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Just in time for Halloween, a commotion has been brewing over the past week about Lost Abbey Witch's Wit, a beer with a label that has an image of a woman being burned at the stake. The Wiccan community, led by popular astrologer and healer Vicki Noble, has lashed out against the California brewery that makes the beer by launching an internet campaign to change the label.

After noticing the bottle in a store, Noble sent an email to her many friends and followers comparing the image to "a black person being lynched or a Jewish person going to the oven." Since then complaints about the beer and its label started popping up all over the internet, including a "Boycott Lost Abbey" group on Facebook. The conflict has caused such a stir that the New York Times ran a piece on it Friday.

Those against the label condemn the image as offensive to practicing pagans, and women in general, and argue that it is inappropriate to use a violent historical reference to sell beer. People who stand behind the label call attention to Lost Abbey's artistically satirical take on packaging their line of craft beers. According to the brewery's media liaison, Sage Osterfeld (quoted here from a blog post that published her email response):

I encourage you to look at all of Lost Abbey’s beers and consider them in context. Each of the Lost Abbey beers features a label which depicts a theme of Catholic excess — good and bad — on the front, and tells a moral story on the back. (Our founder is a recovering Catholic.)

In the case of Witch’s Wit, the back label is a story of the bad consequences of religious intolerance and oppression. The woman on the front is referred to as a “healer” on the label and accuses the Church of being narrow-minded and violent, threatening the same fate to anyone who would help the woman. The label ends with a note that this beer — a light, sweet and golden ale — is brewed in honor of that woman (and all those who died for their convictions).

Our other beers — Devotion, Deliverance, Judgment Day, Inferno, The Angel’s Share, etc. — all have similar messages of morality. Unfortunately, the people who started this meme either didn’t bother or didn’t care to actually read the label and simply chose to fan the flames of ignorance and intolerance — which, ironically, is what the beer is actually against.

The text on the back of the Witch's Wit label reads:

Whether you’re a wonder healer, a caller of spirits or a lover of black magic, they will find you. And on that day, they will boil your blood, singe your skin and make a point to burn your soul to the ground. From that lonely stake, you’ll be left to contemplate your life of spell casting, obscure texts and a world operated between the shadows of night and day.

Convicted of a dark art, the crowd will gather to watch as they raze your earthen existence. An intolerable pain is the cross you’ll bear that day as you are removed from this righteous world. No one will summon the courage to save you in fear of their life. It sucks. But such is the life of a witch. In honor of your fleeting existence, we brewed Witch’s Wit. A light and refreshing wheat beer, it’s exactly the sort of thing you might expect to find being passed around the center of town on witch burning day. Say hello to the Prince of Darkness for us.

Despite several reports that Port Brewing Company / Lost Abbey had agreed to change the label, the official word is the brewery has not yet made a decision and does not plan to until after Halloween. This week you could hear about the issue in person from the "recovering Catholic" himself, Lost Abbey founder and brewmaster Tomme Arthur. Arthur is in D.C. today and tomorrow to lead a two-night run of Fresh Harvest Ale tastings at The Brickskeller.

As for the beer, the Brick's tasting is not slated to include Witch's Wit and you are not likely to find any more on shelves this year. Lost Abbey beers are rare in D.C. to begin with (we have spotted a few at the Brickskeller, ChurchKey, and Connecticut Avenue Wine & Spirits), but Witch's Wit is a summer release, making it that much more difficult to find in late October.

The Lagerheads have a bottle (pictured above) and plan to enjoy this Belgian Wit spiced with grapefruit zest, orange peel, and coriander, regardless of all the brewhaha. It seems timely to pop the cork this weekend for Halloween. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the beer and/or its label?

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On Monday, ChurchKey will be pouring Rodenbach Vintage 2008, a limited-edition Flanders sour ale matured for two years in a single oak cask at the brewery in Belgium.

On Tuesday Liberty Tree chef Graig Glufling is hosting a four-course paired tasting at Little Miss Whiskey's. Fall themed pairings include grilled butternut squash, pecans and arugula salad paired with Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale and scallops with bacon and spicy Vermont maple syrup glaze paired with Kulmbacher EKU 28 Doppelbock. More on Tuesday include Belga Café's monthly Belgian beer dinner and opening night for Rustico's new Ballston location.

