MEGAFEST! with Soul Mega

In this captivating installment, our hosts delve into upcoming craft beer events and some crazy news about Valor Brew Pub. On the lighter side, Jordan chats with Elliott Johnson of Soul Mega about the next Summer beer release and their  Second Annual MEGAFEST.

On Saturday, July 15, events include the All-American Beer Festival at the Bullpen, the Old Town Pub Crawl in Alexandria with Port City, and Denizen's 9th-anniversary party in Silver Spring. On July 22, head out to Dock 5 at Union Market for the (D)rafts and (C)rafts festival from the DC Brewers Guild and the DC Makers Guild.

But the main attraction in this episode is MEGAFEST, the Black-owned beer festival meets block party in celebration of Soul Mega’s 4-year anniversary, on August 26, 2023.

As the first Black-owned beer festival in the nation's capital, this event will bring refreshing craft beer styles, wines, and alternative beverages brewed by regional minority-owned brands alongside local food vendors. MEGAFEST connects diverse groups of people in a safe environment to network, unwind, create new experiences, and revel in Black culture at one of DC’s historic neighborhoods. Visit https://events.eventnoire.com/e/megafest-2023 for tickets.

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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! This is a show about breweries: the business, the beer, the craftspeople who run them and the drinkers who love them. Join us as we speak with brewers, brewery owners, and all kinds of folks involved in the craft beer scene.

DCBS-MEGAFEST
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Jacob: [00:00:00] Welcome to the DC Beer Show everyone. We are at DC Beer across social media, and I am drinking thanks to Friend of the Show, Jim Thompson Maine's Sacred Profane Dark Lager, a double-decocted, 4% Czech lager. Thank you, Jim, for bringing me a can. A shame, however, it's just one can because, uh, I could do a six pack of this very easily.

Um, really good stuff. Uh, from Brianne Allen ex-Notch, uh, you know her as Rat Magnet and co. Good stuff. Mike Stein. What's in your Stein? Are you an Oppenheimer or a Barbie?

Michael: I'm a neither-heimer, I'm a dark lager heimer. Uh, and I'm thrilled that Jim gave you some. But there are five others that lead the show, that produce the show, that sound engineer, the show that would also like some sacred and profane. If anybody's out there and [00:01:00] hearing it come, bring us some, uh, sacred profane light or dark lager.

I'm drinking _Rotbier, _which is of course German for "red beer." Not one, but two. I was so shocked to first find these two at the Brew Shop in Arlington, and then I found these two German beautes at craft beer cellar. Erica also brought in, uh, from Brauerei Heller-Trum, better known as Shlenkerla, Shlenkerla did a rauch rot beer, a smoked red beer with cherry wood, which is just absolutely dynamite.

And then the Tooker Brewery out of Nuremberg also has a rot beer. And so I'll bring some of these to the DC beer share. Uh, but I'm so excited I plan to write a little blog post about it. Now we're waiting on importers and distributors to give us the 411 on these beers, and it's looking like real journalism on DC Beer media once again.

[00:02:00] Jordan, how are you my friend? What are you drinking?

Jordan: Sir, I am well, uh, and hydrated. I am having a Kid Fresh. It was the pale ale collab between Ocelot Brewing and Astro Lab. May they rest in peace. Uh, so yeah, I'm just having a little bit of a, a hazy pale ale today. Uh, but it's drinking excellent as all Astro Lab beers did. And, uh, yeah. Brandy, what has brought, what beer has brought you Joy recently?

Brandy: That's a fantastic question Jordan. I have thoroughly enjoyed, uh, drinking the spoils from my travels, uh, to California. Went to San Diego, went to Burbank, went to Anaheim, went to North Hollywood, west Hollywood.

Went all over the place, but we stopped at this one brewery called Trustworthy in Burbank, California. And, uh, by we, I mean myself and, and Matt Splain a home dude over at Other Half. [00:03:00] I'm sure you've seen his lovely bearded face. Uh, but we, uh, just randomly stopped into this place called Trustworthy Brewing Company and sort of chatting with, uh, the brewmasters, uh, the head brewer, um, the lead brewer and the person behind the bar and you know, Matt brought them some Other Half beer to share and they got so excited cuz they were like, oh my god, do you know Breeze? And we were like, oh, of course we know Breeze. Everyone knows Breeze. Um, so apparently Breeze used to work there or, or at least go in and drink.

