Baltimore Beer Guy

Check out the new Baltimore Beer Guy!

2011-01-28T13:10:00.003-05:00

Hey all -- thank you for the visits and support over the years. I have now relocated to http://www.baltimorebeerguy.com

New digs, but everything else is the same :)

Stop on by and be sure to bookmark the new URL AND change your bookmarks if you have linked here on one of your own websites. Thanks!

Meanwhile, Around Howard County ...

2010-12-08T03:12:00.005-05:00

The Howard County beer scene continues to grow.

Besides Frisco Tap House's big unveiling, check out the following this week:

-- Victoria Gastro Pub has been chosen one of just 88 establishments nationwide (and just two in Maryland) to carry eight versions of He'Brew's "Jewbelation" beers -- No.'s 8,9,10,11,12,13,14 (2010 release) and the much sought after "Vertical Jewbelation" which blends all of the above in rye whiskey barrels for six months.

VGP will feature those beers on Thursday December 9th, the last day of Chanukah.

-- Elsewhere, expansion plans continue for T-Bonz and Kloby's. Like with Frisco Grille various procedural hurdles have been some of the barrier to completion of planned expansions that include extra space, more taps, more bar space and other features at both emerging beer bars.

-- This week is "Really Big Beer Week" at The Judges Bench with 13 of the establishment's 17 taps dedicated to 10% ABV and above beers. Owner Mike has brought out some special wintery goodies to enjoy through December 12th. Its an impressive list so be sure to stop by.

-- As written earlier this week, T-Bonz is hosting "Beers & Steers" on Saturday throughout the day, with live bands and locally raised animals for eating. The menu looks amazing with by-the-ounce beef, a whole roasted pig, beer can chicken and oysters. Wash those down with an equally impressive tap list that barman Chris Mabe has procured for the event. Be on the lookout for news here about their next "Pints & Pancakes" event slotted for January.

-- Finally, out a bit further west in Mount Airy, the Mount Airy Inn is tapping its first ever firkin on Thursday, as they'll pour Flying Dog's Snake Dog IPA.

Frisco Tap House is Open For Business!

2010-12-08T02:58:00.003-05:00

Frisco Tap House's long-awaited maiden voyage has arrived.

The Columbia beer emporium opened its doors Tuesday night in somewhat limited fashion. The establishment formerly known as Frisco Grille moved a half mile down the road to its new digs at 6695 Dobbin Road.

Below is a video of the place on opening night.

As you can see things aren't at 100% just yet, with the establishment still waiting for an OK to serve food. However, they were cleared to begin serving alcohol thus the sudden opening. Throughout the night more taps were added, I left with about seven on but owner Adam Carton said he'd probably have about 20 by the end of the evening. Frisco Tap Room's overall tap capacity is 50 taps and they should be hitting that fairly soon especially now that they are allowed to move kegs into their large walk-in cooler.

Barman Keith told me they can fit about 50 people at the bar alone, not including the community table and lounge areas surrounding the bar. Its a much more wide-open space than the previous location which had a sort of "Cheers" vibe with the intimacy of so many patrons often stacked on top of each other at the bar but the extra wiggle room here seems nice.

Food service should begin fairly soon, putting the dining area into use.

The new digs also hold promise as more of a sports bar feel with the eight TV's flanking the massive beer list monitors at dead-center in the bar. The restrooms can now accommodate multiple people as well.

Be sure to stop by this week or sometime soon as they continue to unveil the new menu, additional staff, get around to updating the website and the like.

T-Bonz "Beers & Steers" Details

2010-12-03T01:53:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, Ellicott City's T-Bonz, one of the "Big Six" beer bars in Howard County is hosting an event called "Beers & Steers".

Basically, they're combining great craft brewed beers with locally raised beef and pork. Oh, and musical performances from three bands throughout the afternoon and evening.

It will be on Saturday, December 11th from open to close.

The food will include a whole roasted pig (!), pick your own steak for $1/ounce, pit beef sandwiches, beer can chicken AND oysters.

The bands will be Maybe Not Even (12-4), Bumpin Uglies (5-9) and The Mott Squad (9-1)

All day, they will be serving superb craft beers. The list is as follows:

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale (Belgian strong dark ale)
Delirium Noel (Belgian strong dark ale)
Troegs Mad Elf
Brewers Art Proletary Ale (dark ale)
Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter
Long Trail Brew Masters Series Imperial Porter
Tommy Knocker Hop Strike (black rye IPA)
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe (double IPA)
Sierra Nevada Celebration (IPA)
Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Wild
Brew Dog Dogma (herbed spiced beer)
Oskar Blues Mamas Lil Yella Pils (pilsner)
33rd Street Ale (golden ale)
Southern Tier Raspberry Wheat
Crispin Cider
Olivers Merry Old Ale (in cask !!!)
Heavy Seas Winter Storm
Heavy Seas Peg Leg Stout

It will be an amazing event with fresh animal goodness from a farm in Delaware, fresh beers from everywhere, and some good bands! Don't miss it.

Like many places in Howard County, T-Bonz can be slightly difficult to locate, but please don't let that discourage you. One fairly reliable way to get there is to get on Rt. 100 (between Rt. 29 and Rt. 95), and when you see signs for Waternoo Road/Rt. 108/Rt. 104, exit and head NORTH on Rt. 104.

Follow that for about a half mile to mile, and when it becomes a t-bone at Montgomery Road/Rt. 103, make a left, and then make an immediate left into the shopping center and look for the signs for T-Bonz. It is immediately behind an Italian pizza place and another business.

Sneak Peek at the New Frisco Tap Room

2010-11-16T01:52:00.001-05:00

Flying Dog Pint Night at Frisco Grille: Dogtoberfest and Prizes!

2010-08-24T10:28:00.003-04:00

Frederick based Flying Dog's next big event is a pint night at Frisco Grille this Wednesday.

Scheduled to be on tap are the 1)In-Heat Wheat (try it in a delicious Beermosa, they're all the rage lately) 2)Snake Dog IPA 3)Barrel Aged Gonzo (love this stuff) and 4)Frisco's 2010 debut of the Dogtoberfest Marzen.

Also, Flying Dog and sales manager Matt Crow will raffle off two tickets to the Opening Tap event ($30 value, each, Thursday October 7th) for Baltimore Beer Week 2010 at the Museum of Industry.

The fun starts around 5 PM, Flying Dog logo pints are available with first Flying Dog beer purchase after 7 PM and then at some point the tickets will be given away.

Friday The Firkteenth At T-Bonz

2010-08-10T03:26:00.005-04:00

Fresh off its successful Pints & Pancakes II, T-Bonz is gearing up for this Friday's "Friday The Firkteenth" (update: didn't realize they were calling it the Firkteenth not Firkinteenth, my error). Its Friday the 13th, after all, and they'll be scuttling all draft lines in favor of five choice firkins, served bartop.

They will be:

1)Olivers/Pratt Street Ale House Old Habit Brown Ale

2)Olivers Bishops Breakfast Oatmeal Stout with Coffee

3)Olivers Jacobs Summer Celebration Ale Dry Hopped with Liberty hops

4)Troegs Dead Reckoning Porter

5)Heavy Seas 33rd Street Ale

In addition, there will be several themed menu items. Among them:

1)Old Habit Stew -- made with Olivers Old Habit Brown Ale with big chunks of angus and potato served in a bread bowl w/choice of salad $13

2)Beer Can Chicken -- Roasted with a can of Olivers Summer Celebration served with mashed potato and a onion sauce made with the beer and chicken juice $13

3)33rd Street Steamer -- 6 shrimp, 12 littleneck clams and 12 mussels steamed with our very own 33rd Street Ale and Old Bay $13

Sounds fun.

Beer Notes

2010-08-09T23:06:00.044-04:00

-- First things first. Please follow me on Twitter for all kinds of beer news, notes, and discussion. Its a lively feed where plenty of local beer news is relayed.

-- Upcoming items at Frisco Grille:

1)Dogfish Head Randallizer next Monday (8/16). The randallizer is a device that acts like a hop filter, running a TBD beer through layers of hops (in this case, Nugget hops) to enhance the flavor.

2)Firkin Thursday this Thursday featuring a bartop firkin of Tupper's Hop Pocket

3)Pint Nights (7 PM+) on Wednesday (8/11) He'Brew & Coney Island (8/18) Sierra Nevada (8/25) Flying Dog.

4)Expansion plans are still tangled in bureaucracy and whatnot, it looks like the opening of the new place is slated for early November at this point.

-- Couple events at Victoria Gastro Pub.

1)First up is this Wednesday's (8/11) Scottish Beer Dinner starring the rare Brewdog Tokio and a cask of Brewdog's Scotch Barrel Aged Imperial Stout Isle of Arran. Full menu and drink notes (.pdf).

2)Also, on Saturday (8/21) they'll host their first ever beer brunch featuring Flying Dog from 10am-2pm. In includes two courses and 5.5oz tastings of three Flying Dog beers. Full menu options and beer notes (.pdf)

3)Future scheduled beer dinners at Victoria include Dogfish Head (Tuesday September 7th), Oktoberfest dinner (Tuesday October 5th) and Stone beer dinner (Tuesday November 2nd). Check the website for menu details and pricing/RSVP information as they are posted.

-- Cool event at Ellicott City's T-Bonz this Friday, "Friday the Firkinteenth". Essentially, T-Bonz is scuttling the taps and only serving "real ale", firkins on bartop, with five cask offerings plus a few extra menu items themed to the beer. More details in a subsequent entry. Be there!

-- In Flying Dog News:

1)You have a chance to tell sales manager Matt Crow which firkins to bring to the DuClaw Real Ale Fest. Pick two among the six options and Tweet them to Matt via the instructions at this page. Single Hop Imperial IPA hmmmmmm?

2)The hot-selling Dogtoberfest Marzen has hit retail shelves, and not far behind it will be for the first time, 12oz bottles of the superb Barrel Aged Gonzo Imperial Porter.

3)Flying Dog made the set of ESPN's Pardon The Interruption last week, with a mask of Hunter S. Thompson in the background.

4)See above with the Victoria Gastro Pub Flying Dog Beer Brunch.

5)See below re: MABN, but Flying Dog is producing a one-off single hop Imperial IPA for sometime in September.

6)Flying Dog beers are now available at the 8x10 in Federal Hill.

7)A cask of Raging Bitch is making its way to Ellicott City's Phoenix Emporium (8/26) to celebrate the release of Dogtoberfest Marzen which will also be available.

8)Other scheduled Flying Dog events -- Pint Night at Metropolitan Coffeehouse (8/17), Firkin Thursday at Metropolitan (8/19) Pint Night at Frisco Grille featuring Dogtoberfest Marzen release! (8/25), Flying Dog tailgate at the Ravens game w/the T-Bonz crew (8/28), Flying Dog event at Federal House in Annapolis w/14+ Flying Dog beers on tap (8/29) and "Back to School Steal The Pint Night" at Alonso's (8/31) 5 PM+

-- Heavy Seas News

1)Prosit! Imperial Oktoberfest Lager should be available mid-August! Its official release is scheduled for Tuesday August 24th at Max's. As a bonus they'll be bringing an oak cask of Loose Cannon.

2)Heavy Seas' Beer & Bacon fest is scheduled for September 11th from noon-4pm. They will have 10+ bacons from around the world and plenty of dishes made with bacon, joined by 12 Heavy Seas taps, several firkins, and live music. Tickets are $40 and are on sale here.

3)No brewery tours are planned for August, next one scheduled is for Saturday September 4th, Labor Day weekend.

4)Look for Heavy Seas firkins at ... T-Bonz (8/13), Bluegrass Tavern (8/17), Phoenix Emporium (8/19), Chesapeake Beer & Crab Fest (8/21), Max's (8/24), Churchkey DC (8/25) and Thunder Burger DC (8/26)

5)There is a Heavy Seas social (RSVP/ticketed event) pairing tapas and beers on the rooftop at Kooper's on August 27th from 6-8pm.

-- The Tuesday Beer Social today at Max's will feature "High & Mighty Brewing" from Mt. Holyoke, Mass. Four beers will be available via bottle, served in a glass. 1)Beer of the Gods 4.5% hoppy blonde in the German style 2)Two Headed Beast 4.5% stout brewed w/organic raw cocoa beans and fermented with Belgian ale yeast 3)St. Hubbins Dubbel 6.5% Belgian style brown fermented with Trappist yeast and 4)Purity of Essence 5.4% India Pale Lager.

And also this week, the much anticipated Third Annual Rare & Obscure event from August 12th-15th. On Thursday (8/12) they will have 7 casks, On Friday (8/13) over 25 rare and obscure drafts on, on Saturday (8/14) another 30 rare & obscure drafts and a special Stillwater cask in the Mobtown Lounge at 3 PM and another 15 rare and obscure drafts Sunday (8/15).

An email of the final taplist will be sent late Wednesday.

Major congratulations are also in order for Heavy Seas' Loose Cannon placing 2nd among American beers at the Great British Beer Festival!

Finally, check out their revamped website! There's what is seemingly an up-to-date taplist and cask list! Wow. There's a feature to check out Max's formerly mysterious cooler and a date set for next year's Belgian Beer Fest (February 18th-20th 2011).

-- Pratt Street Ale House's anticipated Jacob's Summer Celebration Ale will debut at Max's this Thursday August 12th, at 6 PM. I got a sneak peek of this during the Flying Dog/Pratt Street Orioles Crawl a few weeks ago and it was delicious (see, you should have joined us!). Check out brewmaster Stephen Jones' writeup about the growth of his beers in the area -- Oliver Ales is getting around!

-- The chilling system that controls the fermenters at Franklins is on the fritz, so they're running at about 40% of capacity lately.

-- Sublimation is now available at Brewer's Art, with Clamper's Ale on tap after that.