Also on Tuesday, Galaxy Hut in Clarendon hosts a night of hophead heaven with Left Hand Brewing Company (Longmont, Colorado) and Terrapin Beer Company (Athens, Georgia). The breweries are touring with their third Midnight Brewing Project series collaboration, Oxymoron, a 7.2%-ABV American Pale Lager. Also available will be Left Hand's Warrior Fresh Hop IPA and Twin Sisters Double IPA, and Terrapin's Hopzilla Douple IPA and So Fresh & So Green, a fresh harvest ale brewed with 360 pounds of Amarillo hops flown in overnight from the Yakima Valley in Washington State. Galaxy Hut is a small place so if you are worried about squeezing your way to those taps, check out Rick's Wine & Gourmet from 4:00 to 6:00pm for a tasting of Terrapin and Left Hand beers.

Speaking of wet-hopped, on Tuesday and Wednesday night the Brickskeller is hosting Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing and  Lost Abbey in California to lead a tasting of fresh harvest ales. Featured beers include Pizza Port Carlsbad Plant to Pint, Pizza Port Solana Low Tide, Pizza Port San Clemente Riptide, Pizza Port Ocean Beach Get Wet IPA and Port Brewing High Tide IPA. The tasting will also include Weyerbacher Harvest Ale, Sierra Nevada Fresh Harvest Ale, and Sierra Nevada Estate Harvest Ale, a beer brewed with hops grown on-site at the brewery in Chico, California.

On Wednesday PING by Charlie Chiang's in Arlington is hosting a six-course paired dinner with seasonal and limited release beers from Bell's Brewery in Michigan, including Hell Hath No Fury... Belgian-style stout and the Oracle Double IPA.

On Friday, there is no reason to be upset that Night at the Living Zoo tickets have been sold out for weeks. The Brickskeller is hosting a "Sanity vs. Fear" tasting featuring some serious beers from two of the most accomplished brewers in the area: Jason Oliver of Devils Backbone in Roseland, Virginia, and Bill Madden or Mad Fox in Falls Church. Highlights include Madden's oaked Wee Heavy aged in Rye barrels, and Oliver's Kung Pow Enter the Hop, a far eastern influenced single hop IPA brewed with flaked rice and Sorachi Ace hops, and a chance to see owner Dave Alexander perform some blues on the stage with Celebrator Beer Magazine owner and publisher Tom Dalldorf.

Also on Friday, Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland, is hosting a Halloween bash with live music, 12 taps of fresh beer, a $500 costume contest, and haunted brewery tours. [UPDATE: Sold out]

And don't forget the regular weekly events: Room 11's Monday night guest tap, which is Smuttynose IPA this week, and trivia night at Biergarten Haus on Tuesday and Meridian Pint on Wednesday.

Send submissions for the D.C. Beer Events calendar to thelagerheads@gmail.com.

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As a wine distributor and importer in the Mid-Atlantic for six years, Brandon Skall noticed something missing from the local scene: “The whole time this gap, ever since Old Dominion moved, was staring me in the face: we need a beer from D.C. You’ve got great brewpubs downtown, so why couldn’t there be a brewery from D.C. that was production oriented?”

Then, just over two years ago, Skall learned that fellow local DJ Jeff Hancock was a professional brewer. They only knew each other by their DJ handles, Freefall and Brandon Black (aka Bran B), but arranged to meet to discuss the idea of starting a brewery. Skall brought the beginnings of a business plan and Hancock, who had brewed professionally for several breweries, most recently Flying Dog, brought the beer.

Each must have liked what the other had to offer because, since then, Skall and Hancock have worked tirelessly to get their brewery, DC Brau Brewing Company, ready for production. Preparation included hiring a legal team and brewery planning firm, homebrewing weekly to develop recipes, and raising almost $600,000 in private capital. Skall and Hancock are currently busy equipping and building out their brewspace. But the duo still find the time to update their blog and Facebook page and to go out to local bars to meet future DC Brau drinkers and share their love of craft beer. Skall handles sales and marketing as CEO, and Hancock is the president and head brewer.

DC Brau occupies a 6,600-square-foot space in an industrial mall on Bladensburg Road in Northeast D.C., just a few blocks from Eastern Avenue. The entrance, which is at the back of the building, faces the railroad tracks, a fact you are reminded of each time a MARC train roars by on its way into Maryland. Right now, the space is not much more than a vacant warehouse with a loading dock, an adjoining office area (that will eventually hold a tasting bar), a small closet and bathroom, and a dark nook that looks perfect for barrel aging.

On the day I visited, contractors were finishing a wall to separate the brewery from the storage area in the rest of the building. Skall and Hancock were waiting for equipment to be delivered. As we walked around the near-empty warehouse, they showed me a few of the pieces that had already arrived. (Brew techie bonus: This included their glycol chiller, filter, boiler, and canning line.)

