Eight Years In, Streetcar 82 Is Still Bringing People Together

Mark Burke looks back on eight years of Streetcar 82, from a business pitch at Gallaudet to the Deaf-owned Hyattsville brewery it is today.

In 2016, Mark Burke heard about a business pitch competition at Gallaudet University and decided to bring an idea for a brewery.

He pulled together a few friends and, without much time to prepare, they entered the competition. “We didn’t have a PowerPoint. We didn’t have any in-depth business plan yet,” Mark remembers. What they did have was a simple idea: “Beer brings community together.”

They didn’t take first, second or even third place that night, but they did win Audience Favorite and $250. “The funny thing is, none of the winners started a business,” Mark says. “But we did.”

Two years later, Mark and fellow Gallaudet graduates Jon Cetrano and Sam Costner opened Streetcar 82 Brewing Co. in Hyattsville. All three founders are Deaf, and the brewery sits just outside Washington, D.C., not far from Gallaudet and a large Deaf community.

Inside Streetcar 82 Brewing Co.

These days, you can find Mark in Streetcar’s 3.5-barrel brewhouse, where almost everything he makes uses malt from Bear Branch Malt in Carroll County. “Pretty much exclusively,” Mark says.

Out front, the taproom has 12 beers on draft, but no tap list hanging over the bar. Customers get a printed list instead, Mark’s effort to “promote face-to-face communication with hearing people ordering a beer.” Sometimes that can mean pointing or grabbing a pen and paper. Hearing regulars have also picked up enough American Sign Language along the way to order a round.

“People come anyways,” Mark says. “They enjoy the experience they have here. The beer is good and they have fun.”

Spend a little time talking beer with Mark and the family stories start coming out. Fancy Nancy, a hazy IPA brewed with Mosaic and Amarillo hops, gets its name from an ongoing family joke about his sister-in-law. The Colonel is a pilsner named for his father-in-law, a retired Army colonel who spent years telling Mark to make a good pilsner.

Right on cue, as Mark was telling us about The Colonel, his father-in-law walked through the door.

“You definitely gotta film this guy,” Mark said. A few minutes later, his father-in-law was drinking The Colonel. We asked what he liked about it. “It’s named after me.”

The stories don’t stop with Mark’s family. Two Deaf brewers who worked with him at Streetcar have gone on to brewing jobs elsewhere. Another employee turned the brewery’s spent grain into Reyna’s Dog Treats, then entered the same Gallaudet business pitch competition Mark had years earlier. She won $5,000.

“Deaf People Like to Drink”

Years ago, Mark gave a presentation to Maryland brewers about welcoming Deaf customers. He summed it up pretty quickly: “Deaf people like to drink.”

“If Deaf people see that you’re making an effort, they’re very, very appreciative,” Mark says. “We just want to be involved.”

The beer industry looks different than it did when Streetcar opened eight years ago. But Mark still comes back to the same idea he brought to Gallaudet in 2016: beer brings people together.

“Keep going out and supporting your local breweries,” he says. “Drink good beer, see friends, be social.”

Celebrate eight years of Streetcar 82 at their anniversary party on September 12, or stop by the Hyattsville taproom anytime and raise a glass.