-- Lures in Crownsville's next "Beer Club" event is Tuesday August 18th from 6-8 PM. For $38.50 there is beer and buffet food and the entire bar/lounge area is reserved. The featured brewery this time is Evolution, with appearances from Lot No. 3 IPA, Rise Up Coffee Stout, Lot No. 6 DIPA, Haymaker and Summer Session Ale.

-- Currently on tap at Gilly's in Rockville: Dogfish Sah'Tea, Dogfish Namaste, Climax Helles Lager, Peak Organic IPA.

-- Wayne is on vacation so last week's Mahaffey's email was rather generic other than to say fall beers are on the way, which is already evident at most beer bars around town. Just a reminder, Mahaffey's will be closed from Saturday August 14th to Friday August 20th and re-opens Saturday the 21st at 5 PM. Also, it appears "Waynestock" will be held on supremely busy September 11th.

-- Brewer's Alley is hosting a Local Harvest Beer Dinner on August 31st.

-- The great real ale enthusiasts know as SPBW are set for their monthly gathering at the very underrated Grand Cru at Belvedere Square this Wednesday around 7 PM.

-- The Maryland Microbrewery Festival at Union Mills Homestead in Westminster is fast arriving. It will be on Saturday September 25th from 11am-7pm featuring 12 breweries, food, entertainment and vendors.

-- On August 21st and 22nd, Hagerstown is hosting its 15th annual Augustoberfest celebrating the area's German heritage.

-- Notable beer news items from the latest Mid Atlantic Brewing News compiled by Kevin Smith and Alexander D. Mitchell IV

1)Something called the Burley Oak Craft Brewery has approval to produce a microbrewery in Berlin, Maryland, this fall.

2)Also planned, Mad Hops brewing in Ellicott City (ETA 2011) and the Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm (who has been supplying Heavy Seas and Flying Dog with awesome local hops) in Frederick at some point TBD.

3)Flying Dog is producing a one-off single hop (Simcoe!) Imperial IPA around mid-September

4)Frederick's Brewer's Alley will release its Wedding Alt on September 14th and Oktoberfest on September 28th.

5)New beers at Barley and Hops (Dancing Dan blonde lager) and Rock Bottom (Liquid Sun hefe and Keller Helles plus Rocktoberfest sometime in September).

6)Look for more bocks and Bock of the Bat as well as the extremely popular pumpkin ale at Ellicott Mills Brewing soon.

7)DuClaw is releasing Pax Nemesis (Altbier) late August and Oktoberfest soon thereafter.

8)Heavy Seas' planned expansion should push their production from 20,000 barrels currently to around 28,000/year. This year's homebrew winner is David Edmundson and Doug John of Forest VA. and they'll produce Bastard Child Dubbel in early 2011. Also, look for two versions of The Great Pumpkin (regular and oak barrel aged).

9)Red Brick Station continues its focus on session beers and coming soon is the Cervesa Sandia, the popular watermelon beer.

10)De Kleine Duvel, a planned Belgian beer bar to arrive in Hampden has had some delays but is hoping for an August open.

-- Couple DC events from MABN's "Hop Tips" email of beer events in the Mid Atlantic region ...

Allagash Beer Dinner w/brewer and owner Rob Todd at Granville Moore's (8/17), Beer Nerd Night at Rock & Roll Hotel on H. Street featuring Stillwater's Brian Strumke and ChurchKey's Greg Engert as a kickoff to DC Beer Week (8/20), Heavy Seas Cask Night at ChurchKey including an oak aged Loose Cannon, Hang Ten and vintage aged Below Decks (8/25), Heavy Seas cask night, first ever cask at Thunder Burger (8/26).

-- Looks like DC is also having its own Beer Week, with a website coming soon. In the meantime here's a list of events scheduled at a Facebook page (via Beer In Baltimore)

-- Three other DC items ... 1)The Verizon Center apparently doesn't have a half-bad craft beer selection -- if you know where to find it 2)Justin's Cafe just outside Nationals Park has some quality beers available on tap and in bottle. That's a tough location once baseball ends but we wish them well 3)A review of the beer selection at the new-ish Thunder Burger & Bar in Georgetown. Heavy Seas and Flying Dog make an appearance.

-- Beer Advocate has updated its list of the top 100 beers on planet Earth. Here's a quick numerical look at the goings-on from Brookston Beer Bulletin. Still too many imperial stouts for my taste. Maryland's lone entrant -- at No. 70 -- is Flying Dog's Gonzo Imperial Porter.

-- Rumor has it that Santa Barbara based Firestone Walker may be releasing several new offerings to the East coast soon. Click the link for heavier details.

-- Redhook is sponsoring the Washington Huskies. Methinks one of the local breweries should sponsor the Terps!

-- New local libation blog "It's 12 O'Clock Somewhere". Well written, discerning -- perhaps too discerning, heh.

-- From the people I've talked to it sounds like the beer selection at Johnny Rad's is promising.

-- OMG. Racer's Cafe has swapped its peanuts for popcorn.

-- Baltimore Beer Week -- it's coming!

-- Finally, I'll have a more complete roundup of Baltimore Beer Week events at the major Howard County beer bars hopefully this week -- there are some really cool events going on! Stay tuned for that.

Beer Notes

2010-08-01T14:39:00.001-04:00

-- Long overdue ...

-- Victoria Gastro Pub is hosting its first-ever "beer brunch" in conjunction with Frederick's Flying Dog Brewery. The event will be on Saturday, August 21st between 10am and 2 pm. The prix fixe menu includes two courses and 5.5 oz tastings of three Flying Dog beers: Woody Creek White "Beermosa", Dog Schwarz Smoked Double Lager and Wild Dog Coffee Stout. The cost is $24/person and although advanced tickets are not required, a reservation is requested where possible.

Full brunch menu, tasting notes and info (.pdf)

-- Maryland Life magazine takes a very positive look at Victoria Gastro Pub both for its cuisine and its beer and bar program.

-- In an article about DC's great beer bar , Birch & Barley/ChurchKey, Baltimore's Pratt Street Ale House beers gets mention as being heavily in the rotation among Birch's five beer engines.

Other PSAH items:

Brewmaster Stephen Jones sent some real ale over to England for a prestigious festival ... and the adventure follows from there.

Oh, and he and his wife recently had a baby! Congrats Steve.

Be sure to contribute to the collection of quality beers in Steve's (community) fridge.

-- Midnight Sun and Beer In Baltimore are reporting that something called "Alewife" will replace Lucy's Irish Pub in downtown. It promises 40 taps and 100 bottles and is part of a string of beer bars created by Daniel Lanigan. Money quote sure to stir some debate:

"There aren’t 2,000 good beers in the world," he said. "There's not even 1,000. We sell 100 bottles of beer because we think that’s the best 100 bottles you can get. That philosophy dictates how we do our menu."

More on Alewife as we get some details ...

-- Meanwhile, Mahaffey's will open something called 'Bistro Rx', a wine-centric restaurant, in Patterson Park.

-- Rams Head is releasing its first-ever Saison Ale on Thursday, August 5th. It will be tapped at 4 PM with limited edition glasses available for $4 plus $1 refills between 4-6 PM.

According to Walter Trifari, Head Brewmaster at Fordham Brewing Company, “Saison Ale is unfiltered, Belgian-style ale that has a brilliant copper hue and cloudy appearance. Lemon peels and Coriander are added to give this brew flavor notes of citrus and spiciness. Additional spiciness comes from the Esters produced naturally during the warm fermentation”.

-- The DuClaw Real Ale Fest details. It will be held Saturday September 11th, which also happens to be an absolutely epic weekend of college football. Plan your schedule wisely.

-- Ace of Cakes star and Baltimore resident Duff Goldman will kick off the opening event at Baltimore Beer Week in the Museum of Industry October 7th.

-- Baltimore Magazine recognized BBG friend Brad Klipner's "Beer In Baltimore" as a top area blog. Well deserved.

-- The Beer Cruiser's website is lookin' nice

-- New local blog: Hops to Harmonics

-- DC Beer interviews Baltimore's Belgian beer expert Chuck Cook.

-- One of my favorites from the otherwise beer wasteland of the Florida gulf coast has arrived in D.C. -- Sweetwater.

-- Definitely needs to be checked out at some point: Meridian Pint, DC's newest beer bar. Check them out if for no other reason the "pour your own" taps built into several tables. This concept has been kicked around for years, usually meeting stiff resistance due to various laws but over time its backers have adapted and Meridian will surely benefit from it.

-- Also new to D.C. -- a brewery called DC Brau.

-- By now I'm sure you've (probably) heard of Brew Dog's latest hype event -- the world's strongest beer called 'The End of History'. The cynics are rolling their eyes but I gotta say I'm enjoying this round, what with stuffed squirrels and something called 'stoats' dressed up as the vessels for your beer. The pictures are amazing.

-- If you're so inclined, check out some of the restaurants owned by the group that produces Evolution Brewing Co.

-- DCist, for reasons unknown but welcome, examines several hop varieties.

-- The next American Homebrewer's Conference will be held in San Diego next year. Go.

-- The Discovery Channel is planning on a beer-themed show starring Dogfish Head's telegenic Sam Calagione along with other brewers and breweries. Cool!

-- Relentless Thirst has some ideas to make C.R.A.B.B. better. Gotta love the new logo! A recent C.R.A.B.B. Carnival shows some potential.

-- The go-to place for making libation better in Maryland.

-- This was fun.

San Fran Fest at Victoria Gastro Pub

2010-07-26T01:32:00.003-04:00

This Monday, Victoria Gastro Pub is having a "San Fran Fest" featuring beers from San Francisco and parts nearby. The list as of Sunday evening is as follows:

1)21st Amendment Brew Free or Die IPA
2)21st Ammendment Hell or High Watermelon Wheat
3)21st Ammendment Back in Black IPA
4)21st Ammendment Bitter American
5)He'Brew Messiah Bol
6)He'Brew Rejewvenator 2009
7)He'Brew Rejewvenator 2010
8)He'Brew Origin Pomegranate Ale
9)He'Brew Bitter Lenny's RIPA
10)Moylan's Hopsickle Imperial IPA
11)Lagunitas IPA
12)Lagunitas Pale
13)Lagunitas Lucky 13
14)Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin
15)Schmaltz Human Blockhead
16)Schmaltz Sword Swallower
17)Schmaltz Lager
18)Schmaltz Freaktoberfest

San Francisco -- hill tops, steep drops, organic crops and fresh hops, CHEERS!!!

Flying Dog/Pratt Street "Bad Birds Good Beer" Orioles Pub Stroll!

2010-07-19T11:30:00.008-04:00

Its here!

This Saturday I'll be teaming with Oliver Ales Brewing (Pratt Street Ale House) and Flying Dog's Matt Crow for a "Bad Birds/Good Beer" Orioles Pub Stroll.

The Orioles will be playing the Minnesota Twins at 7:05 PM.

The hook is we'll pregame (~5 PM) at Pratt Street AleHouse a few blocks from Camden Yards, enjoying their great beers (with special pricing!) along with brewmaster Stephen Jones.

And then its off to the game to root on our sad, sad baseball team. Good beer will again be available thanks to Flying Dog's IPA being served at several beer carts around Camden.

Afterward, folks are free to break out and take the party to nearby bars (Pickles perhaps, or over at Federal Hill) or head home or whatever suits them. The outing will be lowkey but built around good people and good beer.

I'll purchase group tickets sometime very soon so please email me or reply to this with a head count to RSVP if you'd like to join us for a fun afternoon and evening. Not sure which seating section but I'll try and keep ticket costs down but some of it will be dictated by overall head count and whats available for group seats in the various sections.

As far as ticket cost reimbursement, I'll take cash or PayPal or even a check if you are so inclined, at the time of the event.

Please join us, it will be a good time!

Flying Dog Woody Creek Wit, Meet Time Magazine

2010-07-14T08:13:00.001-04:00

Time sat down with a Beer Sommelier in New York to try some summer beers, and local boys Flying Dog made the cut with their Woody Creek Wit. Local mainstays Southampton, Stoudts and Magic Hat are also mentioned.

Pints and Pancakes II at T-Bonz!!

2010-07-14T00:57:00.002-04:00

It's here! The much-anticipated return of T-Bonz's wildly popular "Pints & Pancakes" event.

It will be on Sunday, July 18th from 10am until ... There will be a "Christmas in July" theme, complete with a select and tasty menu and a wide array of themed beers.

Plus, music from The Grilled Lincolns (11-3) and Maybe Not Even (4-6). I really enjoyed the first go-round and this one should be just as entertaining and tasty. There is a $5 charge that goes towards free pancakes but there's also an ala carte food menu as well.

The beers:

Troegs Mad Elf (Belgian Dark Ale), Affligem Noel (Belgian Dark Ale), Flying Fish Winter Reserve (Belgian Strong Pale Ale), Anchor Steam Christmas 2009 (Winter Warmer), Clay Pipe Pursuit of Happiness (Winter Warmer -- perhaps the last you'll ever see on tap in Maryland!!!), Heavy Seas Yule Tide (Tripel), Weyerbacher Merry Monks (Tripel), Flying Dog Coffee Stout (Imperial Stout), Oliver's Bishops Breakfast Stout (Oatmeal Stout in T-Bonz's brand-new beer engine!), Flying Dog Woody Creek Wit (Belgian Wit, try the "beermosa w/OJ"), Lancaster Strawberry Wheat (Wheat Beer), Boulder Kinda Blue (Blueberry Wheat Beer), T-Bonz 33rd Street Ale (Golden Ale) and Oskar Blues Gubna (Imperial IPA).

All beers are available in pints or 8oz sizes.

Food:

Christmas Dinner Breakfast $7 -- Roasted turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing topped with gravy and served with cranberry sauce

Wake N Bake $7 -- Two 4oz burgers on a glazed donut

Green Eggs and Ham $7 -- Yep ... green scrambled eggs with a ham steak

The Grilled Linx Sandwich $7 -- Grilled sausage links, eggs, and cheese

Shit on a Shingle $7 -- Sausage gravy n biscuits

Eggs Benedict Patty $7 -- Fried eggs, Old Bay sausage, served on an English Muffin topped with Hollandaise sauce

$4 sides -- sausage, bacon, hash browns, eggs

Home made baked pie by Ms. Carole Hood -- Pumpkin, apple and cherry $4

And FREE PANCAKES!