DC Brau founders Brandon Skall, left, and Jeff Hancock, right

DC Brau’s used canning line, which came from Roughneck Brewing Company in Alberta, Canada, is the same model that started the can revolution in craft beer. Sales reps from Cask Brewing Systems, the Canadian outfit that makes the machine, have spent the last 10 years convincing craft breweries like Oskar Blues and Sly Fox to disregard the association of cans with watered-down, metallic-tasting beer and put their flavorful, hand-crafted brews in aluminum.

DC Brau can’t start filling cans until the rest of their 15-barrel brewhouse equipment arrives in December. The duo is planning a trip to China next month to check on the system’s progress. If all goes well, Skall and Hancock will be brewing by Christmas, which means as soon as January they will be sending beer to bars, restaurants, and shops across D.C.

DC Brau will have three flagship beers, starting with Public Ale, a 5%-ABV “easy going” American Pale Ale. “Sierra Nevada [Pale Ale] was the first craft beer I had that kicked the gears in my head and made me say, ‘Hey, I could do this,'" Hancock told me. "Pale Ale is my favorite style of beer and I wanted to put enough hops there to make people that know about Pale Ales excited, but not so aggressive to the point that people who might drink a lighter beer can’t make the switch. . . So many big Pale Ale and IPA beers are so strong you can’t session them. When I get a good beer, I want to drink it until I’m blue in the face and not necessarily get drunk before that.”

Hancock and Skall are currently working on two recipes for the Public Ale, a fruity West Coast style using American hops and a “more dialed down” version with English hops. They will use the final recipe to produce another flagship, the Citizen. This Belgian-Style Pale Ale will be the Public Ale brewed with Belgian yeast to give the beer some fruit and spice characterstics. DC Brau will also make an India Pale Ale called Corruption Ale. According to an interview with NovaBeerFly, the Corruption Ale will be a “no holds barred American IPA with plenty of IBU’s and aroma to satisfy the most seasoned of IPA drinkers.”

I asked how they named their beers. Skall said, “We wanted the image of the brewery to be associated with the nation’s capital–freedom, the country, and politics in some way without taking a side. You have corruption everywhere. We felt the name fit perfectly for an IPA, for the power of hops and how they can corrupt your palate. After having a super hoppy beer everything else tastes a little funny.”

In addition to the three flagship beers, DC Brau will produce seasonal beers named after D.C. neighborhoods. They will also create limited-release specialty beers in 22-oz. bombers or 750-mL corked bottles. Skall and Hancock also have plans to work with local establishments to create private label beers like Brasserie Beck’s Antigoon, which is brewed especially for the restaurant by a small brewery in Belgium.

DC Brau beers will be sold at nearly 40 District bars, restaurants, and shops (half have signed letters of intent, half have made oral agreements), including Rock and Roll Hotel, Red Derby, Solly’s, The Looking Glass Lounge, Stoney's, Room 11, Timor Bodega, and Whole Foods, to name a few. In their first year DC Brau hopes to produce the equivalent of 60-to-80 kegs a week, which will equal about 3,000 barrels. Their business plan has them distributing to Maryland and Virginia as soon as the market is ready and expanding to 5,000 barrels by their fifth year. Skall and Hancock ultimately aspire to sell beer throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

But for now DC Brau is keeping things local. Its founders want the identity of the company to be personal–for people to know them as well as they know their beer. “That’s a dream for us," Skall said. "Like if somebody goes to a bar and they see a DC Brau tap, we literally want to be in the corner hearing them say to their friend, ‘Oh hey I met these guys at a bar and they were awesome. They told me all about their brewery.’ We really want to make that happen.”

This goal is part of the reason they are naming each of their seasonal beers after a D.C. neighborhood. “It’s a nod to each of the neighborhoods," Skall said. "D.C. is starting to have a real neighborhood culture.” Hancock added, “The city is developing that way with independent businesses and each borough getting its own identity.” Outside of the city, Skall and Hancock have established a partnership with Burnside Farms in Haymarket, Virginia. They have planted hops they will use in their beer, and have arranged for the farmers to use brewery waste for animal feed, composting, and fertilization.

Skall and Hancock are looking forward to building a community with the breweries that will be operating inside the District of Columbia in the next year. “Really the end goal is what we can accomplish together," Skall said. If we can establish that good quality local beers come from D.C., we can bring more people into the craft beer world.” He added, “I think the bottom line is that our strength, all of us, has got to be our unity. If any one of us tries to divide and conquer, it’s going to ruin it for everybody.”