But, um, anyway, so I'm drinking the Alpine Glow IPA, which is, genuinely, like kiss worthy. Um, it is a 5.9, which is lovely for a, an IPA, Citrus Simco, um, so if anyone's out in Burbank, California, definitely go check out Trustworthy.

Um, So, uh, now that I'm back from my travels, [00:04:00] I came back excited to do lots of DC Beer stuff and there's a lot of cool events coming up. And uh, I think we should start chatting about those. So, uh, Jordan, do you have some cool stuff going on?

Jordan: Uh, I think as a DC Beer person and also just a fan of all the craft beer and the DMV. There's always some fun stuff to do. So, uh, if you'd like to go down to The Bullpen, there's the All-American Beer Festival that'll be in DC proper, again at The Bullpen, right outside Nat Stadium. Uh, also if you want to trip down to good old Northern Virginia, Alexandria, uh, Port City will be celebrating their 10th Annual Old Town Pub Crawl.

So, uh, things to do in DC and in Virginia. Would you happen to be coming to Maryland this weekend? Brandy,

Brandy: I am coming to Maryland. Uh, I'm coming to Maryland on, on Saturday cuz I am going to Denizen's 9th anniversary party, which is 90s themed, [00:05:00] which makes my heart happy, uh, cuz I was born in the, early in, in the early eighties. So I'm, I, I still, actually still have some nineties stuff, which is kind of neat.

Uh, so I'll be at Denizens on Saturday for their anniversary in Silver Spring. And speaking of Denizens, um, on the 22nd, of July. I am having my Women's Brew Culture Club at Denizens, not at Silver Spring, but the one in Riverdale. And the amazing, most wonderful Julie, uh, she's incredibly nice, knowledgeable, and the biggest beer nerd, uh, there is.

I'm so thankful that she'll be our host on the 22nd. She's gonna talk to the women in the Brew Culture Club about Denizens beer history and sh and show us around the, the Riverdale location, which is actually a really cool location. It's gonna be a great event, and I, I do hope to see everyone there, um, and Streetcar is right down the street, pretty much.

So we'll definitely hit up both. And speaking of Streetcar 82, they always have really [00:06:00] cool bands. But this Saturday there is a band called Haunted by Something, and I actually know one of the people in the band. So, uh, if you don't get to check out the band this weekend, Streetcar 82 always has really cool bands, um, on their lovely patio.

Um, but if you're in Riverdale, check them out. Or hi, I guess they're technically Hyattsville. Um, it's a, there's a fine line between Riverdale and, uh, Riverdale and Hyattsville. So, um, Stein, what's up? I've missed you.

Michael: Brandi, I likewise. And I'm not surprised at all that you know the band, uh, in fact, that feels so fitting for your bubbly, effervescent character to just know everywhere you go, someone's gonna know you. The party's gonna start, things will be hopping. So Streetcar 82. Sounds like a wonderful time. Um, I, what am I doing this weekend?

Oh, DC Beer Share, of course. Uh, incredibly excited about DC Beer [00:07:00] Share. Um, almost as excited, almost as exciting. Snallygaster was just released, which I. Gauge your level of excitement. I would never put a share where I'm bringing all of these gems out of my cellar, some of which I may have brewed myself, um, up against, you know, the Premier Beer Festival in the district.

Um, but I did just get tipped off via Twitter from Bruno, uh, that Schneeeule, the German Berliner, uh, uh, brewery is going to be in town. And in fact, we're expecting kegs to land in DC next week. Um, Yeah, so we're super excited. Snallygaster tickets just went on sale. If you don't know, Snallygaster is a festival in the District of Columbia.

Uh, one of the biggest, if not the biggest in terms of kegs on the list or kegs being brought into town. Certainly the most imported beer. Uh, German beer, Belgian beer, Canadian beer, [00:08:00] beer from all across the globe coming in, um, as well as wines and cider. So we're super pumped about that. Brandy, I know you've got more in store.

