Blogging: Breweries in D.C., Md., & Va.

Breweries that blog.

In the Washington, D.C./Maryland/Virginia tri-state area, it's an exclusive club. Five —that I know of— maintain active blogs that can be subscribed to by RSS. Here's the list, organized alphabetically (with the dates that their blogs first appeared, within parentheses):

• Devils Backbone Brewing Company (December 2009)
• Flying Dog Brewery
• Mad Fox Brewing Company
  
• Pratt Street Ale House
• Stillwater Artisinal Ales (November 2009)

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WHAT IS A BLOG?

Think of a blog as a journal rather than as a compendium of columns. It could be a 3,000 word, well-researched, fully linked and annotated essay, but more often it could be a quick jotting about an experience, an announcement of events, or, for a beer blog,  a short-form diary from the life and times of a brewer. It's more communication than communiqué. A brewery blog can function as a newsletter, or it can it can be more personal, more of a journal. That's not a narcissistic exercise; it's a marketing tool — and a free one.

As British beer blogger Ron Pattinson writes at his Shut Up about About Barclay Perkins:

This is my blog. I can, and do, write whatever the flip I want. That's why blogging is so much better than proper journalism. Where some twat tells you what to write, then changes it anyway. No-one, neither editor, nor proprietor nor advertiser stands between me and thee.

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INACTIVE blogs

Brewers are busy people; small breweries short-staffed. It's more important there to brew the beer than blog about it. Listed below are some of the area breweries which have blogs, but only infrequently post.

• Capitol City Brewing Company
• DC Brau Brewing Company (May 2010)
• Franklins Brewery (January 2010)
• Heavy Seas Brewing Company [formerly known as Clipper City Brewing]

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• UPDATED: 26 December 2011.
  
• The most recent brewery blog posts are listed in the sidebar to right.
  
• There are 30 breweries in the tri-state area posting to Twitter: here.
• If you know of a D.C., Md., or Va. brewery that has a blog or Twitter account, which is NOT listed here, please contact me.