment that we're in that people want to go back to the basics. Again, they want just that nostalgia. Simple things done right. Highly underrated. You know, don't need all the gimmicks. Just a really great burger, a great martini, affordable prices. People will line up.

Brandy (17:08)
also, I completely agree with you on that, but I think with Eby's, the one thing that sets it apart and that everyone is so in love with Eby's really is because of Emily Brown, because she has been in the industry for such a long time, mostly beer. did the beer director ⁓ for Green Zone and Andy's and she's

Jessica Sidman (17:24)
Yes, yes.

Brandy (17:35)
been in the game for such a long time and has made all of these wonderful relationships and connections. And all of those people support her 100 % wholeheartedly as they should. But then the word is getting out about how amazing the burger is and the crab dip is to die for and the mot sticks. like just the vibe of E.B.'s is really what every neighborhood really, really needs and deserves. You know, like I live up

Jessica Sidman (17:57)
Yeah.

Brandy (18:04)
in Fort Totten area. And I know I've ranted about this before, but the only bar we had was Hellbender. And there's nothing up here now. I mean, it's just a bunch of places for people to live and then the Metro. There's nothing else. ⁓ And that's what makes EB such a gem is because it's such a beloved little local neighborhood bar that every neighborhood should have.

Right? And, you know, and the burger is fucking vegan. The club sandwich and yeah, everything's good.

Jessica Sidman (18:34)
Yes.

The burger is good.

It's funny because the very first I heard about it and I wrote about it early on, but I first learned about it because I was at a restaurant. was at an omakase restaurant of all places and there were some people, some industry people, think bartenders who also happened to be eating there that night and they were talking about E.B.'s and like E.B.'s is the best, da da da da.

they knew Emily and I was like, okay, what is this place? I gotta like look into it and you know, there you go. But yeah, I didn't know Emily previously, but I find her to be a endearing person.

Brandy (19:22)
Yeah, she's delightful as fuck for sure. Yeah. And you get a light in the dark beer for $8. What? It's amazing.

Jessica Sidman (19:24)
Yeah

Michael Stein (19:29)
Yeah.

Jessica Sidman (19:30)
Yeah.

Michael Stein (19:30)
Well, and in keeping within ⁓ various famous places, both real and imagined, it's kind of like Cheers, and you expect to see, you know, norm at the bar cliff, cliff. ⁓ But then there's the real McSorley's Ale House, right? And Emily has some of New York City, she has some Manhattan in her working background. Also, Emily, as a leader, like, I think we're in a serious lack of good leadership.

And if you have somebody that's so charismatic, a charismatic leader at the helm who really has been in the trenches in the well, on the rail, working that service like Andy's has had massive success. Right. And Emily's a huge piece of that. But then ⁓ Dead Rabbits or like various spots in New York City, they couldn't be more different than Andy's just in terms of vibe and feel. And I think Ebys kind of marries, you know, this viral success of Andy's and then the more earthy

Jessica Sidman (20:12)
Mm-hmm.

Michael Stein (20:28)
kind of working the rail, even the rail drinks are fantastic at a lot of these New York City watering holes.

Brandy (20:36)
Yeah.

Jessica, wanted to, ⁓ I know Mike mentioned or Jake mentioned Hensforth with the hooks, but if you haven't been to Hensforth, I really, I highly recommend because, have you been there by chance? Okay, well, I'm not throwing you under the bus. I just know that I don't, beer is not your number one, I'm assuming, right? It's like cocktails, wine.

Jessica Sidman (20:52)
I have not been.

Okay, yeah.

You know, I don't like to pick favorites, but my personal go-to is probably usually a cocktail.

Brandy (21:05)
Okay.

Okay, so henceforth, I just wanna like blow up henceforth for a second because it's gorgeous on the inside. Like it's not like any other brewery. You walk in, it looks like a mid-century modern ⁓ like step in time, step back in time. And they have an entire wine bar and a whole cocktail program with may or may not be a speakeasy in the background. I will get in trouble if I say that there is, but.

Jessica Sidman (21:17)
Hmm.

Brandy (21:36)
I'm not denying that there is not one. ⁓ But you should go. You should just try it out ⁓ because Ben, the brewer, yeah, Ben, the brewer, he makes really fantastic beer. And I know beer's probably not your number one, but just try the beer because it's really well done and just the place is just really beautiful. I would love, as a beer lover, would love for you to go and try Hensforth out. And I want to get your opinion on it. Yeah.