What more do you have in store for the DC

Brandy: Well, I wanna piggyback on the Snally thing because, um, as shocking as it may seem to, probably our listeners. I have a few friends, huge beer nerds who have never been to Snallygaster, and I've been going to Snally since it was in the tiny parking lot of Union Market. And it always, it brand every single Snally.

So I'm glad that we've gotten out of that habit. Um, but I've had friends who haven't visited and they're like, bring it in. They're texting me like, Brandy, you know what, what, what's the de like, what should I do? Um, so like, Like Mike said, if you haven't received an email from every single NRG restaurant, um, go announcing that the tickets are on sale.

Um, you must be under a rock, but grab your tickets cuz the VIP does sell out [00:09:00] pretty quickly actually. And then, you know, you wanna be in there before the rest of the huge crowds get in there. Um, I'm super jazzed about the, the beer share this weekend. Um, District Made is fantastic, formerly known as 1-8.

I feel like it needs a print. Sign or something. Uh, um, but, and then Hellbender has some cool musicians coming on Sunday and barbecue doesn't hurt, uh, with the lineup. So th that's just really just this weekend. Um, and then before we move on, Other Half, uh, is the home base for amazing trivia on Wednesday night.

I don't know if, if you know, but the place to be on Wednesday nights, uh, is other half because our own, very own, uh, Mr. Beers-around-the-way Jordan hosts trivia. And, um, uh, yep.

Michael: Best, most handsome, most knowing [00:10:00] trivia host out there, folks.

Jordan: Oh, oh me, we host. Oh yes, we do host trivia. Come see us. 6:30on Wednesdays, folks. Good old Ivy

City.

Brandy: week, uh, from July 24th through the 30th. Is an extra special week to be at Other Half so you can double up on your trivia and your, uh, citra. Uh, because at Citra week, at Other Half from the 24th through the 30th, they're gonna have most of them tapped by Friday, the 28th. So in 14, um, pack, uh, packs to go, four packs to go.

So make sure you know, uh, you check that out and come on a Wednesday. That'd be fun. They're also doing a. The Meet the Brewer event on the 27th, which is so popular, the tickets sell out really fast. So you heard it here first folks, so cuz I got the inside skinny, uh, um, there's a lot of other drama things that has happened recently.

What, what ha happened guys? Jake.[00:11:00]

Jacob: Well, before we get into the drama, I'm gonna shout out one more event. It's not this upcoming weekend, but it's the weekend after, uh, drafts and crafts was. Going to be at the RIC house, which makes sense because the DC Brewer's Guild, the drafts part is based out of the Ric House. There is also now a crafter guild.

And so you get drafts, you get crafts, you put 'em together, but the venue is changed. It's gonna be at Dock five, which Brandy already mentioned. Uh, that's kind of behind Union, union market. So drafts, crafts, drink, shop. then if you wanna drink and chop more, it's union market. You could hit Cotton and Reed.

You could hit Alet Terry and get yourself a lovely, lovely, ginormous, big Italian sub. You could go to, uh, crooked run, get some pizza. Uh, you go to St. Anselm's and eat a bunch of biscuits. The world is your oyster over there. So that's the 22nd is drafts and

Brandy: pimento cheese bread with [00:12:00] the biscuits

Jacob: Yes. Yeah.

Brandy: It's my southern heart. Just melts every time I walk into that place.

Jacob: It's a must. It's like a DC Desert Island,

Brandy: Oh,

Jacob: know, dish. Gotta get it. All right. Um, the bad news is that there was an assault and robbery at Valor Brew Pub, uh, earlier inthe week. I guess really at this point it was last week. Uh, there have been a host of restaurants and bar break-ins and such. Um, it is incredibly uncool and it sucks.

This one happened. With one of the co-owners, four year-olds right there, uh, who witnessed it and attempted to scare off the attacker bike growling and doing really cool four year-old things. Um, that is very brave. This shit really needs to stop. if I had any power to do anything, um, beyond bitching to, um, the DC Council, US Attorneys General's office, um, I would do [00:13:00] so.

Um, but Mike, this is really fucked up.