So far Skall and Hancock have taken a lead in building that unity. They have served as mentors to Dave Coleman and Mike McGarvey who will be opening 3 Stars Brewing Company next year. They have also reached out to neighboring brewery founders Jay Irizarry and Ben Matz of Chocolate City Beer, and hope to develop a relationship that could involve sharing shipments and supplies and even brewing beer together. “I would like to think that we’re all going to be out there just as much supporting the D.C. beer scene, doing events, trying to push the ideas of locality and freshness," Skall said. "As the rest of the local movement through farming and agriculture and food grows, so will local beer.” We certainly hope he's right.

For more photos of the Lagerheads' visit to DC Brau Brewing Company, visit our album on Facebook.

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Beer Director Greg Engert and Executive Chef Kyle Bailey traveled to DOG Brewing Company in Maryland to brew a beer with Brian Strumke, the gypsy brewer of Stillwater Artisanal Ales. The limited edition beer (2 kegs to be exact) is called Year One: A Birch & Barley/ChurchKey Anniversary Ale. From the restaurant's website:

The outcome is a delicate hazy blond ale brewed with Perle, Nelson Sauvin, and Hallertauer Mittelfrüh hops lightly spiced with juniper toasted by Chef Bailey and guinea pepper from Chef Bailey's spice stash. The brew was then fermented with a mix of Belgian ale yeast and Brettanomyces Claussenii, providing aromas of tropical fruit and mild spice with soft malts and a crisp dryness in the finish.

The catch? To feature the beer as it was meant to be enjoyed, paired with Chef Bailey's dishes, Year One will only be available as part of Birch & Barley's nightly tasting menu tonight through Saturday. So you will have to commit to a full dinner in order to get a taste. Contact the restaurant for reservations or hope they have some Year One left after Saturday and will be pouring it at the bar.

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Each new store will be LEED certified, meaning the building meets standards by the U.S. Green Building Council. But the locavore-friendly theme doesn't stop with energy-efficient lighting. According to a corporate rep in the video, Starbucks will work with communities to find recycled materials and partner with local artists. The new Seattle store is furnished with chairs salvaged from the University of Washington campus and a table made from flooring from a local high school. Burlap sacks once used for Starbucks coffee decorate the walls.

Along with alcohol as a new menu item, Starbucks will add savory dishes like local cheese plates and cured meats served on china instead of plastic. They also have plans to host performances by local performers. If the lab store does well, Starbucks could be turning more of their locations nationwide into similarly redesigned neighborhood coffee-house/bars.

What do you think about Starbucks carrying regional craft beer as well as lattes and pastries? Can you see yourself winding down in one of their renovated locations?

UPDATE: What's on the new Starbucks store's beer list after the jump.

The pilot store currently has three bottled beers: Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Pyramid Hefeweizen, and Peroni. Peroni is an Italian beer owned by South Africa-based beer giant SABMiller and imported by MillerCoors. Pyramid is a Seattle brand but was recently purchased by Rochester-based North American Brewers, owners of Labatt. Deschutes Mirror Pond is an award-winning pale ale from a well-respected independent Oregon brewery. The small and questionable selection is lackluster to hopeful craft beer fans for sure, but many are likely to think it is better than Starbuck's last attempt at selling beer. What do you think?

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On Wednesday, the new Pizzeria Paradiso location in Old Town Alexandria will be open for business. If the beer programs at the Georgetown and Dupont Circle locations are any indication, the new spot will be a great place to visit for craft beer. Also, the Big Hunt will have a keg and a cask of Bishop's Indulgence, an 8%-ABV Russian Imperial Stout from Oliver Breweries in Baltimore. Brewmaster Steve Jones will be present for tapping honors at 6PM.

This Saturday and Sunday is the Northern Virginia Fall Brewfest at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, Virginia. The outdoor festival will feature over 50 breweries from around the world, including East Coast gems like Allagash, Terrapin, and Duck Rabbit,  Mid-Western breweries like Founders and New Holland, outfits from out West like Left Hand, Oskar Blues, and Lagunitas, and international stars like Weihenstephan, Harviestoun, and Mikkeller. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the gate for each day for the 11AM to 7PM festival.

And don't forget the regular weekly events: Room 11's Monday night guest tap, which is Climax IPA this week, trivia night at Biergarten Haus on Tuesday, and trivia is beginning on Wednesday nights at Meridian Pint.

For details on an event click on it in our D.C. Beer Events Calendar above.

Send submissions for the D.C. Beer Events calendar to thelagerheads@gmail.com.