Seriously, you should go, it'll be a great time, with a lively crowd and music at a destination beer bar serving tasty food and some choice beers and beermosas.

Mahaffey's Latest

2010-06-30T14:18:00.002-04:00

Normally I'll simply summarize the email but this week as a special treat for those who aren't on the email list (sign up at the bar) I'll reproduce in entirety one of Wayne's emails. They're odd but a nice treat at the inbox every midweek.

- - - - -

Wow. June 30th. Time is flying. Went to a weding over the weekend with college buddies and realized that we are now the age that their parents were when we met. What happened? How long have the IHOP syrup dispensers been plastic? I was looking forward to the sliding metal lids. And how long has boysenberry syrup been gone? Where have I been? It's like I've slept for 20 years.Captain Jean-Luc Picard said, "Make now the most precious time. Because now will never come again." Amen. It is a common mistake for boys of your age and athletic ability to underestimate men who have reached their maturity. Women frequently find older men attractive, strange as it may seem. I myself am over fify. I am a bachelor. And I do not, by any means, consider myself th-r-ough.

Anybody hear of the Cardinal Climax? It's the alignment of several planets with Earth that peaks on 8/1 of this year. This alignment hasn't happened for probably 10,000 years and is expected to cause things to get really wacky just as people are affected by full moons. Stocks could plummet. Stuff is predicted to hit the fan. You heard it here first, folks.

Special bomber tonight: Rogue John John Juniper Ale, which is their regular Juniper pale ale aged in spruce gin barrels. Crazy. A little cucumberish, a big blast of juniper and an oaky finish makes this beer truly unique. About 6%. Can't go any lower than $14. A steal!!!!!!!!!

Good with 50 cent hot buffalo wings.

End of the Trail Party tomorrow. The last keg of Troegs Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale and some other Troegs beers as well.

Fiery Pig Roast and Beer Dinner coming up on 7/10 at 4PM. $40. Make your reservations now!

Big announcement: Mahaffey's will be closed from Saturday, 8/14 through Friday, 8/20. We will be re-opening on Saturday, 8/21 at 5PM.

The winner of last week's movie line trivia was Ben Morris, who correctly identified "48 Hours". I'll take correct anwer #5 this week. For all of you beer club rookies, I sneak in a line from a movie in these E-Mails. So, if you read something really bizarre, it's probably the movie quote. Then again...

Big, big, big news coming soon. Have a safe week. Stay thirsty, my friends.

Wayne

DuClaw Growler Sale This Weekend

2010-06-30T14:15:00.001-04:00

DuClaw is doing the patriotic thing and discounting their beer from Friday July 2nd to Sunday July 4th.

They'll take $1 off all growler refills and $3 off all new growler purchases.

Be sure to also check out their brand new interpretations of kobe beef burgers they've conjured up.

Max's Latest: TONS of Events Arriving

2010-06-30T13:56:00.002-04:00

Christmas in July
July 13th 6 PM

Featuring both draft and bottled Christmas beers

Draft List (plus others TBA)
Troegs Mad Elf
Anchor Holiday Ale
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
RJ Rockers First Snow
Wintercoat Yule

Max's Mini Italian Fest
July 23rd and 24th 11 AM-close both days

They will have over 20 craft Italian beers on draft and a whole bunch on bottles

Draft List (90% done)
Del Borgo 25 Dodici
Del Borgo Duchessic
Del Borgo Genziana
Del Borgo My Antonia
Del Borgo Re Ale Extra
Del Borgo Rubus Lamboni
Baladin Al Ikir
Baladin Nora
Baladin Super Baladin
Del Ducato Chimera
Del Ducato Nouva Mattina
Del Ducato Verdi
Del Ducato Via Emila
Grado Plato Chocarrubica
Grado Plato Strada San Felice
Italiano Cassissona
Italiano Tipo Pils
Pausa Cafe Chicca
Pausa Cafe Tosta
Piccolo Chiostro
Piccolo Seson
Troll Stella De Natale

Max's World Famous Rare & Obscure Part III
August 12th-14th

"We have pulled out some real gems for this event. We will be doing casks on Thursday the 12th and Bottles the 13th and 14th"

Rare & Obscure Part III Drafts (50% Done)
BFM Douze
BFM La Torpille
Nogne O Imperial Brown
Nogne O Saison
Nogne O Sunturnbrew
Ommegang BPA
Hopfenstark Baltic Porter
Sierra Nevada Charlie, Fred and Ken
The Bruery Coton
Troubadour Magma
Petrus Aged Ale
Stillwater Love & Regret
Stillwater/Voodoo Jungle des Rues
Saison de Cazeau
Oskar Blues Oak Aged Ten Fidy
Mikkeller Yeast Series Lager
Mikkeller Yeast Series Hefe
Mikkeller Yeast Series Brett
Mikkeller Yeast Series Belgian Ale
Mikkeller Yeast Series American Ale
Mikkeller Rauch Geek Breakfast
Mikkeller Monk's Brew
Mikkeller It's Alive
Hof Ten Dormaal Blonde
Emelisse Witbier
Emelisse Lentebock
Emelisse Dubbel
Dieu Du Ciel Pesche Mortal
Dieu Du Ciel Aphrodite
De Molen Engels
De Molen Amarillo
Allagash Black Bourbon Barrel

Back!

2010-06-29T14:36:00.004-04:00

Took a bit of an extended break and then went on a beer hunting trip to parts throughout California but BBG has returned. Might as well share some Baltimore beer items, hm?

-- The New York Times samples several pale ales and Frederick, Maryland's Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale comes out on top.

-- Speaking of Flying Dog, they've brewed the last-ever batch of Wild Goose Oatmeal Stout, which you can enjoy one last time at Alonso's starting this Friday.

-- Victoria Gastro Pub is hosting a beer dinner with Southern Tier on Tuesday, July 13th. The menu posted looks amaaaaaaaazing.

-- T-Bonz is proud to announce they have acquired a beer engine and have already put it to good use serving tasty real ales. Can't wait to see the results of their expansion whenever that comes to fruition. In the meantime, don't forget about Pints & Pancakes II! July 18th, it will be a blast.

-- At Ram's Head, they're having a release party for their new "Wisteria Wheat" on Thursday July 1st from 4-6 PM. It will arrive in commemorative glassware ($4) with refills just $1.

On Saturday July 10th there will be an "Kegs n Eggs" celebration marking the 11th anniversary of the Ram's Head Savage location. The event will be from 7am-1pm with the following:

$0.50 Fordhams (7-8 am), $7 anniversary breakfast menu (7-11 am), $1 Fordhams (8-9 am) and $3 Fordhams (9am-1pm)

-- Meanwhile Troegs has announced they are opening a second craft brewery in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Construction will begin immediately, with an estimated completion around fall of 2011. The new facility will include a new brewhouse, fermenters and kegging line.

You can expect a 5,000 square foot tasting room at the Hershey location, plus an outdoor seating area all within the actual brewhouse for a more up-close feel to how Troegs beer gets made.

-- Aaaand this bit of copy-and-past from the Mid Atlantic Brewing News Hop Tips newsletter:

Tuesday, June 29th: Beer Bites at Growler’s in Gaithersburg – 301-519-9400 or www.growlersofgaithersburg.com.

Wednesday, June 30th: Heavy Seas Beer Dinner at Mick’s in Frederick – Hosted by Heavy Seas founder, Hugh Sisson. Details at 301-662-0373 or www.frederick.com/index.php?action=sponsor&id=4458.

Wednesday, June 30th: Craft Beer and Artisan Cheese Pairing at Gilly’s – Belgian and US cheeses paired with Chimay, Allagash, Tröegs, Moylans, and Southern Tier. $20. 7pm. Reservations at 301-770-5515. www.gillyscbfw.com.

Saturday, July 10th: 1st Annual Summer Deck Party at Lure’s Bar and Grille in Crownsville – Outdoor grilling with BBQ chicken, sausages, ribs, kabobs, corn bread, coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad, mac n chz, collared greens, and more. $5 all 14 drafts, $5 tangerine or grapefruit crushes, $3 all domestic bottles, $4 cans of Caldera Pale Ale, live music, prizes, and giveaways. 11am-? 410-923-1606 or www.luresbarandgrille.com.

Friday, July 16th: Unibroue Beer Tasting at Fenwick Beer and Wine, Silver Spring – 4-8pm. 301-650-5770 or www.fenwickbeerandwine.com.

Tuesday, July 20th: Beer Club at Lure’s Bar and Grille, Crownsville – Featuring Mikkeller Brewing. $38.50 includes beer, buffet, tax, and tip. 6-8pm. 410-923-1606 or www.luresbarandgrille.com.

Friday, July 23rd: Goose Island Beer Tasting at Fenwick Beer and Wine, Silver Spring – 4-7pm. 301-650-5770 or www.fenwickbeerandwine.com.

T-Bonz Pints and Pancakes II

2010-05-26T11:58:00.004-04:00

The first round of Pints and Pancakes at T-Bonz was so successful, they're hosting another one soon.

It will be called the Christmas In July Edition on Sunday July 18th. Its a free pancake breakfast starting at 10am featuring Christmas and breakfast style beers including:

Troegs Mad Elf, Anchor Steam Christmas, Affligem Noel, Weyerbacher Merry Monks, Clay Pipe Pursuit of Happiness (perhaps the last time we'll ever see this on draft?), Flying Fish Winter Reserve, Flying Dog Coffee Stout, Lancaster Strawberry Wheat and Smuttynose Short Batch (raspberry sour).

The Grilled Lincolns will also be on hand to add some tunes to the atmosphere.

American Craft Beer Week Events in Maryland

2010-05-17T12:28:00.002-04:00

So, in summary:

Howard County Pub Crawl on Saturday 5/22 hosted by T-Bonz and hitting up four great Howard County bar stops. Let someone else do the driving.

Big, blowout multi-tap masterpieces at Max's and Victoria Gastro Pub.

Flying Dog and Troegs making their way around town.

And a brand new collaborative beer debut between local brewers Pratt Street Ale House and Stillwater.

Feel free to shoot me an email/link with summary of your unique event if you have anything planned for American Craft Beer Week and I'll add it to the list here.

Channel Crossing Release Party

2010-05-17T12:25:00.002-04:00

Pratt Street Ale House's Stephen Jones and Stillwater's Brian Strumke have collaborated to produce something called The Channel Crossing, which will debut at a release party at PSAH on Thursday evening.

Festivities go off at 6 PM and for $5 you will get a commemorative glass plus $3 refills thereafter.

The beer will be on draft and cask in a firkin with French Oak. The three pins will be separately dry hopped with Czech Saaz, Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross hops!

Max's American Craft Beer Week Events

2010-05-17T12:17:00.002-04:00

Brad's got it all covered at BeerInBaltimore.com but the gist ...

Monday: Troegs/Ommegang

Tuesday: Heavy Seas/Brewers Art

Wednesday: Harpoon/Victory

Thursday: Flying Dog

Friday: The Bruery/Lagunitas/Oskar Blues/Boulder/Great Divide/Weyerbacher

Saturday: Stillwater/Pratt Street Ale House/Evolution

Sunday: Smuttynose/Allagash

Victoria Gastro Pub American Craft Beer Week Events

2010-05-17T12:08:00.002-04:00

Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia is having a huge selection of beers for American Craft Beer Week, broken up nicely into fun themes. You can find the full taplist (.pdf) available at their website with some very interesting offerings.

Here are the themed days:

Monday: "The Dog Fight On Draft" featuring Dogfish Head and Flying Dog taking up all 24 taps plus two firkins

Tuesday: "To Live and Die in P.A." featuring Troegs, Victory, Lancaster, Stoudts and Weyerbacher

Wednesday: "California Dreamin" featuring Sierra Nevada, Stone, Lagunitas, Anchor, 21st Ammendment, Anderson Valley, The Bruery and North Coast

Thursday: "Sleep is Useless, Welcome to New York!" featuring Ommegang, Southern Tier, Brooklyn, Saranac and Southampton

Friday: "Root for the Home Team!" with Pratt Street Ale House/Olivers, Heavy Seas, Brewers Alley, Flying Dog, Evolution and Stillwater's Stateside Saison on cask

Saturday: "Ahhhh fuh Pete's Sake This Bah Has Some Wicked Good Beaaa!" with Harpoon, Smuttynose, Allagash, Otter Creek and Wolaver's

Sunday: "Welcome to the Mile High Club" with Oskar Blues, Great Divide, Avery and Boulder.

Flying Dog American Craft Beer Week Events

2010-05-17T12:01:00.002-04:00

Monday May 17th -- Victoria Gastro Pub with nine Flying Dog styles on draft and Raging Bitch and Snake Dog on cask, 6-9 PM

Tuesday May 18th -- Camden Yards suite (retailers) with Meet The Brewer Night

Wednesday May 19th -- Pint Night at Frisco Grille, five styles on draft including the rare Old Ale and barrel aged Gonzo Imperial Porter 7-10 PM

Thursday May 20th -- Max's Taphouse with Horn Dog Barleywine on nitro plus four other styles on tap 5-8 PM

Friday May 21st -- Sean Bolan's (Bel Air) three styles on tap including Coffee Stout 5-7 PM and Metropolitan Coffeehouse with Old Ale and Woody Creek Wit on tap

Also, be sure to check out their other events in Virginia and Washington D.C.

