Top Taphouses in Washington, D.C.

What’s the best brewery in Washington, DC?

Impossible to say, right? Everyone has an opinion. But in the age of social media, it is possible to identify which breweries people seem to enjoy the most. To produce this list, we averaged the brewery scores from the three most popular beer-rating sites (Untappd, BeerAdvocate, and BeerRater), then weighted them to reflect the taphouse experience as much as the quality of the beer.

Washington, D.C. has 10 taphouses currently in operation. Of these, four are rated above the national average. Here are the highest rated.

#4 — Bluejacket Brewery
Beginning in 2006, Greg Engert, a former bartender at the Brickskeller, and Michael Babin, founder of the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, began to redefine the 21^st century beer bar in the DMV, first at Rustico in Alexandria and then at ChurchKey in downtown DC. The culmination of their efforts is the Bluejacket Brewery and Arsenal restaurant and bar. Situated just three blocks from Nationals Park, Bluejacket is DC’s first and only production brewery, tap room, and restaurant, featuring 21 taps, five beer engines, two dozen cans and barrel-aged beers, and an enduring commitment to brewing innovation and quality.
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#3 — DC Brau
Located just blocks from where guitar legends Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton once dazzled music lovers at the Crossroads Nightclub, DC Brau, in 2011, became Washington’s first production brewery since Christian Heurich closed in 1956. Fifteen years later, DC Brau is still DC Beer, creator of the Public, the Citizen, the Corruption, and the mythic hop bomb Wings of Armageddon. Its cozy taproom resembles a beer geek’s garage, overflowing with a decade and a half of awards, mementoes, and all things DC. Under the long-time stewardship of manager Paulette Palacios, DC Brau serves up one of the most chill, hospitable taproom experiences anywhere.
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#2 — Right Proper
In 2013, when all of DC’s brewpubs were oriented to tourists, Thor Cheston opened the Right Proper brewpub to serve the residents of the Shaw neighborhood with modestly priced food and drink. And at a time when most American breweries were locked into an arms race to produce the bitterest IPA, Cheston hired a homebrewer named Nathan Zeender to brew idiosyncratic, yeast-driven beers fermented with mixed cultures in French oak foudres. Though the Shaw brewpub has closed, Cheston has shifted his efforts to the Brookland and Eckington neighborhoods with the same focus on community and distinctive beer.
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#1 – Other Half Brewing–Ivy City
Other Half-Ivy City is the southernmost extension of the iconic Brooklyn craft brewing juggernaut and its largest production facility. One of the principal pioneers of intensely hopped, juicy New England-style IPAs—as well as pastry stouts—Other Half continues to innovate and explore with a constant stream of limited-edition IPAs, sourced with the latest experimental and highest-quality hops and frequently collaborating with the most celebrated breweries in the world. Besides offering the largest selection of IPAs in the DMV, the Ivy City taproom offers an inviting array of outdoor drinking areas and a dog-friendly indoor space with a small arcade.
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