Chocolate City Beer

Today's A.Word.A.Day is zymurgy, which is where this blog has been focused of late, as DC has been too hot and humid for cooking. How about we continue the study of fermentation instead? By drinking beer and eating pickles, natch.

While conducting our "highly scientific" summer tour of DC breweries, some friends and I recently visited Chocolate City Beer. Located at 2801 8th St NE in the Brookland neighborhood, this brewery is actually convenient by Metro! It's about a 10-minute walk from Brookland-CUA Station. It is also handy by bus and by bike, if you can brave the Metropolitan Branch Trail.

Wow, this is a small brewery, located in the basement of an old railside industrial building. Chocolate City is larger than a homebrew operation but tiny compared to DC Brau. It almost feels like visiting a friend's garage, although it smells more malty than musty.

Because of the size of the operation, Chocolate City doesn't bottle or can their beer. It is only available in barrels, kegs, and sixtels. And, of course, in to-go growlers. Chocolate City's constant batch turnover means that the brewery always has fresh products.

There is no official tour but you are free to roam about as you enjoy a free tasting. When we visited some of the brewers were on hand to answer questions too. They had only one beer ready to taste, the Cornerstone Copper Ale. This "foundational beer" is a mild amber ale, which is not really my bag. I'll be on the lookout for their other offerings.

Luckily, you can find Chocolate City beer on tap, all around town. Growler sales are every Saturday, from 12:30pm-4:30pm, at the brewery proper. I do love the Chocolate City Beer logo, which also adorns the glassware and other merchandise available at the brewery store.