Bluejacket Brewery: Washington D.C.'s Breakout Beer Star

Bluejacket opened in D.C., around the corner from Nationals Park in October 2013. The brewery is housed in a huge four-story warehouse space. They share the space with the restaurant side of the operation, The Arsenal at Bluejacket. The 5,600 square foot space used to be a manufacturing complex for the Navy. The space is open, with tons of natural light, allowing folks drinking and dining at The Arsenal can see what goes on in the floors above.

Bluejacket Brewery: Washington D.C.'s Breakout Beer Star (Slideshow)

The fermenting, brewing, and aging all happens on-site. Beer director and James Beard award nominee Greg Engert, plus his team of brewers, have created a brewery with a ride range of flavors and styles. They have 20 beers on tap at a time, plus five on cask. Their current cask offerings are New Zealot (Pale Ale), The Stroppy (Pale Ale with cascade hops in the cask), The Wake (Imperial Stout), Mexican Radio (Spiced sweet stout) and The Fix (Vanilla coffee brown ale). 

The remarkable flavor of some of their sour beers can be attributed to their use of a coolship. This unique technique of beer-making uses a large shallow pan adjacent to open windows that allows the yeast natural air to be absorbed by the wort. After it's exposed to the air, it's put in barrels and the fermentation process begins. Click through our slideshow to see more of Bluejacket and The Arsenal.

Barrels

Some of Bluejacket's beers are aged in a variety of casks, including some that held wine and whiskey.

Coolship

In the coolship, the wort is exposed to natural air overnight through the open vents, before the fermentation process begins.

Click here for more photos of Bluejacket Brewery.

Jane Bruce is the Photo Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @janeebruce.