Another Beer Find -- Miss Irene's

Its late so forgive the casual manner as I write this up. So I was trolling the Baltimore Sun's dining section online and once again was distracted by the Metromix link. Metromix is a sort of bar/dining website catering to various metropolitan areas including Baltimore and they've partnered with the Sun.

Anyway.

They had a brief review with photos of a new place in Fells Point called Miss Irene's. Nothing too interesting as far as food (although white truffle mac-n-cheese sounds awful good, no?), but they are smart to take pictures. After complaining in the review about there not being any domestic beers besides Miller lite, I find a photo with some so-so options like Smithwicks, Stella and Amstel, but then there are also tap handles for Hoegaarden -- ok, so its mass-produced at this point but still delicious and a better more authentic version of what Blue Moon aspires to be -- both the Leffe's (bruin and blonde), Warsteiner Dunkel, Chimay and Kronenbourg. Not bad!

Its not Max's, but not many places can be Max's so to have those kind of handles is impressive. There's a little bit for everyone there, something I could take non beer loving friends who are more used to the mass-produced stuff and put on the training wheels, if you will. I believe on the beer menu at Judge's Bench in Ellicott City, the writeup for Kronenbourg called it what Budweiser should have been, for example. The Dunkel is dark but not too heavy and would surprise people who think dark beer means heavy or offensive. Both leffe's offer complex and delicious tastes of Belgium. And then there's explaining the mythology and mystery of the Trappist beer scene with a Chimay.

Metromix, on the other hand, needs to sharpen its appreciation for fine beer, noting Miss Irene's efforts to try and "bring back gin". Noble, but in the meantime those are some decent beers that shouldn't be overlooked in the pursuit of unknown suitable domestic offerings not named Miller Lite -- Dogfish Head, we presume? Seemingly everyone downtown has a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA on their tap row.