Jessica Sidman (21:43)
It's been on my list, yes.

Yeah, I'm excited.

And you know, it's exciting to have a new brewery in DC because I feel like there hadn't been one in quite a while. Yeah, yeah, which, you know, came in from out of town, right? is that, or no? Or was that, I'm thinking of, okay, no, no, I'm thinking, what was the, what's the one in Ivy City that I'm thinking of?

Brandy (22:14)
since last gen.

La no, lost in his own by Anna Jared and husband and wife. Yeah

Michael Stein (22:31)
other half. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, which which was a Brooklyn concern, you know, originally started in Brooklyn. But I think what's unique about henceforth is that they had an idea. The customer has grown the brewing scene has not let's be an elevated pub. So let's have a wine bar. Let's have cocktails have a really good menu from a vet in the in the DC on the chef side. And they executed on

Brandy (22:31)
other half. Yeah. Yeah.

JB (22:31)
Other half, yeah.

Jessica Sidman (22:32)
there, I'm sorry,

sorry.

Brandy (22:38)
Heavy City's hard, man. Yeah.

Jessica Sidman (22:40)
Yes.

Michael Stein (23:00)
And I think anybody who can clearly present a vision and then make good on it, that's kind of like the rub, right? ⁓

Jessica Sidman (23:09)
Mm.

Brandy (23:09)
Yeah.

Yeah.

I agree.

Michael Stein (23:11)
Yeah.

Jessica Sidman (23:11)
All right, bumping it up my list.

Michael Stein (23:14)
Good. Good.

Brandy (23:14)
Good. All right. Yeah.

Per our recommendation, Jessica Sidman comes on the show and instead of giving us recs, we give you a rec.

Jessica Sidman (23:19)
I love it.

Michael Stein (23:20)
That's right.

Brandy (23:25)
to know more about what drives you to go visit a place and then what makes you want to write about it because obviously you don't write about everything or everywhere you go. You said you have kids, so I'm assuming having kids now really hinders you going out as you used to 10 years ago.

Jessica Sidman (23:37)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Yes, well, ⁓ to give a plug to our upcoming project, we just wrapped up 100 Very Best Restaurants. ⁓ I think it goes to the printer tomorrow. And so it's ⁓ going to be on newsstands later this month. So almost all the dining out I do from September

Brandy (24:03)
Mmm.

Jessica Sidman (24:18)
through December is really focused on that list. And ⁓ there are five of us actually who work on it. We start with this massive master list and divide and conquer. I think I hit like at least 40 restaurants ⁓ and a lot of...

You know, the cool thing is we do revisit every restaurant every year. ⁓ so it's a lot of going back to, you know, place old, the older places, which I think is a nice refresher. ⁓ and then, you know, sneaking in some visits to the newer places too. ⁓ so, you know, but yeah, it just, terms of like new places, you know, what, how am I deciding where to go? Just.

You know, what sounds interesting, whatever people seem to be talking about, recommendations I get, like yours. ⁓ So there's no real ⁓ science to it. I feel like sometimes people wish there was more of a science to it, but...

Brandy (25:26)
Hahaha

Okay, I guess that was my question. Do you set out

to go visit every, like this very specific, and I know you repeat from the year before, but I'm just curious because it's kind of a cool idea slash role that you have is going around and just writing about food. mean, there are so many famous people who do that and you are technically like a local celebrity. Everyone knows your name.

Jay Sidman, Jessica Sidman, I've known about you for over a decade now. But if you think about

Jessica Sidman (26:02)
I don't know, that might be overseating it. ⁓

Michael Stein (26:05)
Mm-hmm.

Brandy (26:07)
it, you are someone who the Washingtonians, the DMV, they read and they say, oh, well, and it gives you have a lot of say. And I think that is a great platform as long as everyone feels heard or there's

equality to it in some sort of fashion. So I bet that's hard to balance as well, like pissing people off or like, yeah. Hey, that's what I do.

Jessica Sidman (26:31)
Yes.

Well, thank Thank you. Thank you for boosting my ego a little bit. I appreciate that.

Michael Stein (26:38)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Jessica Sidman (26:41)
You know, there is an element of, you know, the PR of it all, like constantly getting press releases and ⁓ pitches and all of that. ⁓ But I do try to pay attention to places that might not have a publicist. mean, like, EBAs didn't have publicists, for example, since we were talking about that.

