DC/MD/NoVA Beer Updates (2025)

Went into Brew Republic (Woodbridge, VA) last night for karaoke, relatively packed and they seem to want to go out with a bang (closing Sunday night). They're selling empty kegs for a good price. Similarly with beer "with deposit" with the idea the keg won't be coming back. The beer is still reasonable price (somebody bought a half barrel of their bba eisbock).

 

From their social media post earlier today with details...

 

Sump on tap at rocklands. My memory is that it has been better but still a worthwhile pour.

 

Frederick, MD is losing 2 city breweries. I heard Rockwell is closing up (no real loss, their beers were so/so), but today I heard Idiom brewery is closing. That is a big shock, they had best location, great food, very solid beers and were always packed, probably the most popular brewery in Frederick in the last couple years (maybe Brewers Alley has it beat). Here’s what I found on X….. https://x.com/i/grok/share/ymwSFCWzRkTwI7S8WenZhAXrl

 

breweries usually fail on 1) loans 2) rent... there's also 3) age and tragedy and 4) solo operator burnout. Looking at idiom viewed through grok I'm going to guess they overreached on themselves. Bet too high and lost.

 

Maybe we’ll find out more. Agree it sounds like could be overreach trying to break into the oversaturated retail shelf space at the worst possible market timing with the investment in an offsite production facility and/or burnout of owning a local brewery. Could be other personal reasons we aren’t aware of as well. I wish the owner well, and hopefully a good brewery owner or restaurant owner can take over that wonderful space along Carrol Creek.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/frederickmd/s/2B8FhKTWSr

This thread goes off the deep end once the owner Mike chimes in but not the best look to have multiple people accuse you of not being an awesome person.

 

ugh... yeah, that's not pretty. Businesses often end up being ego manifests.

 

For anyone who hasn't snagged their Snally tickets yet, just a friendly heads up that VIP is almost sold out.

 

My son snagged me a 4 pack of Resolute BA stout from Brothers Brewing out of Harrisonburg VA this weekend. I haven’t had this beer in probably 8 years, and it was one of my highest rated stouts (I first had it in 2014. Shared a can with some friends this weekend and darn beer was sour/infected. So frustrated as I was excited to share one of my favorite beers and it was a bust.

I remember when Brothers was the top brewery in the whole state of VA. I haven’t heard anyone even mention them in over 5 years or longer. Just wondering what others from the area think. I realize they are outside of the DMV but figured it’s close enough to have some discussion.

 

Yeah, they had a bit of a showing for awhile. Wouldn't call them top back then but certainly in the top 10. They're now called "Feel the rain brothers"... which... I mean... fine. Wonder what their stories have been.

 

In general... law(suits) over the name. From 3 Brothers to Brothers to now Feel the Rain Brothers. whatever that means. They're always gonna be Brothers to me.

 

Their website has "Some people feel the rain, Some people just get wet. Big news coming this Fall..." at the top.

Not sure if its anything but the name change and/or marketing or something surprising.

 

I could be wrong but believe they just haven't updated the website in a while and it's a carry over from sometime last year. At the start of 2025 they did post the following to socials and provided some additional insight which some others above have already referred to.
____________________________________________________________
As we start a new year, a lot of questions have been brought up over some graphic and name updates over the past few months. While some things have been slowly rolling out, we figured it was time to let everyone in on the information and what 2025 holds for us!

12 years ago we started out as Three Brothers, and shortly after found ourselves in a legal battle over numbers. Once that was settled up and done, we got another C&D fighting against Brothers all together; we have been fighting that legal battle ever since. So, although we planned to give our brand a refresh in 2025 we've been forced to move quicker on that process. With the hurdles that come along with any legal battles, as well as a ton of behind the scenes work to move to a brand new from-the-ground-up facility, we are once again stepping into a new chapter.