Troegs' American Craft Beer Week Events

2010-05-17T11:54:00.002-04:00

Monday May 17th 5-8 PM at Max's Taphouse with a firkin of Javahead Stout, Scratch 27 Chocolate Stout, Scratch 29 Belgian IPA and limited Flying Mouflan on draft

Tuesday May 18th 5-8 PM Victoria Gastro Pub To Live and Die in P.A. Night

Pennsylvania Brewery Night with Troegs: Firkin of Hopback Amber plus Scratch 29 Belgian IPA and limited edition Flying Mouflan on draft

Wednesday May 19th 6-9 PM Troegs Pint Night at Firestone's Restaurant in Frederick, Maryland. Will include a firkin of Javahead Stout, Troegenator on draft, all year-round bottles and 22oz bombers of Flying Mouflan

Thursday May 20th 7-10 PM pint night at Racer's Cafe with all Troegs year-round beers on draft, Flying Mouflan on draft and the last pin of Nugget Nectar available in Maryland!

Flying Dog GonzoFest 2010

2010-05-15T12:40:00.003-04:00

It's coming! Flying Dog's homage to good beer, good people, and Hunter S. Thompson will arrive on June 19th this year at the brewery grounds.

There will be a morning session and an afternoon session with beer, music, food, vendors and a Hunter S. Thompson lookalike contest. Purchase tickets and get more info at the GonzoFest website.

Howard County Pub Crawl

2010-05-12T15:39:00.008-04:00

Looks AMAZING and since hitting Howard County's four elite beer bars as your own driver is not advisable try this option to check out some really cool beer bars in one swoop. The proprietors and bartenders at all four spots are great people.

Click on the image for more details but essentially, sign up at T-Bonz for the trip with other beer lovers ($50/head) and have them provide a ride to four of the great beer bars in Howard County -- T-Bonz, Frisco Grille, Victoria Gastro Pub and The Judges Bench.

You'll be able to hang out at the various establishments and sample (5 oz) four beers at each stop (more if you wish, on your dime) and then be escorted back to T-Bonz for some delicious grub.

That goes off Saturday May 22nd as part of the annual American Craft Beer Week.

Coincidentally, Saturday is also "New England" day at Victoria Gastro Pub with selections from Harpoon (MA), Smuttynose (NH), Allagash (ME), Otter Creek (VT) and Wolavers (VT). That's some good stuff to try while on the bus trip!

The Barrel Aged Gonzo Is Loose!

2010-05-11T12:58:00.005-04:00

After sitting on barrels since early September, Flying Dog has released its Gonzo Imperial Porter!

Look for this much-anticipated release on taps around town starting ohhhh ... now.

On That Whole Beer Tax Increase Thing

2010-05-03T11:52:00.005-04:00

Belated, but still worth a mention ...

There was a proposal several weeks ago in the Maryland legislature to dramatically increase the tax on beer, wine and liquor. Fortunately it was defeated but knowing politics the same proposal is likely to return and perhaps even get enacted at some point if folks aren't more informed.

For beer, the tax rate per gallon would have been hiked from $0.09 to an incredible $1.16. Maryland is already a heavily regulated, high-tax state. Mix in the still-sluggish economy and its easy to see where this could have a disastrous effect on the health of the craft beer industry in Maryland.

We're fortunate to be in one of the top craft beer areas in the country, despite all the regulation and barriers to profit. We're not California or Oregon or Colorado but we're not a wasteland like Florida or Alabama, either. However, it wouldn't be too difficult to steadily bleed the craft industry here and bring us closer to the wastelands rather than the promised lands if foolish legislative proposals were to be followed through.

I don't buy the Mom and Pop nostalgia of the craft beer industry, but there is a grain of truth to the image, as most producers, however big or small, are driven more by their passion than profit. This makes everyone not named Bud, Miller and Coors (and their shell brands) more vulnerable than a careless legislator realizes.

This doesn't mean a small tax increase is unreasonable. But it must be small. Maryland last increased its tax on beer in 1972, so its been a relatively stable tax environment for almost 40 years. Perhaps this rate is now outdated and not up with the times and that's a worthy discussion in the legislature.

However, its clear the proposed hike to $1.16/gallon would have given Maryland the dubious distinction of having the highest beer tax in the nation! Next highest is Alaska at $1.07/gallon. The median beer tax in America is just $0.19/gallon.

I've spoken briefly a few times with people from highly regarded craft breweries from outside Maryland that are not doing business here, and almost universally they cite a frustrating dance with the three tier system in place here and sometimes other barriers. The tone I get is that Maryland is just a tough place to bring your beer into. That hasn't stopped many quality craft breweries from doing business here, but it has affected some and that impacts variety and having a more competitive marketplace. For the state they lose potential tax revenues when breweries choose not to sell their product here (and often end up doing so to the frustration of many in neighboring states).

Now throw in a potentially unreasonable tax hike on beer and the business environment here for craft beer could be even more troubled.

Just for comparison's sake I'm listing a few states' per gallon tax rate on beer.

The most famous craft beer states are California, Oregon and Colorado.

California $0.20
Colorado $0.08
Oregon $0.08

And here are Maryland's neighbors. Look at these numbers and try not to think of the Sesame Street 'which one of these is not like the other' skit if Maryland ended up at $1.16. Imagine the outflow of business? Yikes.

Delaware $0.16
Pennsylvania $0.08
Washington D.C. $0.09
Virginia $0.26
West Virginia $0.18

My point?

Maryland should not do what some of its misguided legislators have proposed. The proposed tax increase is punitive and anti-business, so thoroughly steep and outside of how we've been doing business, how our neighbors have been doing business, how the nation as a whole does business and how great beer states do business when it comes to the per gallon tax rate on beer.

There's a worthy discussion to be had on if Maryland needs some kind of reasonable tax hike on beer, but what's proposed doesn't come close to hitting the mark. We need to vote out legislators who are crazy enough to even propose such hikes and potentially cripple a sensitive industry (at the craft end) and the many small businesses involved with it and work with the ones who understand the craft beer environment better and can forcefully speak to its interests.

T-Bonz Movin' On Up

2010-04-11T23:20:00.003-04:00

Hidden gem T-Bonz in Ellicott City keeps doing good things. So many, in fact, that I've had to adjust my Howard County beer stratification to include them. Gone is the Holy Trinity, arrived is the Big Four, the Mighty Rectangle of Liquid Delight the ... anything to do with four, basically.

T-Bonz has ascended and can now safely join Frisco Grille, Victoria Gastro Pub and The Judges Bench as craft beer elite in Howard County.

Besides being the home to some of my absolute favorite ribs, T-Bonz now serves up 12 craft beer taps (with more planned) which much like Frisco Grille, can easily be seen on their website updated instantly. No guesswork! Kudos for also adding the "on deck" section. Every beer bar should be doing this, but I digress ...

T-Bonz was also the very first place in the area to hold a "Pints and Pancakes" event (soon to be copied at Mahaffey's later this month), which was an absolute blast. It was so successful another one is in the works but featuring winter themed beers, set for a Sunday in July just as soon as entertainment can be worked out.

Also in the works is an expansion, with another bar area to be held in the basement as sort of a brickskeller, with an additional set of craft taps to enjoy.

Further down the road, a Friday The Firkenteenth is planned for August 13th. T-Bonz recently jumped on the firkin bandwagon and more firkin events are under consideration.

Finally, a Howard County pub crawl with T-Bonz is in the planning stages (set for I believe Saturday May 22nd). For a fee there would be a bus making stops at the fearsome foursome -- T-Bonz, The Judges Bench, Victoria Gastro Pub and Frisco Grille -- and have some kind of smaller sized glassware involved so as to not get too carried away. I like the concept, as the bars are all a relatively close drive to each other but obviously not walkable.

Apologies for any errors as my notes were terrible while talking to bar manager Chris -- who has helped make T-Bonz an excellent beer destination after he came over from Fells Point's Red Star. I'll check back for more concrete details on much of this but hopefully this is a good general overview of some exciting things happening at yet another excellent beer bar in Howard County.

Oh, and one more item about their beers: they have a house offering called 33rd Street Ale in honor of the Orioles' old Memorial Stadium. The actual establishment is well appointed with Ravens and Orioles memorabilia as well as beer taps along the walls similar to how Frisco Grille has made use of their unused handles.

Maryland: Home to World Beer Cup Winners!

2010-04-11T23:07:00.005-04:00

Not only is Maryland about crab cakes and football, its about award-winning beers.

Several Maryland breweries came away with prizes at the 2010 World Beer Cup held this weekend. Notable:

Flying Dog
Silver: Gonzo Imperial Porter Vintage 2007 in the Aged Beer category

Heavy Seas
Gold: Heavy Seas Gold Ale in the Golden or Blonde Ale category
Bronze: Heavy Seas Marzen in the Vienna-Style Lager category
Bronze: Heavy Seas Pale Ale in the Classic English-Style Pale Ale category

Brewer's Alley
Silver: Brewer's Alley India Pale Ale in the English-Style India Pale Ale category

Rock Bottom (Bethesda)
Gold: Highland Courage in the Scottish-Style Ale category

Congratulations to our Maryland winners!

Pratt Street Ale House Invades Victoria Gastro Pub

2010-04-11T23:03:00.003-04:00

Be sure to stop by Columbia's Victoria Gastro Pub (conveniently located immediately off Rt. 100 on Snowden River Parkway) for a neat Pratt Street Ale House event.

Victoria will be pouring eight (!) PSAH taps including Hot Monkey Love (first batch!), Cherry Blossom Ale and 3 Spires Ale.

Brewmaster Stephen Jones should be on hand at some point in the evening, as well as souvenir pint glasses.

April Flying Dog Bitch Session

2010-04-01T11:12:00.002-04:00

Today is the first Thursday in April which means 'Bitch Session' time with Flying Dog. The Bitch Sessions are hosted at various locations around Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

The big one locally will be at Frisco Grille, featuring two amazing firkins (the Doggie Style Pale Ale which is ridiculous and a brand new firkin of Snake Dog IPA) plus two Flying Dog beers on tap: the Raging Bitch Belgian IPA and the In-Heat Wheat.

Plus, a top secret beer.

Festivities should commence around 6 PM although most of the beers should be on tap sometime before then.

Beer Notes

2010-03-31T15:14:00.012-04:00

-- Heavy Seas' Letter of Marque 'Hop Rye Porter' will be officially released at Mahaffey's on Thursday April 1st from 5-7 PM. It was the creation of homebrewers Frank Butt and Neil Heinlein.

Heavy Seas will host another Ladies Night at their brewery on Friday April 16th from 6-8 PM. Tickets are $10 and registration is required.

And on May 1st there will be a Heavy Seas Beer & Tapas event at Alexander's, listed in Ellicott City (did they mean Alexandra's at Turf Valley golf resort?)

-- The Judges Bench in Ellicott City will celebrate its third anniversary with a Heavy Seas event and a Big DIPA firkin on Friday April 2nd.

-- Upcoming events at Victoria Gastro Pub include the Rogue Beer Dinner on April 14th, the Allagash 'Meet the Maker' event from noon-3 PM with a ton of Allagash taps, a Trappist beer dinner on May 11th and then 'Victoria Day' on May 24th with the raffle drawing for a trip for beer club members.

They've recently redesigned the bar menu a bit, with daily updates of whats on tap, information on upcoming beer dinners and featured breweries on Beer Club night Monday, and much more. Do seek those out.

-- April marks the beginning of IPA month at Mahaffey's, but they've already put 13+ IPA's on tap through late March! Be sure to stop by all month and celebrate one of the tastiest beer styles out there.

Also in April at Mahaffey's: 1)Anniversary Party on April 17th with free catered buffet 2)Pints & Pancakes breakfast on April 18th from 10 AM to 2 PM 3)Allagash Night on April 21st.

-- Timonium's Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival will be held on April 10th.

-- April Fools Day must be the most competitive beer day in a long time with so many events, and DuClaw is jumping in on the action with $1 beers ALL DAY. Much more info from them via their new blog -- bookmark it.

-- Fordham is releasing their Queen Anne Kolsch at Ram's Head Tavern on Thursday, April 1st. For $4 you get commemorative glassware and a first pour, with each additional pour just $1 from 4-6 PM.

There will also be a 'meet the brewmaster' event featuring brewer Walter Trifari at Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits on Saturday April 3rd from 1-4 PM.

-- For those out in the Salisbury area, be sure to check out the brand new Specific Gravity Pizzeria and Bottle Shop. Its brought to you by some members of the Evolution Brewing team. I'm a big fan of the Evolution crew, hopefully that venture's as cool as everything else they've done so far.

Firkin Thursday and Friday

2010-03-25T11:51:00.006-04:00

Frisco Grille will have Flying Dog's Gonzo Imperial Porter on the bar tonight and it will be full pours (16oz) as opposed to the chalices.

At Max's they'll have Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, Brew Dog Paradox Smokehead, Brew Dog Paradox Springbank and JW Lees Harvest Ale (on the bar).

At Metropolitan they'll have the last Troegs Nugget Nectar firkin of the season!

And on Friday a special firkin from Stillwater Ales, their Stateside Saison at Alonso's!

DuClaw is contributing two of their own: a Cinnamon Vanilla Sawtooth at all three locations and an etra Peppermint Infused Imperial Chocolate Rye Porter (tapped after the Sawtooth is finished) at the Arundel Mills location.

BrewDog Event at Max's Tonight

2010-03-24T14:29:00.004-04:00

Also tonight, and you probably already know this, the owner of BrewDog, James Watt, will be on hand at Max's all the way from Scotland.

Festivities kick off at 6 PM and will feature a huge line of their offerings including the pricey and rare Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink The Bismarck.

CASK:
Paradox Smokehead
Paradox Springbank

REGULAR DRAFT:
Tokio
Zeitgeist
Punk IPA
Hardcore IPA
5am Saint
Brew Dog/Stone Bashah

BOTTLES:
Atlantic IPA
Brew Dog/Stone Bashah
Chaos Theory
Brew Dog/Mikkeller Divine Rebel
Dogma
Paradox Islay
Paradox Glen Grant
Paradox Macallan
Paradox Port Dundas
Paradox Smokehead
Paradox Speyside
Riptide
Storm

Evolution Pint Night at Frisco Grille

2010-03-24T02:16:00.003-04:00

Frisco Grille's latest pint night event is happening today (Wednesday) starting at 7 PM.