⁓ or, you know, today I wrote about ⁓ this Japanese Brazilian fusion steakhouse in Tysons, which was just something, you know, no one pitched it to me. I just had kind of like seen it ⁓ on social media and was like, that's weird and cool. Like, let me find out more about that. ⁓

So, you know, I mean, as a writer, you're always interested in whatever is a little weird or counterintuitive. So, you know, those kind of places do get my attention. But also, you know, there are certain big names. Tomorrow, I'm going to go check out this ⁓ new hand roll bar from ⁓ the chef behind Kausa.

Brandy (27:57)
Hmm.

Jessica Sidman (28:01)
Carlos Delgado is opening a place on Capitol Hill. So stay tuned for that. And I'm going to go check out this, I'm going to butcher his name. Okay, let's skip that one. Sorry.

Brandy (28:02)
yeah!

That sounds fun.

Michael Stein (28:19)
Yeah.

JB (28:19)
You

Brandy (28:21)
What are your thoughts on food trucks? Because as a avid brewery visitor, that's really all I go to are breweries and then EBs, really. So I eat food truck food a lot. I know there's been food truck lists, but have you been a part of those food truck lists? I have my top food trucks that I love, Cammon46. ⁓

Jessica Sidman (28:29)
Mmm.

Mmm.

Yeah, well, the, you

know, the food truck scene is not what it used to be, right? And there aren't as many that are just consistently around in specific locations. And, ⁓ you know, now I mostly work from home, so that changes things. ⁓ It is funny you bring that up, though, because I am working on a

Brandy (28:52)
Very true.

Jessica Sidman (29:12)
big story, hopefully for next summer, ⁓ that is about the food trucks around the National Mall ⁓ and all the drama around that, because most of them are illegal. ⁓ And there's been all these stories about the price gouging and some literally ⁓

Brandy (29:21)
⁓ okay.

Jessica Sidman (29:39)
lighting on fire, you know, they're not being inspected by, you know, the health department, by the fire department, all these agencies that they're supposed to be inspected by. And it's really been just the scourge and ⁓ DC authorities like trying every single thing to, you know, fix the problem so that the legitimate food trucks, you know, the ones...

Brandy (29:47)
Mm.

Jessica Sidman (30:06)
that you're talking about ⁓ have a fair playing field. ⁓ But it's been an ongoing thing. I've got some crazy stories, but you'll have to wait till the summer when the story comes out. Yes.

Brandy (30:20)
I'm interested, yeah. Cool.

Michael Stein (30:22)
Yes.

You will have to accept our invitation for a three martini lunch where we can exchange off the record stories and really get into the juicy tidbits. ⁓ DC beer after dark as it were.

Brandy (30:34)
Yeah, I'll meet you at EB's.

Jessica Sidman (30:36)
Yes,

Brandy (30:37)
Or henceforth.

Jessica Sidman (30:37)
well, yep, the bar people always have the best gossip. That's that's for sure.

Brandy (30:44)
yeah, yeah. And people just willingly give you gossip, like random texts from people that you haven't spoken to in like six years. And yeah, they're like, okay, sure. Do you want to give me fuel? Like what? What is wrong with you? Yeah.

Jessica Sidman (30:50)
Yes.

Yeah, no, I mean, that's what I

love about, you know, writing about restaurants and bars in DC, because, you know, if you're a journalist in DC, most likely you're dealing with politics or lobbyist or trade associations and you're dealing with all these flaks. People are very media savvy, you know, they're, you know, very guarded in what they say.

But the restaurant and bar people just do not give a shit and they will tell you whatever and I love it.

Brandy (31:26)
Yes.

Yeah. It's the best community to be in, in my opinion. Yeah. I'm so glad that you came on, We haven't had a writer of your, like with food and beverage, because we've had a lot of writers on, thanks to Mike Stein and Jake, but ⁓ we usually have brewers on. You're like, hey, how did you get into brewing? So this has been a really cool episode. I hope everybody enjoys it.

Jessica Sidman (31:54)
I'm sorry I didn't talk more about beer.

Brandy (31:57)
That's okay. We talk plenty about beer.

Jessica Sidman (31:59)
Okay.

JB (32:00)
No, it's time for our listeners to, you know,

you know, in 2026 broaden their horizons a little bit. They may, you know, look at a martini and, you know, they're not sure what to do with it, but they'll figure it out. They're a smart group.

