Visiting DC Brau

A lot of places in PA (Philly region) have it for sale every once and a while. I can't imagine Whole Foods would be a place that would bootleg it.

 

Interesting that some states are seeing cans of it show up, especially at places that aren't likely to bootleg it since even on dcbrau.com one of their main "stories" is "#OTWOA" where it says: "Our single-hop-blend double ipa is available in 6-packs, exclusively in our brewery's tasting room! "

I'd give a direct link but whatever the scrolling stories thing used on their site is won't let me give a unique URL.

 

I knew I wasn't crazy! Haha

 

I still can't believe OTWOA isn't for sale in northern VA. We get a ton of their other brews.

 

It's actually not. I've had OTWOA on my shelves in NJ, so... yeah man about that

 

DC Brau brought OTWOA to the Atlantic City Beer Festival last year and left their remaining cases in the state. It is not normally distributed to NJ. Philadelphia is the only area that every once in awhile see cases of cans.

DC Brau has yet to distribute cans anywhere in DC, MD or VA so it is for the most part a brewery exclusive.

Definitely call ahead of time before you go so you can ensure they have cans of OTWOA available. The first time I went I was able to get it on draft but they hadn't canned yet for the month. They have a fairly small tap room and although I've never seen it crowded, I can imagine it could get packed judging by how small the room is.

Another consideration is that DC Brau is in NE DC and not exactly close to a metro stop. If you drive, make sure you park in the back of the brewery because the stores out front can get irritated when people park in their spots. Otherwise, I'd suggest taking the train to a good metro stop close by and then either cab or uber to DC Brau.

 

NJ has gotten it twice. AC beer Fest was the first, and the leftovers were sent to liquor stores. The second was within the last 3 months. But okay

 

What part of Jersey are you in? You may have seen some of the cases that were sent up originally for Philly. To be honest when I asked the question the folks I talked to at DC Brau didn't explain why Philly is the only place that sees cases. Maybe the owners of DC Brau have a strong relationship with the distributors that handle Philly and parts of New Jersey. Maybe the owner is originally from that area, I don't know. The fact remains that it is essentially a brewery only exclusive. Congratulations that you've seen it on your shelves twice. I live 3 miles from the brewery and I have to drive there to get it.

 

100% false. 40 or so cases made their way into VA last year. Most stores only got 1 case and sold it by the can. Bottles of Wings have also hit in the past.

 

Also, any store or bar in DC can sell the cans. They can go to DC Brau, buy them, and put em up for sale. God bless the Beer Baron Law.

 

I was under the impression that the self-importing only worked if the product wasn't otherwise distributed in DC. DC Brau obviously has distro throughout the District, and i'd assume unauthorized sales of their beers would infringe on their agreements with the distributors.

Regardless, now that they seem to be brewing it more often, I wouldn't be surprised to see it in retail more often. They don't seem to sell through at the brewery as fast as they used to.

 

That's actually an interesting point. I'm not sure how that works. Premium does have the rights to distribute them. However, I know Lost Abbey bottles show up on the shelves through other means and not through the guy that has the rights to distribute in DC...

 

My information was received from the employees at DC Brau. If they released a limited number of cases in the past I wasn't aware of that and I've never seen OTWOA at any store in VA or DC. Maybe they did a limited release in the past and then decided not to replicate.

Also I think Scott is correct in that the self importation law is only supposed to be for beers not distributed to DC. Hence the Hill Farmstead fiasco last year at Bourbon

 

It was put out for sale on Maryland at least once (maybe twice). It might have been due to the expansion at the brewery, but it was on sale at several different stores. It might have also been because they were starting to distribute their entire line up to the market.
Seems like they occasionally distribute to different areas, but not regularly.

 

Yeah it sounds like cans make it out every once in awhile. I have never been lucky enough to see any out in the wild except for my cousin finding a couple at the Foodery in Manayunk, PA I'd be curious if anyone knows the real reason why they say its brewery only but every once in awhile cans make it out.

 

Yea about a year ago I got a 6 pack of it from Franklin's in MD. Only time I personally have seen for sale somewhere besides the brewery. My guess was that they had a large run of it and sent some to distro but haven't been able to repeat that, other than the occasional release to the Philly/NJ area apparently.

 

OTWOA has also been shipped to Connecticut.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/on-the-wings-of-armageddon.238857/#post-3074027

For $14.99 a six pack, no less.

 

Back in the salad days of yore, yup they had bottles sparringly, a little bit of can distribution too but for the most part you had to go to the brewery, and that seems to be the case currently. There was a little bit of expansion into the PA NJ area as others have mentioned.

I also in the past grabbed a sixer at Franklin's as well, which is a great place to go beer shopping and mess around too.

That being said of course, Franklin's is also very close to DC Brau to begin with so there is no reason you can't do both.

Was at the brewery last Saturday to grab a sixer myself, I am sure you wont have trouble landing some if you visit.

 

Reread that post and a few further down, they were selling them as 4 packs for $14.99.

 

I'm pretty sure one of the owners has relatives or something in Jersey and wanted their stuff out here. That's what I heard when they first broke into our state at least.

And yes OTWOA hit about a month or two ago in NJ.