Delaware's excellent Evolution Brewing will be on hand with a cask conditioned Rise Up Stout as well as the brand spanking new Lot #6 Double IPA, the excellent Lot #3 IPA, the Exile ESB and something called Sprung.

Don't miss out!

Heavy Seas Big DIPA Beer Social At Max's

2010-03-23T11:40:00.002-04:00

This Tuesday, Max's will feature local stars Heavy Seas showing off their Big DIPA double IPA on tap and on cask. The Clipper City crew will be on hand, and festivities will kick off at 6 PM in the Mobtown Lounge.

ON THE BEER ENGINES:

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

Olivers 3 Spires

Flying Dog Doggie Style

NEW DRAFTS:

Avery Mephistopheles

Blaugies La Moneuse Special Winter

Cazeau Tournay

Contreras Valeir Blonde

Contreras Valeir Extra

Fruli Strawberry

Fullers Mr Harry

Italiano Tipo Pils

Lagunitas Wilco Tanco Foxtrot

Otter Creek Raspberry Brown

RJ Rockers Son of A Peach

Smuttynose Big A IPA

Southern Tier 422

Southern Tier Iniquity

Southern Tier Oak Aged Unearthly

The Bruery Rogbrod

The Bruery Saison De Lente

Troegs Nugget Nectar

Unibroue Trois Pistoles

Flying Dog Victoria Gastro Pub Event

2010-03-22T11:30:00.004-04:00

Speaking of Flying Dog, they'll be at Victoria Gastro Pub tonight (Monday) from 5 PM onward with a huge selection of beers plus rep Matt Crow and special guest brewer Matt Brophy.

On tap:

Doggie Style Pale Ale (firkin)
Gonzo Imperial Stout (nitro)
Kerberos Tripel (retired!)
Road Dog Porter
Garde Dog (end of the season)
Double Dog Double Pale Ale
Old Scratch Amber
Raging Bitch

St. Patricks Day at Nicks Cross St. Market

2010-03-19T01:05:00.002-04:00

Picture from early in the day on St. Patrick's Day at Nick's Oyster Bar at the Cross St. Market in Federal Hill with Flying Dog's Matt Crow and Metropolitan Coffeehouse (+ Wine Bar) owner Bruce Dorsey.

This being a Matt Crow trip there was a tap of Flying Dog's Doggie Style Pale Ale on tap at Nick's. Dorsey smartly closed down his establishment at 3 PM so as to avoid the inevitable rowdies on St. Patricks Day.

Again, this picture, its contents, cannot be independently be verified and are potentially made up by the bozo who took the picture.

It looks like next week's firkin at Metropolitan could be Troegs' Nugget Nectar and they still have a Stillwater Artisinal Ales Stateside Saison firkin in the works while plans are also in the works to run Flying Dog's Raging Bitch Belgian IPA at the upstairs bar alongside the LaChouffe Houblon Chouffe Belgian IPA as sort of an amusing side-by-side comparison of Belgian IPA interpretations.

Also, Mr. Dorsey mentioned the possibility of a 'Friday the Firkinteenth' once a month coinciding with the Friday each month that falls on a 'teen' date of the month (15th, 16th, 17th, etc.).

Ale Mary's St. Patricks Day

2010-03-19T00:57:00.003-04:00

This picture of Flying Dog's Matt Crow and Ale Mary's Tom Rivers cannot not be independently verified by the owner, or something.

ByTheWay there are now two Flying Dog tap handles at Ale Mary's because of the gentleman on the left (and right). But maybe this is all faked, or a conspiracy.

Wayne Mahaffey @Mahaffeyspub and Matt Crow @FlyingDogCrow

2010-03-17T16:48:00.002-04:00

Beer Notes

2010-03-15T01:30:00.000-04:00

-- For those seeking out the excellent, brand new Stateside Saison from Stillwater Artisinal Ales, here's the complete list of local establishments carrying it on draft, firkin or in bottle. And, here's the latest events schedule of where to find brewer Brian 'Stillwater' Strumke and his beers.

3/15 DC launch at Churchkey
3/16 Max’s Tuesday Beer Social featuring Stateside
3/17 Stateside tapping at the Baltimore Tap House

3/19 Stateside tasting @ The Wine Source
3/20 SPBW Real Ale Fest @ Pratt Street Ale House
3/31 Frisco Grille "Pint Night" (although our glassware is not a pint)

4/1 Stateside event with glassware giveaway @ The Brewers Art

4/24 City Paper Annual Beer Fest

-- A picture of Frisco Grille's delicious burrito on Flickr. And the beer board. Why not?

The featured pint night this week, St. Patrick's Day appropriate, is Guinness/Harp/Smithwicks. Be sure to stop by sometime in the evening and try to catch owner Adam's small batch of corned beef, that stuff was delicious last year.

Thursday night's firkin will be Weyerbacher's Hops Infusion.

-- Victoria Gastro Pub has been nominated for a 'Stars of the Industry' award for its wine and beverage program by the Restaurant Association of Maryland. They are asking for votes in seeking the Wine & Beverage Program of the Year award, which you can help by voting at this link. Voting runs through March 23rd.

-- Firkin Friday is returning to DuClaw. On March 26th at 5 PM the following firkins will be available:

Arundel Mills: Cinnamon vanilla Sawtooth; Peppermint infused imperial Chocolate Rye Porter
Bowie: Cinnamon vanilla Sawtooth
Bel Air: Cinnamon vanilla Sawtooth

St. Patrick's Day specials include all day Happy Hour pricing on pints of Celtic Fury Irish Stout, $1 off Celtic Fury growler refills and $2 off new growlers of Celtic Fury.

-- Alonso's received a surprise visit from new raven receiver Anquan Boldin and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron!

-- This Friday Gilly's will have four Belgian beers on tap as part of a Belgian beer tasting. The following Thursday will be a Sam Adams 25th Anniversary event with $2.50 Sam Adams drafts. And on Saturday March 27th they'll have a Troegs beer tasting from 3-6 PM.

-- The 14th Annual City Paper Brew Fest is fast approaching. Tickets are now on sale for $30 from MissionTix. It will be held on Saturday April 24th at Broadway Square in Fells Point.

-- Baltimore's own esteemed Belgian beer writer Chuck Cook has taken to the pages of Beer Connoisseur Magazine to pen a 1,200 word article about Maryland's own superstar beer bar, Max's.

The Great Resurrection Hunt

2010-03-15T00:22:00.010-04:00

The Baltimore Sun's Sam Sessa recently asked what establishments have the cheapest Brewer's Art Resurrection on tap. I'm more curious, given its scarcity and huge waiting list, if we can't cobble together the full list of establishments with permanent (or damn close) accounts with Brewers Art to supply the stuff.

Based on my own findings and other establishments mentioned in Sessa's post, here's an incomplete list. Please comment below to help fill in the blanks.

Brewers Art
Frisco Grille
Greene Turtle (Columbia)
Hon Bar/Cafe Hon
Sliders
Mahaffey's
Muggsy's
Bill Batemans
One Eyed Mikes
Captain Larry's
Baltimore Taphouse
Hamilton Tavern
Lures
Rocket to Venus (maybe)
The Parkside (maybe)
The Pickled Parrot
Annabel Lee Tavern
Hull Street Blues Cafe
Red Star
Alonso's
Emerald Tavern

Stoudts At Victoria Gastro Pub

2010-03-15T00:09:00.003-04:00

Stoudts Brewing will be making an appearance at Columbia's Victoria Gastro Pub Monday. Stoudts family member Eddie Stoudt will be on hand, and he'll have five taps and a firkin with him. The last time he was at Victoria they featured an unusual firkin of Fat Dog oatmeal stout aged with cherries and chocolate.

According to my notes the firkin this time will be their America Pale Ale. The new Karnival Kolsch will be on tap (a sure sign Summer is on its way) and again, according to notes, the Old Abominable barleywine should be on tap.

Festivities begin at 5 PM.

Beer Notes

2010-03-11T00:01:00.000-05:00

-- This Thursday at Frisco Grille: Stillwater Artisan Ale's Stateside Saison on firkin.

-- On cask this Thursday at Max's: Flying Dog Doggie Style pale ale, Olivers 3 Spires, Lagunitas IPA, Arcadia Nut Brown, Wintercoat Mols. Things get official around 6 PM.

-- On cask at Metropolitan Coffeehouse, Pratt Street Ale House's Three Spires and White Marsh Brewing's Charlotte's West Coast Amber Ale. Both will be available upstairs for $3 a pint. SPBW will also be meeting there tonight.

-- Stoudt's will be the featured brewery this Monday at Victoria Gastro Pub. Eddie Stoudt will be on hand with Stoudt's Kolsch, Gold, Scarlet Lady ESB and Winter Ale on tap.

The following Monday, Flying Dog and super rep Matt Crow check in. Matt will present seven Flying Dog beers on draft and there will be a special appearance from brewer (Sr. VP of Brewing) Matt Brophy!

On tap: the amazing firkin of the Doggie Style pale ale (I hear the last few bars to get these firkins have been thrilled with the product), Gonzo Imperial Porter (on nitro), Garde Dog Biere de Garde (enjoy it now, it's just about out of season), In Heat Wheat just in time for the warm weather, Double Dog double pale ale, Victoria Gastro Pub staple Raging Bitch Belgian IPA aaaaaaanddddd the recently retired Kerberos Tripel which is absolutely delicious in its own right.

Also: a VGP review from Brewnotes.

-- In other Flying Dog news, the state of New Hampshire has foolishly rejected the distribution and sale of their 20th Anniversary Raging Bitch Belgian IPA. For the anti-censorship activists reading this out there, have at it!

And if it isn't already abundantly clear, Raging Bitch is one of *the* big beers in America this year, soaring through production so as to be made available for enjoyment by its adoring public.

More good news: Flying Dog's In-Heat Wheat will be available on draft at Nationals' Park to help drown the Capitol's sorrow in having one of the sorriest organizations in all of baseball.

-- Thursday is 'brew day' for Pratt Street Ale House's upcoming Cherry Blossom Ale. Not sure when the official launch date is, but super brewer Stephen Jones is teasing something called a "Chocolate Covered Cherry" with the Cherry Blossom Ale blended with the Bishop's Breakfast. He's set aside a sixtel of the Bishop's Indulgence to be put on nitro for the Chocolate Covered Cherry at the launch.

Be on the lookout for PSAH casks of Best Bitter and Bishop's Breakfast (oatmeal stout w/vanilla) at ChurchKey and Frisco Grille.

On tap: PSAH's Mocha Java Porter. Yum.

Meanwhile, PSAH's DC successes continue with an upcoming beer dinner with CommonWealth Gastropub on Tuesday, March 23rd. The menu.

If you're searching for an excuse to head down to PSAH, Tuesday nights are Cask Appreciation Night with $3 cask pints from 5 PM until close. Parking is a hassle but I've located a reasonably affordable garage a few blocks away at Pratt and Light Streets for $5 I believe after 5 PM.

-- Mahaffey's will feature Irish food specials on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. They'll open at 9 AM on Wednesday with $1.50 Guinness pints with a price increase as the day goes on. Oddly, they'll have a doorman checking ID's on those days (don't give him a hard time, says Wayne).

April activities: Heavy Seas Letter of Marque release, Pints & Pancakes breakfast (something like this), Opening Day, Allagash Night (April 21st, we assume?), the 8th Anniversary party and Mahaffey's 'National IPA Month' celebration all month.

-- Its Thursday, which means discounted Belgian beers at Kooper's Tavern in Fells Point.

-- Brewers Art's latest entry in their Zodiac Pale Ale series is out, called Pisces 2 made with Slovenian Celeia hops. Sounds very, very interesting! I've also seen the Sublimation in at least one spot around town (Hamilton Tavern).

-- Now on tap at the elegant and esteemed Woodberry Kitchen: Flying Dog Imperial Gonzo Porter, Smuttynose Robust Porter, Evolution ESB, Victory All Malt Limited Lager, Brooklyn Pilsner, Allagash Belgium White ...as always, Anchor Steam. Be sure to check out their revamped website, pretty cool. Man I need to get back over there soon (and check out Alonso's nearby).

-- DuClaw has released its Celtic Fury Irish Stout this week, in events for both yesterday and today. Look through DuClaw's release calendar I see some beers I haven't heard of set for release, looks to be an exciting year. I wonder what Valkyr and Pax Nemesis are?

-- Heavy Seas Real Ale & BBQ Fest, focusing heavily on cask beer, will be held Saturday April 2nd from noon to 4 PM. Tickets are $49. For the first time ever they'll offer their Loose Cannon in wood casks. Something called 'Little DIPA' and eight other real ales will be available.

Also, the Heavy Seas Letter of Marque release party (via Beer In Baltimore/Alexander Mitchell) will be 5-7 PM on Thursday April 1st outside of Mahaffey's as part of a block party. The LoM winner this year is a Hop Rye Porter. That is going to be a busy day going up against the next Flying Dog Bitch Session (with debut of special one-off secret beer and two firkins at Frisco Grille).

-- Ruddy Duck's first 'Irish Stout' is now on tap.

-- Now on tap at Gilly's: Flying Dog Garde Dog, Sierra Nevada Glissade, Dogfish Head Chicory Stout and Newcastle.

-- For those seeking out bottles of Stillwater's debut release, Stateside Saison, Honeygo Wines reports the arrival of two cases of the good stuff. It won't last long.

-- Oh my: Privateer Day 2010 is almost here, surely a signal we're nearing perfect Fells Point on a warm day weather. The pirate madness will be on Friday April 9th and Saturday April 10th.

-- One of my favorite warm, sunny day places in Baltimore is Blue Hill Tavern with its big windows and neat patio over at Brewer's Hill/Canton. They've just added a new happy hour from Monday-Friday (4-7 PM) and Sunday all day with $3 bottles and $4 drafts. They occasionally have something interesting from Magic Hat and a few other good beers.

