MARK: My name is Mark Burke.

I'm the owner and head brewer of Streetcar 82, S82 for short.

Before I opened the brewery, I was the athletic director at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf here in Washington D.C.

Which I was also a football coach and the rugby coach.

SETH: After taking an interest in home brewing, in 2018, Mark joined with some friends to open Streetcar 82 named for the trolley line that used to run up and down Route One.

MARK: We deaf owners want to set out and not just make a deaf-owned brewery, but make the best brewery that's owned by deaf people.

Our goal is to make the best beer, period.

When a customer comes in for the first time, they're looking all over the place, "Where's the tap list?"

They have to look at the table and figure out a way to communicate with the bartenders to really force that eye contact and get that connection.

And once they get their first beer in, they're good.

We see deaf and hearing people all mixed together here interacting, we've seen friendships develop here.

We've seen people get on dates, get married.

You know, I don't know where it goes from there.

Also, we do have food trucks that are here every day.

It's a win-win situation for us, for the food trucks as well.

There's a lot of people that come here from all walks of life and there's a beer for everyone, whether they want a Pilsner to a Stout, to a Barrel-aged beer, a Hazy IPA.

Our goal is to have a beer that serves everyone and so everyone can come in and enjoy themselves.

SETH: We're going to be stopping the cameras between the three set ups.

I'm meeting Mark with the help of our standout interpreter, Matt, to get a look at Streetcar 82 in action.

SETH: Mark, good to meet you.

What's up?

MARK: Doing well.

Good to see you.

SETH: I love all of the aromas in this brewery.

What kind of beer are you making today at Streetcar 82?

MARK: So, today we're doing our signature beer, a Hazy IPA called the Fancy Nancy.

SETH: All right, well I love beer, but I know very little about the brewing process.

What do you got going on in these tanks?

MARK: So, today for the brewing, all the grains get poured into the mash tun here in the middle.

And then we added hot water.

It's almost like a tea infusion process where you're breaking down the sugars and flavors and then you leave it in the mash tun for one hour.

Now, we're transferring over to the fermentation tanks over here.

I add the yeast.

Once the yeast breaks it down, it eats away at the sugar and releases the CO2 to become alcohol and there you have it.

That's your beer.

SETH: And so, what makes a Hazy IPA different from a regular IPA?

MARK: For a Hazy IPA, you add oats, and that oats gives that beer the juicy body, that hazy look.

And then for a Hazy IPA, you want a dry hops at the end.

So, we have to do two different types of hops here, the Mosaic and the Amarillo.

Go ahead and take some in your hand.

Break it up, grind it up a bit.

Get a good whiff.

SETH: And so, using two different types of hops they're going each bring their own unique flavor profile?

MARK: Yes, that's right.

So, it's always better to have a mix of different types of hops for a more complex, full-bodied beer rather than just a single-hop beer.

So, with the dry hopping process, when the Fancy Nancy is getting close to being complete, I'll go ahead and add in the hops.

That gives it an increased complex flavor profile.

That's what makes it a Hazy IPA.

And from there, we'll let it sit for about four to five days, make sure the flavors are adjusting correctly and then finally we'll transfer it to the brite tank.

So Seth, here's the brite tank.

This is what we also call the finishing tank, the carbon dioxide.

It's hosed in to the brite.

Once it hits that target carbonation level, then let it sit for about a day and then it'll be ready to get kegged off.

If you don't mind helping me, let's get a label on this keg.

SETH: I'm happy to help.

MARK: All right, awesome.

So, here you are.

SETH: All right.

MARK: 7.4% alcohol.

SETH: So, this is a pretty strong beer here?

MARK: That's right.

7.4% ABV, but it's a nice, clean sip of beer.

So, the carbon dioxide pushes the beer down into the keg and it has a ball inside here.

So, the CO2 shoots out of here.

And once it's full, that ball will pop right up and that's when it stops.

All right, Seth, I'm getting pretty thirsty.

How do we tap this thing off and go have a beer?

SETH: Hey, that sounds great to me, Mark.

Since you can bring your own food to Streetcar 82, my crew hit up the nearby 2Fifty Barbecue to grab some brisket for us to enjoy with our beer.

We featured the acclaimed Texas-style barbecue spot in our pilot episode, and it's also a proud deaf and hard-of-hearing friendly establishment.

STAFF: We have Tony here, he's deaf, he's also our sausage maker.

He's an expert on how to trim briskets.

SETH: All right, Mark, that was fascinating to get a little peek of the brewing process and I'm just loving the color, the cloudiness of this drink.

Cheers.

MARK: Cheers, Seth.

It came out well.

SETH: It sure did.

That is nice.

Full-bodied but refreshing with some of those fruity notes.

That beer is excellent.

MARK: Thank you.

SETH: I'm really, really loving that.

It's high in alcohol, but you wouldn't know it because it's a little bit mellow.

MARK: That's right.

I'm glad you enjoyed the beer.

SETH: Please help yourself to some award-winning brisket MARK: After a long day's work, this looks real good.

SETH: Just go for it.

Oh yeah.

MARK: That's a perfect combination right there.

SETH: Just as good as I remember it.

When you're brewing, do you spend a lot of time thinking about food pairings?

MARK: Yes.

In fact, oftentimes, I'm trying to think of a beer that'll fit the food trucks that are coming up, fruity or sour beer that goes well with the tacos, what we did with 2Fifty Barbecue Pit Master, the smoke lager that we made.

We love collaborating.

SETH: We have a nice little community around here, but as I understand it, the DC area, this is a place that does have a large deaf and hard of hearing community, right?

MARK: Yeah, that's exactly right.

So here, this DC DMV area, it's a great location for us just because of the large deaf and hard-of-hearing population that lives here.

The hearing folks that are familiar with us, it's not like a whole foreign experience for them to interact with deaf people.

They accept us.

Oftentimes hearing people will say, "Oh, I know someone from work who's deaf," or "I have a family member who's deaf or a neighbor."

There's always some degree of separation between someone that's hearing and the deaf community here in the DMV.

When they come in this bar, they're comfortable interacting with deaf people.

You know, we don't bite and we serve great beer.

So, and it's fun to see how the entire community really comes together.

All are welcome here at S82.

SETH: Well, I can think of very few things that bring people together as well as beer does.

And on top of that, this Fancy Nancy, just first-rate.

Thank you so much.

MARK: Well, thank you for joining us today, Seth, on our brew day.

We had a lot of fun working with you.

Hope you come back again soon and bring your whole crew, too.