Jeff Hancock Talks DC Brau Public Reformulation, Brewery Developments

While watching my belov-, okay, at this minute loathed, Everton Football Club on my birthday at Fado last December, I decided to forego a second Guinness and set my sights on a more local option. DC Brau’s Public Pale Ale showed up in a glass shaped like the beer’s now-ubiquitous can bearing a red U.S. Capitol Building. I expected the familiar caramel malts and assertive bitterness that I was used to and received anything but. What I got from that sip of The Public was bright, in color and flavor, with a nearly-electric grapefruit note and nearly none of the malt profile I have been used to since the beer’s launch in 2011. It was delightful, thirst-quenching, balanced. I rarely have “oh shit” moments in beer these days, because I follow TLC’s advice and stay relatively close to the rivers and the lakes that I’m used. This qualified as an “oh shit” moment.

I seldom reach for the east coast style these days in general. This isn’t to knock The Public, which I obviously like enough to have