Michael: Yeah, there's no question that it is really fucked up. Um, and I think the shitty piece is that, it can happen to any of us at any time. Uh, valor has had, uh, some success. They had a little beer garden up in Tenley Town, uh, last in the spring, uh, as recently, you know, uh, last season before last, I guess we're a summer now.

But, uh, the point being that, uh, Jeff Hancock, who long time DC brewer, has. A wonderful beer on right now. He's got a PIVO Premium 12. Um, so I would strongly encourage everybody. I'm gonna head to valor probably next week. the food's good, the beer's good. I strongly encourage you to support your neighbors, you know, ultimately.

Uh, we keep ourselves safe. I am so grateful to always feeling safe in your presence, Jake Jordan and Brandy. Um, and I [00:14:00] hope that you have a group of friends that you feel safe around. If not, come see us. We'd love to have you at our share. Um, so keep your heads up, everyone. Um, we'd love y'all. We want our city and our beer scene to do as well together as we possibly

Brandy: so scary about that when I was reading that article is. You know, I've cared for children for 22 years professionally, and when I read, like, it's scary in general, but when I saw that the four year old was there, I was like, my heart sank. I got chills. It was 90 something degrees outside and I was like, got chills from it.

Um, it's And what As extra as it as extra ballsy. Given the location, it's pretty much right across the street from the Navy yard, like the military base. So like what an interesting place to, to, to choose to do that crime. Um, I feel bad for everybody involved, at Valor. That was really [00:15:00] scary. So if you're in the neighborhood, go give them love, and make sure that, you know, you're always looking out and being safe.

So, uh, cheer cheers to, to that Mike .

Michael: Thanks, Brandy. Um, I'm really glad that we've got a, a full slate of events happening this weekend and in the upcoming weekend. It's great to see craft beer and handcrafted goods, artisans and makers, uh, getting the shine, uh, in addition to the Brewers Guild honoring, um, the dozen plus members, uh, in their ranks.

So we're super excited for that.

On, on another interesting note, we have a dynamite interview. Uh, so grateful for, uh, Elliott Johnson of Soul Mega and Jordan to you for, uh, conducting this interview. Uh, let's go now to our interview with Elliott Johnson of Soul Mega.

Jordan: Welcome brother Johnson. We have Elliot with Soul Mega in the building. What's going on, man? How you doing

Elliott: Yo, what 's going on, man? Long time no see.[00:16:00]

Jordan: Yeah, man, it, it's been a minute, but uh, I know in that time, well, we've both been working, um, especially you, I know Soul Mega has some exciting things on the horizon of.

Elliott: Yeah, absolutely.

Jordan: Yeah. Let's, let's, let's, let's go ahead and get into it, man. Um, how's Soul Omega been grown, have been growing like the last, uh, what, you guys are four years old now, right?

Like how you grown. How have you guys grown the last four

Elliott: Yeah, man. Uh, we're turning four, um, in August. And, um, I think, um, this is, um, from a timeline perspective, I think this has been our, our, one of our milestone years in terms of growth. Um, we just signed on with our first, distribution partner in March. So up until, you know, from 2019 until March of this year, we had been, pretty much doing, uh, the distribution aspect of the company ourself.

So this is like a big thing for me, um, to work with, uh, our partner. Shout out to HRI, uh, formerly known as Craft Coalition. We've been working with them [00:17:00] for, uh, yeah, almost. This is. Four months coming up, I think. So that's been a really big push for us as a brand. Um, we haven't really dope sales rep in the DC market and so just being able to kind of have someone to work in market with and kind tag team that been pretty cool.

Jordan: Is the DC market the focus, or are you guys looking at like Maryland and Virginia,

Elliott: Yeah, we're looking, we're looking, um, at uh, the M and the V for DMV, but right now it's important for us to take care of home base. Uh, but we do have plans to expand to, both markets within the next year. So I'm super excited about that cause we got a lot of people who always ask me about where they can get beer and like PG and like, I really can't tell him nothing except for come down Rhode Island Avenue, you know?

So, uh, as soon as we kinda get our, our, our flow going, um, Yeah, I'm, it's my baby, so I'm, I'm just kind of handing this off to them, but we've already seen our accounts grow like almost double [00:18:00] in the past quarter, so that's, that's pretty cool.