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This upsurge will end a drought that began when the Christian Heurich Brewing Company, D.C.'s last production brewery, folded in the mid-1950's, sending the Senate and Old Georgetown beer lines to their permanent breweriana resting place. (Never heard of Heurich? Then you must have missed Tim Carman's recent post about it, but you have probably passed by Heurich's house, the Brewmaster's Castle, in Dupont Circle.)

After a half-century wait, D.C. residents will once again be able to call tap handles and six-packs their own at bars and stores across, and eventually beyond, the city. Sure, Washington has brewpubs like District Chophouse, Capitol City Brewing Company, and Gordon Biersch, as well as near-local breweries like Flying Dog, Heavy Seas, Olivers, Stillwater, and Hook and Ladder. But a true D.C. beer made and distributed within the District is a profound step in our city's rapidly advancing craft beer culture. It looks like instead of just one local brew, we will have several by the end of 2011.

And the four highlighted in this week's article are just the beginning. It is our prediction that we will hear about more and more breweries and brewpubs opening in the area. So you can start keeping track (because it's becoming so hard to), below is a list of known ones. We will be bringing you more details on each soon. But have you heard of others?

INSIDE THE DISTRICT:

• DC Brau Brewing Company - Website | Facebook | Twitter
• Chocolate City Beer - Website | Facebook | Twitter
• 3 Stars Brewing Company - Website | Twitter
• Logan Shaw Brewery - Website
• Black Squirrel Brewing Company
• A brewpub venture by Robert Wiedmaier
• Mad Fox D.C. Tap Room – Website | Facebook | Twitter

OUTSIDE THE DISTRICT:

• Baying Hound Aleworks, Rockville – Website | Facebook
• Port City Brewing Company, Alexandria - Website | Facebook | Twitter
• 28 North Custom Beer Works, Ashburn - Website | Facebook | Twitter

Senate Beer label image from BeerCansRUs.com

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Also this week, Black Squirrel is hosting a movie and beer night on Wednesday in their cozy upstairs space, and on Saturday the Society for the Preservation of Beer from the Wood presents the Chesapeake Real Ale Festival featuring over 40 diverse firkins at Pratt Street Ale House in Baltimore. And if the idea of going to Baltimore for beer is appealing, don't forget it's still Baltimore Beer Week.

For details on an event click on it in our D.C. Beer Events Calendar above.

Send submissions for the D.C. Beer Events calendar to thelagerheads@gmail.com.

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The party starts Monday at ChurchKey where the founder and CEO of Stone Brewing Company Greg Koch will host a keg party of gigantic proportions with 40 of his rarest and tastiest brews on draft. Tickets sold out for the 3:30 VIP meet and greet session so planning on waiting in line to get in starting at 4:00pm.

If the crowds scare you, don't worry. Starting Monday and running all week is another big celebration of beer. The Brickskeller is commemorating their 53rd Anniversary by digging some of their most prized kegs and bottles out of the vault and offering them at "pocket-friendly" prices. Gems on the list include Anchor Old Foghorn Barleywine 2001, Dogfish Head Raison D’Extra 2006, 2007 and 2008, and the last five straight years of Stone Vertical Epic.

Pizzeria Paradiso is still serving all Fall beers at both the Dupont and Georgetown locations for Autumn Fest. Notable brews include German standards like Paulaner and Ayinger Oktoberfest as well as rarities from Hofstetten and Kulmbacher. And they of course have a plethora of American fest and pumpkin beers, perfect for this week's weather.

On Wednesday beer fans will want to head back to ChurchKey to for a chance to meet Bruce Williams, the charismatic founder and brewmaster of Williams Brothers Brewing Company in Scotland. Eight taps will show a range of both his traditional and modern ales including Joker IPA, a Black Porter called Midnight Sun, Grozet Gooseberry Ale, and the popular-with-the-gingers Fraoch Heather Ale.

On Thursday Baltimore Beer Week officially starts, with over 300 events for those willing to make a trip or two over the next seven days. The ten-day festival runs from October 7 to 17 and would be a good opportunity to check out Charm City's newest beer bar, Alewife.

On Saturday, bring the kids down to the SouthEast waterfront for RiverFrontFest, where Flying Dog will make sure you have good beer and local bands and artist will see that you are entertained.

And as always, Mondays are guest tap nights at Room 11, with Climax Oktoberfest being featured this week, and Tuesdays mean trivia at Biergarten Haus.

Send submissions for the D.C. Beer Events calendar to thelagerheads@gmail.com.

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