DC/MD/NoVA Beer Updates (2025)

there is no room for regular life in parts of NoVa anymore, its all subsumed into urban professional land. I say this as an urban pro but grew up in a blue collar far boston burb.

 

This is basically my expectation. All the construction springing up in that area is much taller than Dominion's two-story building. At some point, that space will no longer be economically viable, as the building's owner will need to get more rent out of the tract of land than the existing building can provide. They'll either refuse to renew leases or demand such crazy increases that no business will agree, and Dominion will have to search for a new location. I feel like we saw this same sequence with Meridian Pint, and I'm not sure it's going to end any better for Dominion.

 

Relatedly, Brookland Pint is closing.

 

I'm sad for nostalgic reasons but it seems like once Meridian Pint left DC, the quality of BP's draft list took a nosedive. I thought it might be because they were sister restaurants and the beer director for both left. Is that a coincidence or does anyone have more insight into that? We would've frequented BP a lot more if the beer was higher quality but honestly I think in the last 5 years we've been there maybe twice.

 

Yeah, the same dude used to be the beer director at both. Last I heard, he's still at Starr Hill. I have no further insight on either of the Pints since he left, but it's a sad day for the DC-area beer world with both soon to be gone. Some of my best beer memories were formed at Meridian, but I don't think I've been to the Brookland spot since the Savor Weeks of yore.

 

That might be the case. Everything you've said in this message and others is quite true. Ground floor retail rent is going to be substantially greater than a strip mall. I don't see how they could continue to operate if forced to relocate. The pricing as you noted is already higher than competitors.

When we last visited for brunch, and it was probably a year ago, the tent was packed and the breakfast part of the menu much more expansive. This time, there was us and two other small groups so the tent was at like 20% capacity. Service has always been good. Maybe the chef left or they just dialed it back. It's probably been a year since I have seen new menu items in their emails.

And FWIW, the root and branch beers infiltrator and grammatical fiction were great.

 

That's right, thanks for reminding me. Yeah I remember that, as soon as he left the beer selection went way downhill. It went from "Churchkey Lite" (not an insult) to very run of the mill. Not a bad selection but sorely lacking from what used to be. It's a shame

 

He left Starr Hill almost 2 years ago. Was GM of the Charlottesville and Crozet taprooms. Really good guy who knew his beers. I believe he's still in the Charlottesville area in the hospitality/restaurant industry but not a brewery or beer centric spot.

 

I haven’t been for brunch at Dominion in a min but I’ve always liked the food there. They did get a new chef about the same time they got a new GM which is probably last fall

 

Fidens cans at The Brew Shop per the latest email. Steep at ~$8/can, $32/4 but I can't turn down peacharine.

 

Did they return to form? I heard rumblings of a steep dip in quality either earlier this year or late '24

 

I may be mistaken, but I was under the impression the dip is in the food quality in their taproom, not in the beer. There's some discussion to that effect in the dedicated Fidens thread.

 

I have friends that live upstate and they send me Fidens often and all beers have been consistently very good. But $32/4 is nuts

 

It's probably more than 32 when you combine their beer cost and their shipping cost to you.

 

So theres an official announcement. Bunnyman brewing (Burke, VA, Lorton, VA) and mustang sally (Chantilly, VA) have merged their company. This means they have 3 locations and im sure this will enable bunnyman towards retail production.

 

Where's the official announcement? I looked on socials but didn't see anything on their pages or stories.

 

Saw the posted to socials yesterday after my post.

 

apologies, they blasted out an email

 

Sounds like Juicy Brewing maybe on their way out. There are photos on Facebook and Yelp showing several legal notices posted to the brewery's door (e.g., suspension of ABC license, notice of overdue taxes, legal demand to repay debt owed to Aslin).

 

With so many mediocre breweries surviving (won't name names), it's disappointing when a very good one bites the dust.