Brandy (32:12)
For me, I go to a local restaurant

or bar that's not a brewery, obviously, I think my first thing that I look at, and just because I'm biased and I'm just deep into this community, is do they have local beer on the menu? Do they support local breweries? Are they just getting Budweiser? ⁓ And I think that drives my...

Decision to go visit a restaurant period like I don't want to go if you're not at least If you don't have like a DC brow on or like, you know something easy to get for a local restaurant because I I feel like the beer community supports each other for the most part and like Promotes each other and say hey you should come after you are finished here having this beer you should go visit this brewery or go check out this place and

Jessica Sidman (32:42)
Mmm.

Brandy (33:09)
I think that's a good thing, but I'm not immersed into the restaurant world, so I'm curious how that community drives business to other local brewery places, or if it's just like, it's just us, focus on us. I think that's hard to, yeah.

Jessica Sidman (33:27)
Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like also drink menus in recent years have really focused so much more on cocktails and even wine. And I feel like beer kind of becomes an afterthought at a lot of places. And so it is nice when, you know, they are paying attention to that. ⁓

you can tell that they care about all the categories and not just the martinis, although we do love a martini.

Brandy (34:02)
Right. Yeah.

We'll have a martini date.

Jessica Sidman (34:05)
But not an espresso

martini. I don't like espresso martinis. That's my hot take for you. My hotter take is, my hottest take is that you can't get hungover on martinis.

Brandy (34:10)
Sometimes they're good. Sometimes they're like for brunch.

Michael Stein (34:10)
that's a good one.

JB (34:11)
That's a really, really good hot tick.

Michael Stein (34:15)
That's a good.

Brandy (34:15)
It's kind of good for punch.

⁓ okay. I will prove you wrong.

Michael Stein (34:23)
Hmm.

JB (34:25)
We should test this for science.

Michael Stein (34:27)
That's a spicy one.

Brandy (34:30)
OMG

Michael Stein (34:33)
Well, thank you so much for joining us. ⁓ We have to plug we have to say we will be having our live show at Blue Jacket on January 28. It's the last Wednesday of January. Before that Sunday, January 25, we're going to be having our mystery bottle share at church key 125. And it's for members only. But if you go to deep patreon.com forward slash DC beer, you can become a member

Brandy (34:35)
Hahaha

Michael Stein (35:03)
It's super easy and you can join and it pretty much pays for itself.

Brandy (35:08)
And for our live show, we brewed a beer, as Mike said before, a Kentucky Common. And we're so excited because it's not really a beer you get commonly. ⁓ And we had a great day ⁓ brewing with Ro and Colin and the whole crew. But ⁓ if you are a Patreon member, you also get a discount for that evening.

beers on their first beers on the house, you get $5 beers for the rest of the night. And you get to hang out with a bunch of beer industry folks. There's gonna a lot of brewers there coming from Virginia and Maryland and obviously DC and just gonna be a good community and a chill time because it's always fun at Blue Jacket. And I wanna shout out real quick, clear skies meadery. I know we talk about beer and cider a lot on the show.

We, the Women's Brew Culture Club, we just had our January visit ⁓ and we went to Clear Sky's Meadery in Rockville, Maryland, which is super duper close to Silver Branch and Mayan Monkey. So highly recommend you go there. I'm not even a huge mead person. I left with two bottles and they have like gin barrel aged mead. They had whiskey. They had mead that tasted like whiskey. I'm not even fucking, like it was insane.

⁓ Just very well done, not super sweet, very dry, almost like a dry cider. ⁓ Mike, you would have, you've had a great time there. So if you all are interested in taking a slight little mini detour break from beer, go visit Clear Sky's Meadery. It's woman owned and operated and it's pretty dope. So yeah.

Michael Stein (36:52)
We love to see it. We love to hear it. Well, DC beer fam, false across the socials. We're very much looking forward to seeing you at church key or at blue jacket. Get your tickets. Jessica Sidman. Thank you so much for joining us on the DC beer show.

Jessica Sidman (37:09)
Thanks for having me. This was fun.

JB (37:11)
Good times folks, we're at DCBeer across social media, dcbeer.com slash Patreon. Thank you for your continued support. And we're back at it in two weeks. All right, be well everybody. Jessica, thank you again.

Brandy (37:25)
Cheers.