-- Birch & Barley's Greg Engert has been named one of the Sommeliers of the Year by Food and Wine Magazine. Its nice to see beer sommeliers, as tacky as the title is, getting recognition alongside wine.

-- Whodat?

Frisco Grille 2.0

2010-03-10T09:15:00.002-05:00

Several pics of Frisco Grille's tentative floor plan shown to customers by owner Adam Carton. There will be a longer, more spacious bar with an interesting presentation area bisecting it.

The dining area will be about the same size but set a little bit further from the bar. Overall more spacious and open with plenty of parking at the side and an easier to find location along Dobbin road.

One more cool feature: an in-house brewing facility adjacent to the entrance. That has potential, no?

Beer Notes

2010-03-08T01:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday

-- Frisco Grille has its March events schedule up -- pint nights with Harpoon, Guinness/Smithwicks, Evolution and Stillwater Brewing. The next two Firkin Thursdays are also lined up with two exciting options: Stillwater Stateside Saison w/American hops on the 11th and Weyerbacher's Hops Infusion on the 18th.

Additionally, the background for the calendar this month is a Google Map showing the path of their eventual move down Dobbin Road. Just follow the red arrow.

-- Wayne Mahaffey, the eccentric owner of Mahaffey's in Canton, has released a video showing off his neat bar in an effort to win a Bahamas vacation from WBAL.

-- Victoria Gastro Pub is having a big St. Patrick's Day with music, door prizes, food and beer specials. They'll open at 9 AM (normally 11 AM open) and offer $2 guinness 12oz pours from the first keg at open. On the menu there will be their interpretations of Irish Breakfast, Smithwick's braised corned beef & cabbage and Guinness pie.

The cool beer hook is that most of their 24 taps will feature Irish or Irish themed beers -- Murphy's Stout, Murphy's Red, Guinness, Harp, Smithwick's, O'Hara's Stout, O'Hara's Irish Red are the ones we know but also mixed in are craft offerings like Oliver's Black Friar Stout, Harpoon Celtic Ale, North Coast Old #38 Irish Stout, Rogue Kell's Irish Lager, Victory Donnybrook Irish Stout, Wexford Irish Cream Ale and more.

--Other Victoria Gastro Pub notes:

This Monday they will have a firkin of Troeg's delicious Nugget Nectar on the bar starting at 5 PM.

The next two beer dinners will be on Tuesday March 9th (Unibroue) and Wednesday April 14th (Rogue)

On Wednesday April 21st Allagash's Rob Todd will on hand as part of the 'Meet the Maker' event from noon-3 PM.

I'll have to recheck with Alex on this one but there will be a Dogfish Head event at Victoria on or around April 26th that will feature 12-14 Dogfish Head offerings.

-- The next Beer Club event at Lures in Crownsville will feature Flying Dog on Tuesday March 9th at 6 PM.

-- Both Heavy Seas Beer and Clutch Sports Lounge have revamped their websites.

-- Check out Heavy Seas Beer's new YouTube channel. Up right now is their brewery tour, in four parts. It is pretty much word-for-word how my tour went a year ago. Owner Hugh Sisson obviously has done a few of those over the years to have it so well rehearsed. Its pretty darn cool that he is the host for most of those.

And enjoy this interview with Heavy Seas founder High Sisson that has interesting insight into the direction of the company over the years.

-- BeerInBaltimore.com (Brad), clearly looking past this snowy and cold winter, asks if its possible for a year-round good beer bar in Ocean City, Maryland. Something like this but you know, at the beach.

We don’t know about you, but the whole appeal of Ocean City is being able to go out and night and not worry about driving afterwards. Lots of public transportation options (bus, cab, etc.) and even more fun – walking back to the hotel!

-- Beer In Baltimore (Alexander) reports that the historic Stegmaier brand may be making its way to Maryland via Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. In an unusual twist they're producing something other than your father's yellow, pilsner-like brew -- think IPA and pale ale.

-- Sad news out of Flying Dog: the Kerberos tripel is officially gone. Flying Dog is blowing up and has been for a while now and is having to juggle huge production demands. The price of growth right now has meant the end of Kerberos but also the permanence of Raging Bitch and a new crop of one-offs like the Coffee Stout and something else coming soon on the horizon.

And, by horizon, we mean very early April. Flying Dog's next 'Bitch Session' in Maryland will be at Columbia's Frisco Grille on Thursday April 1st (no joke!). Early plans call for several Flying Dog beers, possibly multiple firkins, and the debut of a special one-off beer.

You can also check out Flying Dog at Lures in Crownsville's next Beer Club event Tuesday night at 6 PM. They'll have limited edition Flying Dog Dog Schwartz and limited run vintage Horn Dog Barleywine to go with Double Dog and Raging Bitch Belgian IPA.

Meanwhile, Flying Dog is ramping up production of the heavily in-demand Raging Bitch.

-- Pratt Street Ale House is gearing up to make its Cherry Blossom Ale once its delivery of 630 pounds of pureed dark sweet cherries arrives. Yum!

-- Also joining the Cherry Blossom Festival beer festivities is DC's District Chophouse, which recently brewed its Cherry Wheat, with 294 pounds of cherries in 8 barrels, at over a pound per gallon.

-- Join the World Beer Club for free on Tuesdays at the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis. Sample 100 beers from around the world and come away with your name on a plaque, an engraved pewter mug, t-shirt, and draft beer specials thereafter.

-- An index of some intriguing St. Patrick's Day events

-- Laurel Park is hosting its own St. Patrick's Day event, but on Saturday the 13th instead. It will feature 'traditional Irish fare and roast pig'. More info here.

-- Calendar stuff:

Heavy Seas Real Ale & BBQ Festival March 27th
Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Fest in Timonium, April 9th-10th

-- The Baltimore Sun writes about popcorn going gourmet and mentions the truffle parmesan popcorn at Victoria Gastro Pub. That is my go-to late night snack there (available after 10 PM), absolutely addicting without overpowering the beer.

-- More on that proposed beer tax increase. Any establishment owners, reps, vendors, distributors etc. reading this care to comment on how it will affect business?

But groups who oppose the alcohol tax increase said a dime a drink is deceiving, that when measured by the gallon it's a large increase and a financial burden they don't feel they should have to bear.

"On beer the tax is currently is 9 cents a gallon," said Peter Frank, who owns Talbert's Ice and Beverage Service in Bethesda. "It will go up to $1.16 a gallon. That's an increase of 1,189 percent."

-- Check out local beer blog Carpe Cervisia, who I met during the Bishop's Indulgence release event at Pratt Street Ale House.

Stillwater Artisinal Ales Launches In Maryland

2010-03-07T15:29:00.007-05:00

Slightly belated, well-reported news already but I wanted to add my thoughts. Its a shame to see Clay Pipe Brewing potentially moving on, but in that weird balancing act of nature as one creature departs an environment another often moves in.

Such is the case with Stillwater Artisinal Ales, masterfully brewed by owner Brian Strumke. I've spoken with Brian a handful of times now and he's a humble, hopeful person. Given that, its no surprise the strength of his relationships in the Maryland beer community and elsewhere. It seems everyone in town knows him, and is happy to say a good word about his new venture and his ales.

Having finally gotten a taste at Max's (pictures part I and part II), I see now why everyone raves. Right now most everything I've seen is in the Belgian style -- thank you Brian for putting forth a fantastic effort in the underutilized Saison market -- but its called Artisinal Ales for a reason. These are well crafted offerings that over time should certainly span a great range of style.

The first such commercially available ale, Stateside Saison, makes clear the mission. It nods to classic construction with 'the finest European malts' but strikes out for a bolder, unique taste with 'fresh aromatic hops from the United States and New Zealand'.

It looks beautiful and drinks sublime, with a certain zest, something sorta peach-y -- Stillwater's website suggests passionfruit -- and still very much in the farmhouse ale genre.

If most of what comes next from Stillwater is as well crafted and plain old tasty as what I've tried so far, we've got yet another excellent brewer in our midst.

For more background there's the Baltimore Sun writeup, Maryland's own Belgian Beer specialist Chuck Cook's writeup, Bella Online and BeerInBaltimore.com as well as Stillwater's blog and Twitter account.

Stillwater Artisinal Ales I

2010-03-07T15:02:00.001-05:00

1) Stillwater Artisinal Ales brewer and owner Brian Strumke (aka Stillwater) at the Stillwater Artisinal Ales debut event at Max's during Belgian Beer Week. The firkin of his oh so delicious Stateside Saison in the background and a glass of it in the foreground

2) Brian pouring one of his other non-production offerings. He brought several wild ales to the event, I had a taste of one or two and they were spectacular. Brian is an extremely talented brewer.

3) Something funky, and good!

Stillwater Artisinal Ales II

2010-03-07T15:00:00.002-05:00

1) The Stateside Saison, Stillwater's first commercial release, up close. Beautiful.

2) Some of Stillwater's other offerings

3) The man of the hour cracks open another of his wild offerings with everyone looking on

4) Picture time: Stillwater Artisinal Ales brewmaster Brian Strumke poses with the firkin of his fantastic first commercial release: Stateside Saison

Frisco Grille Miscellaneous

2010-03-06T20:23:00.001-05:00

1) The menu is the same but the back cover has added a little glamor. Owner Adam Carton does all the graphics for the website, menu, etc.

2) Flying Dog's Doggie Style Pale Ale firkin, yummmmmmm

3 & 4) The previously hyped BBQ chicken tacos, er, what's left of them! That sauce is amazing and cools down nicely with the lettuce and sour cream.

Flying Dog 'Bitch Session' at Elliott's Pour House

2010-03-06T18:22:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday was Flying Dog's monthly 'Bitch Session' and was held at Elliott's Pour House in Canton. Bitch Sessions are Flying Dog's way of hosting a rotating monthly (first Thursday of every month) local event. The BS's are usually held in Frederick, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and somewhere in Maryland.

Elliott's was a fine choice and fine host, serving up three Flying Dog beers: Raging Bitch Belgian IPA, Garde Dog Biere De Garde and In-Heat Wheat. Flying Dog rep Matt Crow was on hand as well as seemingly all but a few of the area's beer writers. It was nice to sit back with some really good, fresh beers and enjoy a bar I wish I visited more while talking beer and whatever else with friends and peers.

For the curious, the next Bitch Session will be on Thursday April 1st (not a joke) at Columbia's Frisco Grille. The beers are still TBD but potentially there could be multiple firkins and there will definitely be the unveiling of Flying Dog's next super secret one-off beer. I'll speak with the Frisco Grille folks and see if anything else is planned as well.

And as for Elliott's I've been meaning to post a few pictures and say a few good words. As a beer geek I've really enjoyed the place both visits, they have a 20 tap tower, a long bar, a pool table, a couple TV's and that's about it. Its simple and they feature quality beers at some amazing prices (check out the happy hour). Its a cool, casual vibe in Canton near Brewer's Hill and definitely worth a visit when in the area. Parking nearby is also painless and plentiful so don't let that be a worry.

Ballast Point Sculpin

2010-03-06T18:16:00.002-05:00

Someone needs to step up and make a beer like this in Maryland. A first-rate flavorful double IPA that just makes you cry when the bottle is empty.

Beer Notes

2010-03-04T13:56:00.002-05:00

-- Couple big Flying Dog events this week. First up is the monthly "Bitch Session" held on the first Thursday of ... every month. They're held around various markets and feature Flying Dog reps, beer, and merriment. The big one this week will be at Elliott's Pour House in Canton. Super rep Matt Crow will be on hand, there will be a cool happy hour deal, plenty of nearby parking, and a screening of bowling comedy King Pin. Festivities kick off around 6 PM.

EPH is interesting because they have a cool tap tower that has room to expand, something they just might be doing soon as they have plans for five new lines. They mention a hope for Stillwater Ales, Dogfish Head, Evolution, 16 Mile and one more.

Also, in Frederick at Bushwaller's they'll gather from 5-7 PM with $3 Flying Dog beers and giveaways.

On Friday, Alonso's will have its monthly firkin, featuring Flying Dog's Doggie Style Pale Ale. I've had this firkin around town now several times (mostly at Frisco Grille) and have yet to be disappointed, very tasty stuff. Speaking of Alonso's, here's their St. Patrick's Day specials (.pdf). Oh, and Loco Hombre just unveiled their new dinner menu (.pdf) as well as Alonso's (.pdf).

Flying Dog will also have another firkin around town on Friday, at Koopers Tavern in Fells Point! What a night.

-- Also, a recipe for "Bitch and Chips" ... Raging Bitch beer battered fish and chips at the Flying Dog website. That picture is a great sell!

-- Pratt Street Ale House is rapidly gearing up for their March 20th Real Ale Festival. They'll have casks from Arcadia, Weyerbacher, the brand new Stillwater Brewing, Brewer's Art, Flying Dog and some house offerings. Tickets ($35) are now on sale and all but sold out. It promises to be an amazing event.

Also: the Three Spires Ale just went on tap (and cask). Its a 5% golden ale hopped with English First Gold, Kent Goldings and Fuggles. Brewmaster Stephen Jones is a 'very happy man, it's fantastic!'. Look for the appearance of a few firkins of this around town in the next few weeks. Next in the cask rotation: Biere De Garde and then Mocha Java Porter!

Or, check out this week's Friday Question for a chance to try Fuller's Vintage Ale 1997, 1998 and 1999.

Also, Midnight Sun covers steady rumblings that PSAH will expand into Federal Hill and perhaps even Pennsylvania.

Also, a nod on where to find PSAH beers in DC this week and the crazy labors of being a brewer at the blog.

-- Brewers Art's new monthy pale ale in the Zodiac series is Pisces with an 'interesting new malt and nice hop character'.

-- This week's firkin for Firkin Thursday (cask conditioned/gravity poured) at Columbia's Frisco Grille will be Brewers Art's Saison L'Ombre, tapping at either 4 or 6 PM. Pint Night on Wednesday will feature Warsteiner beer.

