In 2020, DC Brau Brewing and the Blade Foundation paused on the beloved PRIDE PILS program. This year, to keep with the tradition and to fundraise for SMYAL and the Blade Foundation, a small batch of the PRIDE PILS will be launched into the market in time for National Coming Out Day – Monday, October 11th. Starting next week, this small batch of DC Brau’s award-winning Brau Pils will hit the region’s shelves in vibrant purple cans prominently featuring the combined artwork of the winning PRIDE PILS competition designs from Josette Matoto (2017), Alden Leonard (2018) and Maggie Dougherty (2019). The combination of the three designs represents the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community and shows no matter how different, we all can come together as one.

Restaurants, bars and retailers will be selling the specially branded PRIDE PILS cans for a fourth year with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit SMYAL (smyal.org) and The Blade Foundation (bladefoundation.org). This year the can labels have been generously donated by Blue Label Packaging Company.

“This partnership with The Washington Blade is important to us and we wanted to make sure that we kept the tradition alive during this challenging year. We want to continue celebrating the LGBTQ+ community while making a lasting impact on organizations that are doing important work here in DC and around the world,” says Mari Rodela, DC Brau’s Chief Community & Culture Officer. “So far, the Pride Pils project has raised more than $37,000 for SMYAL and The Blade Foundation.”

The public will begin to see PRIDE PILS cans on shelves across the DMV starting October 1 at restaurants, bars and retailers including grocery stores. The beer will also be available at three special events in October. The Washington Blade’s National Coming Out Day Drag Show on October 8th at Dupont Underground, DC Brau Yappy Hour on October 15th and the Washington Blade’s Best of LGBTQ Awards Party on October 21st. More details on these events can be found at washingtonblade.com/pridepils.