Chocolate City Beer Announces It Will Close at End of Year

Effective December 31st, 2014 Chocolate City Brewing (CCB) will go out of business. It is Washington, DC’s first brewery to close since the Christian Heurich Brewery folded in 1956 to make way for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the first craft brewery to close in the District.

We at DCBeer are saddened, but not particularly surprised, at this news. Creating and running any business is hard, hard work, and that is especially true of breweries. We wish the owner and employees of CCB well in their future endeavors. With that said, Chocolate City folded for a variety of reasons, chief among them size, quality, and strategy, and there are lessons to be learned on all counts.

Chocolate City is easily the smallest brewery in the District. With a 3.5 BBL (roughly seven kegs per batch) system, it was hard to make beer for the many bars and restaurants in DC that would have gladly served a local product. Beyond the District’s borders, CCB had the smallest brewing facilit