-- Mark your calendars: Friday April 2nd is the third anniversary party for The Judges' Bench in downtown Ellicott City. They'll have the Heavy Seas crew in attendance to tap a firkin of the Big DIPA!

-- We've heard the rumors but now they appear to have made their way to print: Beer In Baltimore's Alexander Mitchell is reporting that Clay Pipe Brewing may close down. Better stock up on whatever's left on store shelves if true. Its just weird to me that this state would add one brewery (Stillwater) and lose another (Clay Pipe) within weeks of each other after little growth or decline in the last few years.

-- Something called Gadling lists Baltimore as one of the top 24 greatest cities in the world for drinking beer. To which I say: duh! They amusingly mock 'Baltimore Beer Week's 10 day idea of a week, but get down with the 'Hon nature of Charm City.

-- BeerInBaltimore.com has a recap and some pictures of Max's recent 6th annual Belgian Beer Fest. Flip through the pictures and there should be someone you know in them.

-- Mr. Mitchell takes a page from Baltimore Beer Guy and lets the picture do (most of) the talking: Sam Smith Beer Dinner at Metropolitan Coffeehouse in Federal Hill, March 2nd (menu info). He also reports on new beers at Don't Know Tavern (thanks to suggestions from commenters at the Midnight Sun blog). Flying Dog rep Matt Crow has confirmed with me they'll be on tap with the upcoming changes.

And there's this excellent writeup of Kloby's Smokehouse (plus more here) somewhere in that vague area of southern Howard County. I've seen a few recent Twitter updates noting good craft beer on tap there, which is a wonderful pair with BBQ. I need to haul it over there, soon! Of some intrigue:

In addition, the glassware used is Ball pint and half-pint jars--a rather transparent answer to the issue of just how much the glass holds

Oh, and some info on the next SPBW meeting scheduled for March 11th at Metropolitan. Again, something I need to partake in.

-- Draft Magazine lists four Maryland establishments among its 150 best (beer) bars: The Brewer's Art, Frisco Grille, Max's and Silver Spring's nearly hidden Quarry House Tavern. Congrats to all, for the honor.

-- Victoria Gastro Pub

Here's a little extra hype for Victoria -- I am fully convinced they are the best bar in all of America to get Flying Dog's awesome Raging Bitch 20th Anniversary Belgian IPA. Victoria brilliantly ordered a ton at the initial opportunity and ever since has had a seemingly endless supply with zero hint of ever taking it away. Its served right and tastes great and its sort of a cool treat to be able to go in there and enjoy a great beer people around the country talk about at perhaps its No. 1 location.

Also, next Monday will feature Troegs Brewing for the beer club (all are invited). There will be a pin of the Nugget Nectar on gravity firkin starting at 5 PM!

-- Some discussion of Looney's pub at HowChow. I need to sneak down there and check it out, they have 20-ish taps and a few beer geek friends enjoy the happy hours deals on the handful of craft offerings available.

-- Brewers Alley in Frederick also has a few openings remaining for their Bourbon Street Beer Dinner on Tuesday, March 7th.

-- Several Howard County folk keep asking me when a new British pub called Union Jack's will open. Until now I didn't have an answer but via Twitter it looks like they'll open sometime in the March 11,12,13 range with a VIP party March 11th. It is listed at 10400 Little Patuxent Parkway, which is at the Columbia mall.

-- If you are in D.C. and are looking for a charitable beer-related event, how about trying the Brewer's Ball to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Several local breweries including Heavy Seas will be there.

-- Elsewhere in DC, the much hyped Meridian Pint is steadily gearing itself up for an opening hopefully soon.

-- Gertrude's has surprised us and declared themselves craft beer friendly in a big way, stocking Brewer's Art La Petroleuse, Heavy Seas Winter Storm and Flying Dog Biere De Garde and claim to proudly serve Maryland craft beers. Cool!

-- The brand new DuClaw at BWI airport gets a nice writeup from the Sun's Rob Kasper. Its a rare airport establishment that is placed before security rather than after it, just a heads up. Hours are from 7 AM to 9 PM.

-- A Beer In Hand raves about the weekly beer dinner at Jack's Bistro in Canton, and discusses a new tea beer he found.

-- Burger At Law has a wordy, positive, beautifully visual review of Alonso's famous one pound burger. What better way to wash it down than with some of their draft offerings including Dogfish Head/Sierra Nevada creations Life & Limb and Limb & Life? Also, their new menu debuted this week.

-- Rumored new arrival to Baltimore on tap: Lagunitas' Wilco Tango Foxtrot 'jobless recovery' ale.

-- Interesting, from The Baltimore Snacker: a map of Europe's alcohol zones. I wonder what America's would look like?

-- Maryland's Belgian beer and brewery expert Chuck Cook reports back from Westvleteren!

-- The latest extensive beer (and wine) roundup from Tom Cizauskas' Yours For Good Fermentables.

-- Video: how to brew beer in three minutes

-- Online wine purchasing/shipping coming to Maryland? Make it happen.

-- A grim warning: someone on Twitter wrote 'passage of this bill will be the death knell of all the craft bars/breweries in Maryland'. Thoughts? It says the state will increase tax rates for beer from 9 cents to $1.16 per gallon of beer "for the distribution of the additional revenue to special funds to be used only for the purpose of providing additional funding for specified health services etc."

-- We need something centralized like this for the Maryland craft beer bar and brewing community.

-- Yet another (somewhat craft beer related) entrant into the Maryland beer writing scene: Bar-timore. Bookmark it.

-- Another offering from Beer In Baltimore's Alexander Mitchell -- a discussion on the growth of multi-tap bars (the 40, 50, 75+ type offerings) sprouting up.

My condensed thoughts: so far most of these are offering a heavy dose of Bud/Miller/Coors offshoots and cater to more noisy, casual visitors than the beer geeks. That may or may not be the case with the new 100+ tap place set to open near Harbor East but obviously is not the case with the legendary Max's.

The author also notes that the magic number of taps seems to be 24, which sounds just about right and is an astute observation. Places like Victoria Gastro Pub (24!), Frisco Grille (20), Mahaffey's (20-ish) seem to be right in that range. That said, there's a wave of expansion coming, with Frisco looking to go to 50 and maybe even 100 taps eventually, Max's soon expanding to 100, and perhaps a few more I'm not at liberty to discuss yet. Even a few smaller places are adding taps. Mahaffey's just added a few recently, Elliott's Pour House appears to have added a few, and T-Bonz recently went up to 14 taps (11 rotating/craft).

So long as these establishments continue to respect beer, keep their lines clean (!) and know their business and customers its difficult to fret about expansion. I've been to the Yard Houses of the world and although I like them the selection is actually a bit wanting and I find myself merrily heading back to the actual committed bars.

Aaaaaand we'll wrap this up for now, PLENTY more Beer Notes (huge backlog of emails to get to plus notes I've taken from talking to various beer folk to include) coming very soon.

Victoria Gastro Pub Miscellaneous Pics

2010-03-03T19:55:00.003-05:00

1 & 2)Tonight's (Wed 3/4) complete beer menu ahead of the Allagash Beer Dinner

3)Barman Alex's (empty) bottle of the extremely rare The Bruery Black Tuesday

4)Alex showing how much he loves that beer

5)Oh and he also picked up a Russian River Brewing Co. Pliny The Elder for his own uses. Seriously Alex, drink that! Its only fresh for so long.

6)Looks like the Dunkin' Donuts across the way is finally open ...

The Drive Alexander Mitchell Nuts Special

2010-03-03T14:40:00.003-05:00

Heavy Seas Loose Cannon with local hops and something about white oak on the beer engine at Frisco Grille

Update: just so we're clear I'm just teasing with this. Mr. Mitchell enjoys teasing me about posts like this, and I'm happy to return a friendly volley.

Racers Cafe and Hamiltons Tavern

2010-02-28T23:51:00.003-05:00

Backstory: Brad from BeerInBaltimore.com organized a gathering at Racer's Cafe on Harford Road to watch the Olympic hockey gold medal game between the United States and Canada. Having never been to Racers but hearing good things about it for a while, it was a good opportunity to finally swing by.

Brad was there as well as several other local beer writers and Twitter friends so it was a really nice time.

Racers has about 17 beers on tap, which you order at the bar by number assigned to them on the big chalkboard inside. They also have a deal where you can get three mugs of beer for I think $5.

Its a blue collar place with free peanuts which you can toss on the floor. Next door is an attached packaged goods store mostly stocked with beers which can be enjoyed at Racers (see picture No. 3 a barrel aged Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA).

After the game several members of our group headed over to Hamilton Tavern. It had nice food (I went with the jalapeno cheese fritters and a delicious meatball sub) and four overall taps, two of which were devoted to Brewers Art beers.

Firkin Thursday

2010-02-25T14:23:00.003-05:00

As reported here, Frisco Grille will put Pratt Street Ale House's brand new Three Spires Ale on firkin tonight starting at 4 PM. Already on hand pump is Flying Dog's hopalicious Doggie Style Pale Ale which tastes amazing right now.

Federal Hill's Metropolitan Coffeehouse is tapping their 100th firkin and will have Pratt Street's brand new Bier De Garde, created with a Belgian ale yeast (we don't see that too often from PSAH).

And at the great Max's: Burton Bridge Bramble Stout, North Coast Red Seal and Arcadia London Porter (dry hopped) starting at 6 PM.

Frisco Grille Latest

2010-02-24T17:18:00.003-05:00

Frisco Grille in Columbia ...

Currently on the beer engine: Flying Dog Doggie Style.

For Firkin Thursday they'll pour Pratt Street Ale House's brand new Three Spires Golden Ale.

AND sneak peek next Thursday: a TBD firkin from Brewer's Art scheduled to arrive this Thursday and settle for a week before any pouring occurs.

Victoria Gastro Pub Behind The Scenes I

2010-02-23T17:45:00.002-05:00

MANY thanks to Victoria's excellent bar manager Alex in giving me a view into the world behind the bar at Victoria Gastro Pub.

1) Its a mess of kegs and lines sometimes, such is life with a 24 tap system

2) Self explanatory

3)Pressure and lines and beer, oh my

4)Some of the bottled offerings

Victoria Gastro Pub Behind The Scenes II

2010-02-23T17:41:00.002-05:00

1)Barman Alex proudly displaying a new arrival: Brewdog's Tokyo

2)Bottles, kegs and barmen

3)The arsenal

4)The good stuff

Victoria Gastro Pub Behind The Scenes III

2010-02-23T17:40:00.000-05:00

1)The tote board!

2)Lookie lookie what do we have here?

Amusing Frisco Grille Anecdote

2010-02-23T13:00:00.003-05:00

One of the main bartenders at Frisco Grille, Oliver, tells me that he can tell when customers have read Baltimore Beer Guy or HowChow because they'll ask for the 'secret menu'.

Its actually labeled 'Adaptations and New Items' and has some delicious offerings on there but its a bit wordy for my liking. So, 'secret menu' it is. Because at one time it was sort of secret, more word of mouth than anything but they've since made it part of the regular menu, albeit as part of a flier that comes with the menu.

Most people I talk to seem to go wild for the Steak Sammich but I'm more a sucker for the stupidly simple yet delicious BBQ chicken tacos or the Adam Bowl. I mention Frisco Grille a lot on here but don't say enough about the menu, its a real treat with a surprising amount of diversity beyond their staple burritos (which are themselves wonderful and able to be customized just about any way imaginable).

Just the other day they tried something new, offering their taquitos to be made from flour tortillas instead of the normal corn tortillas. Keep in mind these are a little different from what we traditionally think of taquitos: larger, more flavorful with a delicious side dipping sauce. The flour ones came out extra large, with a crunchy outside and nice layer of soft, doughy inside covering the meat filling (either chicken or beef).

Anyway, the food is another reason to give Frisco Grille a try.

Flying Dog at Brickskeller Strong Ale Event

2010-02-23T12:51:00.002-05:00

The Brickskeller's rescheduled strong ale event goes off tonight (Tuesday) down in D.C. and Maryland brewery Flying Dog will participate.

It looks like tickets are still available so if you're into the big beers and Flying Dog, consider stopping by down there.

Update, from BBG regular Brandon in the comments below: "Other Maryland breweries represented tonight will also be: Oliver's Steve Jones, Johannssons, Ruddy Duck Brewery and Marylands own Bob Tupper."

Monday Beer Madness in HoCo

2010-02-22T00:48:00.006-05:00

1)T-Bonz in Ellicott City is debuting its first ever firkin event, featuring Heavy Sea's brand new Siren Noire, a chocolate stout. Scoot on down there and try for yourself Heavy Seas' first offering since the re-branding. You'll hear more about T-Bonz on here very soon. For now, just know they just put Flying Dog's Raging Bitch and the extremely limited Kerberos Tripel on tap.

2)Pratt Street Ale House takes its wares to Victoria Gastro Pub, starting at 5 PM. Brewmaster Stephen Jones will be on hand with the debut of his brand new Biere de Garde on cask. In a departure for PSAH, the beer was fermented with Belgian ale yeast, which should make this a rare treat.

They'll also have The Bishop's Indulgence, Strongman Pale Ale and Coventry Cream Ale on tap. Victoria just added Boulder Mojo Risin' IPA (nitro), Southern Tier Choklat, Duvel Green and Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout on tap.

3)Don't forget about Frisco Grille and The Judges Bench!

T-Bonz Pints and Pancakes I

2010-02-20T13:54:00.000-05:00

OK so I *finally* got around to uploading these pics from T-Bonz's amusing "Pints and Pancakes" event held recently (thanks to some prodding from Flying Dog super rep Matt Crow). The sneaky good Ellicott City beer bar hosted a lively breakfast beer themed party with live music and an array of breakfast themed beers featuring coffee -- Flying Dog's awesome coffee stout, berries, and even bacon -- Porkslap ... close enough!