Jordan: Okay. Uh, so you guys really been like qualifying and quantifying that growth based on like the different accounts. You guys can get, the different places within DC you guys can have, uh, Worldwide IPA, just, is that really how you guys are quantifying that growth?

Elliott: Yeah, so for, for me, um, internally, I mean we, we, I quantify growth, uh, by production and sales. So, um, dollar growth and then volume growth and our ability to move products. So Worldwide is our flagship. We also have the Rhythm and Beauty Black Lager, and my goal is to get us to three cores and then we're gonna rotate, uh, like a seasonal one, uh, throughout the year.

So kinda building the ship as we're going here, but, We're in, uh, we're, we're, we got two, uh, styles now we're about to drop, uh, third one. So stay tuned for that later on this summer. Um, and then that'll give us the opportunity to kind of work three different types of beer and then see where it goes.

Jordan: Yeah, Dark Lager is, it's very [00:19:00] tasty. Uh, I guess, you know, I, I'll be doing the, the, the audience, uh, an injustice if I didn't ask. Is this something It'll be, I guess since you're dropping in the summer, it'll be something relatively light. So is this a pilsner lager and I'm just gonna ask, it's is are going sour?

Like what are we, what do, what do people have to look forward to

Elliott: you, you know, man, and I don't know if people know a lot about this. When we first started, um, we used to do really cool events. We would bring like super small batch stuff, um, as Like a tasting experience. There's a bunch of recipes in the chamber. We just haven't got a chance to scale up, commercially yet.

Um, I'm gonna throw, throw our hat in there for, uh, various kind of IPA styles. So you're gonna probably get one of those from us next. Uh, I'm not gonna say what type of IPA it is, but it'll probably be along the hoppier side.

Jordan: All right, copy that. As, as a DC b resident hop head, I'm looking forward

Elliott: yeah. We haven't made one of those commercially yet. I mean, we got the, we got Worldwide, the easy drinker.

Black Lager is unique in the fact that it's still kind of [00:20:00] light and body, but I'm actually waiting for the streets to tell me if they want the Black Lager year round, if they, if they want it seasonally, but I think it could be year round. But, um, we gotta get some more runs in before we can get that, that pattern.

Uh, but yeah, I think IPA is way to go. We got, we have three different recipes in a chamber right now, but I haven't decided which one to release yet, so that's why I said stay tuned.

Jordan: All right. Well, I, I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully you guys drop something, uh, if not, have all three cans available, uh, during Howard's Homecoming this year. You know, shout out to real HU as they say.

Elliott: yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we'll, we'll definitely have, uh, we, so it's funny cause uh, last year we dropped Bison Blood for homecoming, which was a hoppy brown ale we did in collaboration with, um, the brewer Lily Schultz at Right Proper. And so you're definitely gonna probably get that again, but that'll be in addition to something else.

Jordan: All right. Yeah. Uh, shout out to Lily and uh, obviously shout out to Right. Proper. Uh, in terms of, I know some of the things you have in the chamber, are you guys still, uh, brewing with Calvert County or are you guys,

Elliott: Yeah.

Jordan: [00:21:00] to expand or brick and mortar?

Elliott: Um, so right now we're still contract brewing with Calvert. Uh, we are looking at various, I guess, options for how we transition into retail. But, um, right now it's gonna be, um, contract brewing and distribution through our partners,

Jordan: Yeah, I guess that that distribution, uh, with the craft coalition, or excuse me, R

Elliott: H r I. Yeah.

Jordan: Yeah, I'm sure that's a huge boom for business, especially as, uh, as you guys continue to expand your, your offering. So definitely looking forward to that. Um, see, yeah, man, we definitely in the DC area, we, we love you all's beer.

We love what Soul Mega brings to the table. Um, but I've been hearing these rumblings about, uh, a MegaFest on the horizon. Uh,

Elliott: Oh yeah.

Jordan: the folks about MegaFest?

Elliott: Oh man. So MegaFest is gonna be, uh, so MegaFest is a kind of like, what's number one? It's our, it's our anniversary event, so it's, we're gonna be celebrating four years this August. August 26th at Anacostia from three to [00:22:00] eight. And essentially the, the premise behind MegaFest is simply to, um, merge beer festival culture and block party culture, like into one to promote.

