Jeff Hancock Talks Brews & Best Buds
My name is Jeff Hancock and I’m an owner and Brewmaster at DC Brau Brewing, LLC. I was born and raised in Olney, Maryland, which is located in northern Montgomery County. I’ve been an avid cannabis consumer for 26 years. I’ve been a yoga practitioner for 3 years. I’m a Jungle / Drum and Bass DJ going on 27 years, and I am a lover of pretty much all things music.
I started my career in the craft beer industry 20 years ago and started my exploration of home cultivation 6 years ago. Prior to growing cannabis, I was always an avid gardener. Learning how to cultivate cannabis took my gardening skills to the next level and I continue to self-educate and refine my methods for home cultivation. My favorite part of cannabis cultivation is following the progress of the plants from clones all the way up to the harvest and beyond. Specifically, I love checking trichomes for ripeness right before harvest. It’s the pinnacle of growing in my opinion as all of your hard work paid off leading up to that specific moment.
“In 2017, I won the top prize in the DC State Fair’s Best Bud Contest. I entered an heirloom strain from a now defunct grower in Baltimore, MD called ‘Baltimore Confidential’.”
In 2017, I won the top prize in the DC State Fair’s Best Bud Contest. I entered an heirloom strain from a now defunct grower in Baltimore, MD called “Baltimore Confidential”. That experience cemented my love of home growing. Since then I’ve expanded my knowledge, learning how to make various edible and smokable products, and expanding my growing prowess.
“As a National Cannabis Championship Judge, I’m excited to apply my knowledge as a Level II Cicerone (think beer sommelier training) to evaluating cannabis.”
I very much love performing sensory analysis on beer and hops and pretty much any consumable items. As a National Cannabis Championship Judge, I’m excited to apply my knowledge as a Level II Cicerone (think beer sommelier training) to evaluating cannabis. I’m looking forward to exploring the similarities between the cannabis flower judging process and beer analysis. I’m anticipating a lot of similarities to the sensory and tactile evaluation of beer.
Not too long ago, our nation’s capital was a world-class beer town without a brewery to call its own. Since Christian Heurich had closed the doors to his brewery in the 1950s, Washington DC had no brewery whose products were available in local stores and on tap outside its site of production. There were brewpubs, yes, but no breweries. Enter Brandon Skall & Jeff Hancock.
Starting in 2009, the duo went about filling the glaring void in the local beer market. Two years later, on Tax Day 2011, DC Brau Brewing Company officially tapped its first keg of beer entirely brewed, packaged and sold within the District of Columbia. Since then, the brewery has crafted award-winning beer — utilizing a delicious and uniquely American blend of North American and European techniques and ingredients — with distribution throughout the greater National Capital Region, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and beyond.