Shaw's Trailblazing Brewery Is Rooted in Botanicals, Go-Go, and a Dream Years in the Making
Eamoni Collier opened Urban Garden Brewhouse on Juneteenth — making history as DC's first Black woman-owned brick-and-mortar brewery — in the very Shaw building where she first learned to brew.
In brief
A Full-Circle Opening on Juneteenth
There are openings, and then there are openings. When Eamoni Collier cut the ribbon at Urban Garden Brewhouse on June 19, 2026, the date itself was the story. Founded by CEO Eamoni Collier, Urban Garden Brewing opened its doors on Friday, June 19, 2026 — Juneteenth, a date that symbolizes liberation, self-determination, and the power of building something lasting. The choice was no accident. It was a declaration.
Urban Garden Brewhouse is more than a new pub — it's a milestone for the city's craft beer scene and a full-circle moment for founder Eamoni Collier, a D.C. native who spent eight years working at Right Proper Brewing in the very space she now runs. That former Right Proper location, at 624 T Street NW in Shaw, is where Collier first fell in love with the art and science of brewing. Now she owns the room.
Why This Moment Matters
The numbers tell a stark story. Collier launched Urban Garden Brewing after years in the beer industry and seeing a lack of representation. "Black breweries make up 2% of the entire nation," Collier tells Axios. When she started home brewing, there was no Black-owned brewery in D.C., let alone one owned by a Black woman.
Urban Garden Brewing is the first Black-owned brewery in the DMV, and the first Black woman-owned brewery in the DMV, to have a brick-and-mortar location. That distinction was years and several detours in the making. Collier spent years trying to open a brewery of her own. She even signed a lease and poured a lot of heart, soul and money into a space in Northeast D.C., only to see it all fall through.
The path wasn't just emotionally difficult — it was financially brutal. As a startup and especially as a minority-owned business, getting access to capital and even grant money was very hard. So it kind of just felt like we were given an opportunity to actually have a chance. Even DC government grants proved elusive: it was especially challenging because Collier found herself ineligible for D.C. government funding she looked into. She didn't qualify for start-up grants because opportunities for minority-owned businesses were for ones opening in wards 7 and 8 or for restaurants or hair salons. "We're not thinking about giving money to Black-owned breweries because none of them exist," Collier says. That catch-22 — you can't get funding to be the first of something because the category doesn't yet exist — says a great deal about the structural gaps Collier navigated to get here.
What's in the Glass (and on the Plate)
Urban Garden Brewhouse is not your standard hop-bomb craft brewery. Urban Garden Brewing distinguishes itself through a menu centered on botanicals, herbs, and flowers rather than hop-forward beers commonly found in the craft brewing market. "We focused a lot more on the botanicals versus how hoppy we can make the beer," Collier told the outlet.
Collier says the floral theme was inspired by ancient Egyptian brewing practices that feature flowers, herbs and spices. That historical grounding gives the beer program an intellectual dimension you won't find at most taprooms. Urban Garden Brewhouse, DC's first Black woman-owned brewery, has officially opened in Shaw. Expect house craft beers alongside NA drinks made with herbs and botanicals.
The kitchen is equally intentional. The food is soulful and intentional — a marriage of urban classics and refined culinary technique. Familiar flavors are elevated with care, craftsmanship, and purpose. Every bite is an invocation of comfort, culture, and connection. The bar program doubles down on the botanical throughline: spirited cocktails showcase housemade botanical syrups and ingredients shared across the brewery and kitchen. The result is a cocktail program rooted in creativity, sustainability, and flavor.
A small but beloved detail: with the purchase of any beverage, enjoy complimentary house pickles — crisp, tangy, and made in-house. It's the kind of generous, neighborhood-minded touch that signals exactly what kind of place this is meant to be.
The Vibe: Auntie's House Meets Shaw Cultural Institution
Steps away from the historic Howard Theatre, Urban Garden Brewhouse is meant to be a place where the neighborhood comes for quality beers and stays for the chill vibes. "When you come inside you feel welcome to stay," Collier says. "We really want people to feel like a second home, you know, like auntie's house."
That warmth was on full display at the grand opening. The grand opening included a ribbon cutting at 1 p.m., a beer garden on the patio, build-your-own bouquets, DJs, tastings from other Black-owned brands and a go-go party with N2L Band & Show. For the uninitiated: opening a DC brewery with live go-go is not a marketing stunt — it is an act of civic belonging, a signal that this space is for the city that shaped its founder.
Urban Garden Brewhouse is a craft beverage community hub built for connection. From private celebrations and corporate gatherings to casual meetups and special occasions, the spaces are designed to bring people together.
The Bigger Picture for DC's Craft Beer Scene
Shaw has long been one of DC's most culturally dynamic corridors — home to the Howard Theatre, the African American Civil War Memorial, and a neighborhood that has weathered gentrification while fighting to preserve its identity. Urban Garden Brewhouse lands squarely in that tradition. Now Collier's not just representing. She's creating the room she never had: hosting events, pulling people of color into a craft beer world that rarely made space for them, and proving that "minority-owned" and "destination" belong in the same sentence.
As the District looks ahead to National Black Business Month in August, the story of this brewhouse reflects the enduring legacy of Black entrepreneurship, creativity, and resilience. That's not editorial spin — it's the precise context in which Collier chose to plant her flag, on a holiday that commemorates emancipation, in a neighborhood that has always been central to DC's Black cultural life.
Soft open hours: Tuesday–Thursday 4–9 PM; Friday–Saturday 4–10 PM.
Getting there: Steps from the Shaw-Howard University Metro stop (Green/Yellow lines); next door to the Howard Theatre.
Motto:Drink Quality, Stay Rooted.
If your summer plans include any time in Shaw — and they should — make Urban Garden Brewhouse your third stop after the Howard and the Memorial. Order whatever's on tap, let the botanicals do their thing, and raise a glass to the woman who bet on herself until the city caught up.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