Obviously, you know, our brand. But I uplift other brands as well to kind of bring the creative community together. So it's gonna be pretty dope. We got various vendors, uh, from the Mid-Atlantic. They're gonna be having like beer samples. We're gonna have hella DJs, food trucks, just imagine like a, a bomb ass block party.

Um, but we're gonna bring the craft beer element to it. So I'm super excited for it. It's our second year doing it, but first year was like, It's always been my dream to kind of do something like this. I love music. It's part of our break ethos and everything. Uh, everyone. Mega team is like super biggest music, so we wanted to make sure that it was like a dance party.

And then obviously we love, we love beer too, so why not merge both of together?

Jordan: Yeah, and the, the point you made earlier about like, you're waiting for what the streets tell you, like what, what, what do the people want? I think that's a, an [00:23:00] excellent opportunity for you to put stuff out there for the, for the people to try, but also to get good feedback from the streets as well.

Elliott: Oh yeah, a absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. I'm looking forward to, um, yeah, so we, we took feedback. We had a survey that went out last year. We kind of put people's feedback and try incorporate in this one. So my goal is to kind of make this more of a community thing. Obviously it's called MegaFest, but it's not.

I mean, that's just a, MegaFest to me is like boom, mega, like it's big-ass festival. But I could see this growing a really community event.

Jordan: that, that's excellent. Is, is manifest the only black. Like black-owned like beer fest or like beer center event in DC that you know of,

Elliott: Yeah, I'm, I, uh, don't miss Kobe, but I know MegaFest was definitely the first black-owned beer festival in DC. Um, so I'm gonna go ahead and say that we, we kicked it off with that one. Uh, we had it at Wal, the parks at Walter Reed last year, which was historic military, uh, veterans hospital site. This year we're doing it at Sandlot Anacostia with the brand New event space.

[00:24:00] Shout out to Ian and Scootie. They're, um, on the management team and the founders of Sandlot. They have locations in, uh, Tyson's and Georgetown as well. Um, so yeah, this will be, this will be the, yeah, this is, I'm gonna say, this might be the first and only one I've heard of right now for DC specific.

Jordan: That's, that's dope. So I, I definitely want to take this time to give you your flowers. Uh, unfortunately I didn't make the last one, but I'm definitely gonna be there this year

Elliott: Okay. Yeah. Pull up for sure.

Jordan: between, like you said, between music block party, cul culture, beer, summer weather, it is not much else you can ask for.

So, uh, definitely looking forward to, to getting into that. So, uh, I just noticed on, on social media, you guys been doing like a lot of like pushing, like your content has been exceptional lately. I also see you guys got like some website updates. So, uh, what, what can you tell us about like the new website that you guys

Elliott: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And quite frankly, man, that website was due for an upgrade. I mean, we, uh, when we first started, you know, the climate was different. [00:25:00] We were, you know, it even had our old cans on there. So I was trying to create a more streamlined. Site to kind of just highlight the important stuff of like what we offer, who we are, what we're about.

But the really cool feature about um, our new website is that we have a beer locator now. So you can actually go to soulmega.com, uh, and go to find us and you can look in your neighborhood, your area to see which, uh, accounts offer our beer. And we didn't have that before, so we had like a list.

It was like a running list, but the interactive map is way cooler.

Jordan: Yeah, I mean, most certainly, and again, as you guys continue to grow, it'll be nice for people to be able to find where you guys are without having to, you know, scour the, the innerwebs for it. They can just go straight to soul omega.com, find us.

Elliott: yeah. Hopefully those green dots get further out and we just keep it moving. You.

Jordan: No, but I mean, I, I, I, I think it will like, again, the, the community approach, I think you guys are taking and you, you're taking your time, you're taking the time to get feedback from, uh, from your audience. Like [00:26:00] that's, I don't think enough can be said about how valuable, or excuse me, how invaluable that is, uh, to like building your brand and building a successful business.

So like, really like kudos to, to you and what you guys have been able to do.

Elliott: Appreciate

Jordan: Uh, so Omega, uh, can we look forward to you guys being at, uh, uh, Snallygaster this year?