Growing up our Dad used to always say, "some people feel the rain, and others just get wet". Basically a way to say "things happen, it's how you respond that matters". While the last 12 years haven't been easy by any stretch, we continue to battle through the struggles of running a small business through name changes, pandemic shutdowns, and industry shifts. We choose to continue to feel the rain, and 2025 will bring a brand new facility with more private event space, advanced taplists, in house food, and outdoor areas to enjoy.

Whether you are a weekly regular, come in every now and again, or have never been to the taproom, we cherish your business and would love to see you as we continue to need to operate our current taproom and wholesale business. Thank you all for the continued support over the years, and can't wait to see you down the road!

Feel the Rain Brothers Brew Co.
______________________________________________________________
Maybe from the message above they are referring to the new facility?? though I have not heard or seen anything about a new location coming up. I was a Horizon Society member in the late 2010s for a few years and back then believe towards the end when I decided not to renew that was the beginning of things going downhill. Not saying their beers have completely fallen off but the ones people used to get hype up over (Resolute mainly) it's not nearly as good as it once was although one of the releases a few years ago brought back hope as it was outstanding. One of the brothers, Adam I think, who I credited as being the main one who really had the vision and was I think way the main brother behind the brewing, recipes, etc left at some point towards the end of my HS days for a completely new career. I think it mainly had to do with the stress of it all as in our Horizon Society communications members were often not happy that they were not able to commit to the promises of what was included in members, beers and several of their member beers started having issues with being infected which once it started it almost snowballed. He was always putting out "fires" which just from the HS side became quite often so I can only imagine how it may have been from the regular consumer and patron of the brewery/taproom side. A lot of that probably had to do with them brewing and storing their sour beers and barrel aged beers in the same space as their normal brewing, production and packaging. If you've even been to Brothers you know it's not a large space even in the warehouse / production area.

I'm not exactly local to Harrisonburg (a little over an hour away) and don't travel up there as often as I used to so can's say how the experience and beers are currently on the regular, or even over the past few years, but when I do make it to Harrisonburg I'll still stop by to try them out if they are open but it's not one of those "must stops" when I'm passing through the area I will arrange my schedule like it once was.

 

https://baltimore.dasbestoktoberfest.com/

I’m not sure if anyone posted to his or not, It didn’t show up in a search.
Timonium Fairgrounds, October 4th.

 

You're probably right, i am about an 90 min - 2 hrs away from Harrisonburg and dont make it that way very often. I only looked at their website in prep for a trip last weekend for a show at Clementine.

Related to the trip, we didnt make it to Feel the Rain Brothers. We took the scenic Route through Elkton to get to Harrisonburg. Made a stop for a couple of half pours at Elkton Brewing, cool spot and decent enough beers. After checking into our hotel we went to Restless Moons (again cool spot and decent enough beers, seemed to have a middle aged locals crowd) and then Pale Fire. I'd been to Pale Fire before and always enjoyed the spot, but was never overly impressed with the beer. This time (between the 2 of us) we had 5 different ones and all were good. And while we only split and appetizer the food looked to be good and most people were ordering something. Would make that a stop for future trips.

 

I'd like to do an elkton trip one of these days, it just takes so long to get out there.

 

I did the Elkton circuit spring of last year and it was about an hour for me. It's really just for 3 breweries (Elkton Brewing, Cave Hill Farms and Brew HaHa) and was to tick off some breweries I had not visited as well as work my way through the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail Passport. The beers at Elkton and Cave Hill Farms were ok and they each had probably 10-12+ but I wouldn't go out of my way for them though. Elkton Brewing was a cool spot and they had a street festival going on when we visited so that was cool. I really liked Cave Hill Farms since it's on a large working farm with huge silo you can walk up as well as a farm equipment museum in their taproom space which is a big red barn. Brew HaHa beers were very good.

 

you know for me its more about people, places, and the drive. I'm not expecting great beer from anybody per se but I can be happily surprised or find a hidden gem.

 

Paywalled but Atlas Brew Works to close their Ivy City flagship location and open a larger location in near the Anacostia neighborhood of DC. Ivy City likely to close by the end of September.
https://www.bizjournals.com/washing...las-brew-works-anacostia-bridge-district.html