RIP Chocolate City

Do you have any sort of facts to base this assumption on? I highly doubt you're right. I'd pay an extra five bucks to not have to drag my ass out to Bladensburg Rd. Waiting in a line should not be incentive to enjoy a beer more. Ever.

 

Nobody will push DC Brau out of the market lol, those other guys will eventually get a larger market share if my 8-ball isn't lying.

 

I recall something to this effect being mentioned in an interview, but can't seem to track down a link right now.

Either way, the way hop contracts are structured, especially for proprietary hops like Falconers Flight, "just brew more" is rarely an option. They're locked into a limited supply until their contract with Hopunion is up for renewal, so securing enough hops right now to ramp up production would either be impossible, or at least financially difficult.

Plus, there's the space issue--any time and tank space spent brewing OTWOA means less time and space to brew Public, Corruption, and the rest of the year-round stuff. That's where the money is--it's cheaper to brew and they sell a ton of it.

 

Dc brau has had a good string of things that have really helped them

1) great tasting beer in their standard portfolio Jeff makes some real solid styles
2) capturing an audience. Curious and everyday local beer drinkers are into their beer, and then they also make a beers that appeal to beer geeks. They have managed to get both of these groups under their wings.
3) getting out first to market. They were one of the first breweries in the DC area and go their name out early. There were basically #2 after Port City, and of course first in DC not counting old brewpubs.
4) Branding. The brewery has a fantastic bit of great marketing and identity. Tied themselves to dc, excellent can designs, familiar symbols, it is almost as savy as New Belgium I would say in terms.

Other breweries in the area have some of those things but many don't. They would kill to have all 4 let me tell you. Some may get there some wont.

 

I had a good conversation with someone and we brought up Chocolate City.

His opinion was that they were suffering because the name was controversial.

I actually think the name is great, but I had to say that their name was truly the least of their problems. ..

 

Controversial? Its the nickname of DC. If it was so controversial Nike wouldn't have made t-shirts and shoes celebrating the nickname. Let me guess, the person that said that was white.

 

I do think it's sad to see Chocolate City go. I'll be honest that I never visited it; however, I did try a few of theirs at the Pug. Also, I had a friend bring a growler or two of theirs over a few times. I just never really liked their beers. I'm really excited about any local brewery that comes up. I'm not that big into Atlas's beers, but I want them to succeed. DC Brau makes what I deem solid beers; although, I want them to do more to diversify a bit. I'm not big on 3 Stars, but I have grabbed a few of theirs and liked them. Bluejacket is the one I keep hoping will get better over time. Ultimately, I think Right Proper may be doing the best stuff in DC. I think we have some solid offerings that can grow, and I'm just not sure Chocolate City had the beer or drive to do that.

 

If you have subpar beers, especially relative to the local competition, don't get tap handles or distribution, and have bad marketing on top of that, you aren't going to last.

Look at how they stack up against the other local breweries: http://www.beeradvocate.com/place/list/?&c_id=US&s_id=DC&brewery=Y&sort=rating&sort=avgbeers

And like others mentioned, I never saw them on tap anywhere. It was only a matter of time.

On a brighter note, Right Proper is opening a production brewery in Brookland which looks like it will have a strong focus on sours.

 

I never saw anything of their on tap - or anywhere, so they must have had ineffective distribution. (I can't say anything about the product, because I never had any.) Perhaps the name "Chocolate City" made people think of a candy store.

 

I'm sure there were people unfamiliar with the nickname. I was until I actually heard of the brewery name, but I'm still willing to bet if you polled people outside of the people who actually actively pursue craft beer in DC, most wouldn't have been able to name Chocolate City as a DC based brewing company.

 

I ain't gonna lie, DC Brau isnt something I normally have in my fridge. You'll see more sierra nevada then you would dc brau. I just never fully fell in love with their main releases to the point where I buy their beers on a regular basis.
However, I think their limited releases are at times world class. OTWOA in my opinion is just amazing. Solar Abyss and Exaltation I loved also. But their regular stuff nah, at times I don't mind The Public.

Also been to right proper one time, and I wasnt too impressed. Ill have to check it out again.