Elliott: Yeah, so you, we, yeah, we actually, um, it's, so we are gonna be at a few places so far this year. So we got, um, the Drafts and Crafts event in DC on July 22nd. We're doing Barrel and fFow August 12th. We got MegaFest August 26th, and we'll be at Snallygaster as well. So, tour, tour, life loading.

Jordan: Yes. Yes. And, and, and, and for those local, uh, if you are willing to submit yourself to a good time, you can also go to Howard's Homecoming and they

Elliott: Oh yeah. And of course, yeah. Now we got a big, we know we do, we do homecoming. I don't know if anyone knows this, but I was a class of 2009 from, uh, Howard University's business school for undergrad. So [00:27:00] I've been in DC since '05 and we, we do homecoming pretty hard. So, Obviously year round October 21st weekend, we got a really big marquee event we do every Sunday called Kegs and Eggs.

I don't have all details yet, but just every Sunday at homecoming, we've been doing this for, I don't know, 10 years, but it's like, it's just a, it's a day party kind of rager thing, but it's really fun.

Jordan: Oh, I mean, don't worry. I think Kegs and Eggs is, I think that's enough. I think the only thing people are missing is just the location and the time to be

Elliott: Yep. Tbd. Yeah. Check

Jordan: T T

Elliott: tbd. Yeah.

Jordan: Uh, yeah, but, uh, but I, I, I, I would guess I would say just keep your, it is typically on a Sunday, right? Like the Sunday after homecoming, or is it

Okay, so a Sunday in October.

Elliott: noon to even. We don't have a look. Yeah, keep, keep. October 22nd I think is the Sunday it's coming. Like that's, yeah. So Kegs and Eggs. For Howard Homecoming for sure. MegaFest and [00:28:00] locally in DC in August. And Barrel and Flow, um, regionally, if you're in the Pittsburgh area, you definitely wanna pull up on that too.

Jordan: yeah, all I've heard is Barrel and Flow. It's a good time. Uh, it's just a good time with good people. So, uh, that's dope, man. That's dope that y'all doing that. Um, so yeah, man, before we get up outta here, uh, outside of the website, like anything else you wanna plug again, like your social media has been killing it.

Uh, where can they find you on the socials?

Elliott: Yeah, you know, um, we're on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @SoulMegaDC so yeah. So I would say for all of our information and fresh content, I would check Instagram first. Uh, we have a link in our bio that has our link tree that has information for tickets to MegaFest and. Kind of like what you can expect when you go there.

And yeah. Business soul mega.com. And tap in,

Jordan: Oh yeah. Yeah. Most definitely. And, and, and the last thing, uh, What you drinking right now? Is that a Worldwide

Elliott: man. You know what, you know what, I'm, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie to y'all,

Jordan: [00:29:00] Okay.

Elliott: I, I love Worldwide, but I'm not drinking Worldwide today. I'm drinking actually. And shout out to my boy, uh, Mark at Wardman Wine. Last Friday he gave, he let me, uh, he tapped me into Grim. And, uh, I'm not that familiar with ales, but I'm on a Sonoma style and I would never, you know, lemme put Soul Mega here too.

But yeah, shout out to Grim. I'm drinking, I'm drinking a Grim, uh, Sonoma style double ipa. So it's really good. Yeah, it's kinda like a West Coast style double ipa. Um, still got that piney kind of fruit forward citrus note, but it's not hazy. It's not as hazy as some, I'm not a big hazy guy, but, uh, this is really good.

So thank you, Mark.

Jordan: Oh yeah. And, and, and don't worry about the haze. I, I, I drink enough for everybody, so

Elliott: you got that. You got it.

Jordan: Oh yeah. I, I'll hold the haze down.

Elliott: I had a, I was at a Shelter on Sunday and I had, um, Two Trillium. Uh, [00:30:00] they're never, I never had tri, I mean, I heard about them. Massachusetts I had of me.

Jordan: nah. Nah, man. Uh, the ha ha Haze is, haze is the way. Haze is the way,

Elliott: well yeah, I the haze expert, so I know I to go to when I'm looking for it and I got the expert right here. Got you, got you. Yeah. This.

Jordan: And yeah, and same for like any of the easy drinking IPAs. I mean, I'll grab me a Worldwide, uh, and if I need, if I have any questions about the Westie, I, I'll, I'll, I'll tap you for that.

Elliott: Okay. Yeah, bet, bet. Yeah, that that's my go-to pilsner's, west Coast IPAs, obviously the pale ales and then I, if I wanna get crazy, then I'll step into like the, the Belgian side or do some with the barrel age stuff.

Jordan: Yeah. Well folks, there you have it. A little bit of Jedi mind trick. We know they're not dropping a hazy next month. It's not a hazy,

Elliott: You

Jordan: hey.

Elliott: hazy.[00:31:00]

Jordan: But no, it's all good, man. But, uh, Elliott, man, it is truly been a pleasure catching up with you. Uh, I hope to see you soon, especially before MegaFest. But everybody, go ahead and mark those calendars for August 26th, uh, 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM Be Anacostia. So bring your drinking pants, uh, bring your party vibes and, uh, yeah, let's, let's celebrate summer one, one last time on August 26th at the second annual MegaFest DC's only black beer festival.

So yeah, kudos to you, man.

Elliott: Appreciate it, man. Thank you. Thank you.

Jacob: Thank you Elliot MegaFest. Watch this space and thank you Jordan for the interview.

Jordan: Go ahead and book those calendars. Block it out. August 26th, 3:00 PM 8:00 PM MegaFest, the second annual MegaFest Tap in. Also check out their [e-mail]. Um, beautiful new website updates. Uh, if you ever want [00:32:00] to find their beers, you can definitely find it with their updated, features on their website.

So definitely check that out. And Elliott, shout out to you and all of our HBCU family. All right, over to you.

Jacob: All right, Franklin's over in Hyattsville, uh, up the street from Streetcar 82 and Pizza Paradiso, as it were. Just suffered a fire and should be reopening shortly. Uh, help is on the way for the brewery as well. Um, so stay tuned. Um, we'll have more on that, uh, but they're temporarily shuttered hopefully for not too, too much longer.

Um, again, there are a whole lot of places out there that could use your support. Um, please join me in going out there and supporting these places. You know, the p the places that you wanna see sticking around, say it with dollars. That's what helps them out. All right. Parting thoughts folks?

Michael: I'm grateful. I know, uh, it's not my birthday. I know it's not Jake's or Jordan. [00:33:00] Birthday, um, Brandy, happy, happy birthday to ya.

Brandy: my birthday

wasa, last Monday the third. And I had my birthday party at District Made. Uh, Jake. Jake was there. He was the only DC Beer person that came to my birthday party. So I'll sh I'll continue to throw shade for that for a little while. That's okay. I expect you guys to make it up to me. Um, it's not like it was a big deal or anything.

It wasn't like it was my 40th birthday. Or anything. So, um, I'll, uh, I'll keep that in mind next time you guys invite me to something. Uh, so I still want birthday month presents, so bring those to me. I like smoked beer, like brown ales. I also like gin very much. I got some cool gin from Africa, so jazzed about it, but I bought that for myself.

That was a treat yourself birthday gift. Um, But yeah. Uh, thank you for my [00:34:00] birthday. Love Stein. Uh, I feel old as shit, but, uh, I went to Lowe's the other day and it was loading like tons of like, uh, paver bricks into my, into my car. And the guy there was like, He was like, man, you got, you guys are doing a lot of work.

And I'm like, I'm doing a lot of work at my house. And uh, I was like, I just turned 40 so I, it's really hard. He's like, what? You're 40? And I was like, I was like, yeah. He's like, you look like your late twenties. I was like, nailed it. So I think it's the beer. It's the beer that keeps me young. Drink more beer.

Michael: Ooh, giving away the secret brandy.

Brandy: Oh, thanks Mike.

Michael: All right, fam, on a parting note. We'll see you all soon. Looking forward to more festivals, more events. Come to the next DC beer share. We'd love to see you there.

Brandy: Bye

Jacob: DC beer.com/newsletter. Sign up and Brandy, keep exfoliating with spent grain, you [00:35:00] the youthful glow. All right, we are at TC Beer across the socials. We'll see you all later.