1)WYSIWYG

2)Flying Dog Coffee Stout and a bottle of Pub Dog's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

3)The Pub Dog bottle

4)Delicious pancakes! All you can eat regular or chocolate chip. Most folks ruin pancakes these were pleasantly tasty and of appropriate texture.

T-Bonz Pints and Pancakes II

2010-02-20T13:53:00.004-05:00

1)More pancakes and beer ... what a combo!

2)The Grilled Lincolns performing

3)Sample menu: strawberry, coffee, raspberry ... yep, breakfast!

Its Official: Frisco Grille is Moving!

2010-02-18T13:25:00.004-05:00

This is literally breaking news, first reported here:

Columbia's excellent southwest cuisine restaurant and beer bar Frisco Grille is moving! They had made plans to expand in their current center off Stanford Boulevard but have changed gears and have now begun signing paperwork to move just a bit further down Dobbin Road.

They will be next to Batteries Plus, near Columbia Scuba. Simply take Dobbin Road south, they will be located between McGaw and Oakland Mills Roads. If nothing else, it will be much easier to explain to people how to find them as their current location is in a bit of an oddball spot. The move will shift them from their current 2300 square foot location into a space of approximately 4700 square feet.

The payoff? They now have plans to provide 50 taps, with room for up to 100 if they so choose. The bar should be much more spacious and have greater length, meaning there will likely be two full time bartenders behind the counter, as well as roundtops and whatnot. I don't have official word on this but I know they've spoken of also adding an in-house brew facility to offer some of their own beers (owner Adam Carton is a huge hop-head and has mentioned about five different variations on the pale ale and IPA so thats the likely direction).

The move will not be immediate, obviously, and they will remain open at the current location but they hope to open at the new location sometime in late spring or early summer.

Stay tuned for further details and I'll pass along any questions to the ownership.

Firkin Madness

2010-02-18T12:35:00.004-05:00

Its Thursday which means Firkin time around town. See Mr. Mitchell's site for starters:

Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale at Metropolitan Coffeehouse

they will also have draft versions of Special Brewer's Series Coffee Stout, Raging Bitch Belgian IPA, Road Dog Porter and Garde Dog Biere de Garde available throughout both upstairs and downstairs bars

Pratt Street Ale House Bishop's Indulgence, Arcadia Nut Brown and Lagunitas Dogtown Pale Ale at Max's

Heavy Seas Siren Noire at Alonso's (yum)

Aaaaaand Troegs' Nugget Nectar at Frisco Grille, which will start pouring at 6 PM

Flying Dog Meet The Brewers Night at Koopers Tavern

2010-02-17T13:08:00.001-05:00

Meet brewer Matt Brophy and other Flying Dog friendly folk tonight at Koopers Tavern in Fells Point. Its also pint night from 7 PM onward.

Troegs Pint Night at Frisco Grille

2010-02-17T13:05:00.004-05:00

Tonight, Wednesday, is the Troegs Brewing pint night at Frisco Grille in Columbia. From 7 PM onward they'll be pouring a big offering of Troegs beers including the much-coveted Nugget Nectar.

After 7 PM, the first pint you order of the featured brewery merits a free piece of glassware (be sure to ask the bartender/server).

On tap:

Mad Elf
Nugget Nectar
Troegenator
Hopback Amber
Dreamweaver Wheat

The Story Behind Flying Dog's Raging Bitch Belgian IPA

2010-02-16T14:57:00.001-05:00

Pratt Street Ale House Strongman Pale Ale Dry Hopped Firkin

2010-02-04T16:39:00.001-05:00

At Frisco Grille, and they've got the brand new Bishop's Indulgence on hand pump as well.

Rams Head Spring Buck Release

2010-02-04T12:52:00.002-05:00

Just another reminder, Rams Head is hosting the release of their 'Spring Buck' Belgian Blonde tonight starting at 4 PM at all locations. Sounds cool!

Flying Dog Thursday

2010-02-04T12:46:00.003-05:00

Flying Dog super rep Matt Crow will lead two Flying Dog events today in Maryland.

The first is a tasting of the Garde Dog and 20th Anniversary Raging Bitch at Wine World in Abingdon from 5-7 PM.

Afterwards he'll be at Sean Bolan's in Bel Air for Flying Dog's monthly 'Bitch Session'/Tweetup starting at 730 PM. They'll have four Flying Dog beers on tap: Raging Bitch, Double Dog (nitro tap), Doggie Style Pale Ale and the ridiculously good one-off Coffee Stout.

Aaaaand on Friday they'll be hosting a 'Snow Buster' beer tasting at Corridor Wine & Spirits in Laurel from noon to 3 PM. Sample the Raging Bitch and Garde Dog, two of their very best offerings.

Firkin Thursday

2010-02-04T10:42:00.006-05:00

Frisco Grille in Columbia: the brand new, only one in Maryland Pratt Street Ale House ~~Ironman~~ Strongman ("loads more hops! says Oliver Ale brewer Stephen Jones) Pale Ale dry hopped with Maryland Chinook hops, and on the beer engine, the brand new stupidly delicious Bishop's Indulgence from Pratt Street. It is a chocolate stout brewed with cocoa nibs and vanilla beans.

Frisco's Oliver also tells me that about half his taps right now are stronger beers, so if you're a big beer fan come on down and (responsibly) enjoy.

Metropolitan Coffeehouse in Federal Hill: They'll have the Bishop's Indulgence as well.

Frisco Grille's fun officially starts at 4 PM, Metropolitan at 6 PM.

Flying Dog Pint Night at Frisco Grille

2010-02-03T12:16:00.002-05:00

Be sure to check out Wednesday's 'Pint Night' at Frisco Grille in Columbia. They'll be featuring Flying Dog beers, meet rep Matt Crow, and enjoy the Raging Bitch, spring seasonal Garde Dog, In-Heat Wheat, Doggie Style Pale Ale and Gonzo imperial porter on the nitro tap.

Beer Notes

2010-01-30T22:23:00.019-05:00

-- Heavy Seas owner Hugh Sisson explains the various branding decisions made lately that have many folks (perhaps unnecessarily) up in arms. We wish the company well but to keep with the nautical theme, these are perhaps uncharted waters. Read it in entirety.

-- Straight outta Twitter land, Flying Dog's Jim Lutz says 24 of their newly purchased firkins have been loaded with Doggie Style Pale Ale and are ready to ship in two weeks. GOOD times.

New Flying Dog events:

An updated list of "Bitch Sessions"/Tweetups in New York City, Frederick, Bel Air, Washington D.C. and Fredericksburg, VA.

At Sean Bolan's in Bel Air super-rep Matt Crow will be on hand from 7-9 PM with the Raging Bitch, Doggie Style and their awesome new one-off Coffee Stout, as well as the Double Dog on nitro.

In DC they'll hold it at the great Pizzeria Paradiso in Georgetown. From 5-7 PM enjoy Raging Bitch, Gonzo, Double Dog and a TBA cask. The first 20 people to 'tweet' their arrival (to @FlyingDogJT and w/ #BitchSession hash tag) will receive a free beer of their choice and a Flying Dog glass.

2010 Bowl Bash on Super Bowl Sunday at Frederick Indoor Sports Center. For $20 you get two Flying Dog beer tickets and all you can eat pizza and wings, with part of the proceeds donated to 'Hope in Richmond, South Africa'.

A correction to the most recent "Beer Notes" the Flying Dog firkin at Alonso's will be on March 5th, not 3rd. Another correction, the Flying Dog "Beer Club" event at Lures has been switched to March 9th (previously Mach 16th). Please adjust plans accordingly!

-- A reminder: check out the condensed events list for beer events going on in the coming days and weeks ... exciting times!

-- Rams Head Tavern is having its "Spring Buck" (Belgian blonde flavored with honey and hints of chamomile and orange) beer release on Thursday February 4th from 4-6 PM at the various Rams Head restaurants. The beer will come in $4 special event glassware with $1 refills, be sure to check that out!

Please note also that they've changed the URL of their blog, which has been reflected and remedied in the "Maryland Beer Blogs" links section on the menu at right.

-- Our friend Brad (BeerInBaltimore.com) is the new Mid-Atlantic writer for Ale Street News so look for his updates in the latest issue that has apparently hit the bars and retailers.

He also notes that RateBeer.com has released its "best of" list for 2010. Local notables:

Flying Dog #92 brewery
Max's #23 Beer Beer Bar
Frisco Grille #46 Best Beer Bar
Brewer's Art #37 Best Brewpub

ALL are very deserving, congratulations.

My one disagreement and something that has stirred a quiet rebellion I'm sure on both Rate Beer and Beer Advocate: the raw dominance of imperial stouts, which tend to dominate the "best beer" lists. Ridiculous, in my mind, and perhaps a bit of herd mentality more than wisdom of crowds at work.

-- Beer superstore The Perfect Pour in Columbia is offering a 6-pack beer sampler including a Perfect Pour tote: Nora Birreria, La Binchoise Brune, Heavy Seas DIPA, Biere De Miel, Jerome Cerveza Diablo and Green Flash Grand Cru for $58.29 through their email list. New arrivals - Dominion variety 12 pack and Mountain Pale Ale, Gordon Biersch Maibock, DuClaw Colossus.

-- Another local (hopefully beer, mostly cocktail) blog: The Noble Experiment. Oh hell, one more - BeersForDinner.com. Its an explosion of local beer blogging and writing, I tell ya!

Max's Tuesday Beer Social Feb. 2

2010-01-30T21:23:00.003-05:00

This Tuesday starting at 6 PM in the Mobtown Lounge Max's will feature a new brewery to the US: Bierbrouwerij Grand Cafe Emelisse out of Kamperland, Netherlands.

On draft:
Emelisse Imperial Stout 11.0%abv. Imperial Russian Stout
Emelisse Winterbier 2009 8.5abv. Belgian Style Strong Ale
Emelisse Double IPA 9.0%abv. Double IPA

Elsewhere at Max's ...

ON THE BEER ENGINES:

Boulder Mojo Risin

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

RCH Pitchfork

NEW DRAFTS:

Boulder Mojo

Boulder Mojo Risin

Boulder Mojo Risin (Nitro)

Boulder Never Summer

Boulder Planet Porter

Boulder Sweaty Betty

Brooklyn Cookie Jar Porter

Cape Ann Fishermans IPA

Corsendonk Pale Ale

Dogfish Head 90 Minute

Flying Dog Raging Bitch

Great Divide Hercules

Magic Hat Vinyl

Oskar Blues Old Chub

Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale

Rogue Dead Guy John John

Sam Adms Noble Pils

Southern Tier Unearthly

Troegs Hopback

Victory Prima Pils

Victory St Victorious

Brooklyn Lager

North Coast Brother Thelonious

It's Coming! Max's Belgian Beer Fest

2010-01-30T21:11:00.006-05:00

Arguably one of the country's best beer events, Max's Belgian Beer Fest is almost upon us. As with every year they'll supply seemingly endless rare and incredible Belgian beer offerings on tap, cask and in bottle.

It will run Friday February 12th to Sunday February 14th, no cover, everyday from the 11 AM open until close. Full taplist below, but first, two Max's videos I found on YouTube. See if you can spot me in the herd trying to enter on the first day last year.

FRIDAYS DRAFT LIST 100 % DONE:

Achilles Celtic Angel

Achouffe Houblon Chouffe

Achouffe Mc Chouffe

Achouffe La Chouffe

Achouffe N' Ice Chouffe

Alvinne Bathazar

Alvinne Extra

Alvinne Gaspar

Alvinne Melchior

Alvinne Oak Aged Bathazar

Alvinne Oak Aged Podge

Barbar Winterbok

Blaugies La Moneuse Special Winter

Blaugies Saison D Epeautre

Bockor Cuvee Des Jaocbins Rouge

Brugse Zot Dubbel

Cantillon Gueuze

Cantillon Iris

Cantillon Rose De Grambrinus

Cazeau Tournay

Cazeau Tournay Black

Cazeau Tournay De Noel

Cimay Cinq Cents

Contreras Valier Blonde

Contreras Valier Divers

Contreras Valier Extra

De Dochter Van De Korenaar Emblasse

De Dochter Van De Korenaar Noblesse

De Dochter Van De Korenaar Courage

De Glazen Toren Angelique

De Glazen Toren Jan De Lichte

De Glazen Toren Ondinke

De Glazen Toren Saison De Epre Mere

Strubbe Ichtegems Grand Cru

De Proef Van Twee

De Ranke Noir De Dottignies

De Regenboog T' Smisje Triple

De Regenboog Catherine The Great

De Regenboog Guido

De Regenboog T' Smisje Dubbel

De Regenboog T' Smisje Kerst

De Regenboog T' Smisje Plus

De Regenboog T' Smisje Speciale

Delirium Tremens

Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux

Ellezelloise Hercule Stout

Ellezelloise Quintine Blonde

Geants Gouyasse

Geants Urchon

Gulden Draak Vintage

Het Alternatief Eerwaarde Pater

Het Alternatief Piet Agoras

La Rulles Triple

La Trappe Isid Or

Lefebvre Floreffe Dubbel

Lefebvre Floreffe Triple

Silly Enghien Noel

Silly Saison De Silly

Sint Canarus Pere Canard

Sint Canarus Triple

Slaapmutske Dry Hopped Lager

Slaapmutske Kerstmutske

St. Bernardus Christmas

St Feuillien Blanche

St Feuillien Saison

Timmeramns Bourgogne Des Flanders

Van Honsebrouck Bacchus

Van Honsebrouck Gueuze Fond Tradition

Brewers Art Green Pepercorn w/ real Peppercorn (Cask)

The Bruery Two Turtle Doves(Cask)

Regenboog BBBourgondier (Gravity keg)

De Regenboog T' Smisje Calva Reserva (Gravity keg)

De Regenboog T' Smisje Kerst (Gravity Keg)

Allagash Black (Cask)

OTHER DRAFTS FOR SATURDAY AND SUNDAY:

Allagash Fluxus

Allagash Hugh Malone

Allagash Interlude

Alllgash Odyssey

Barbar

Chimay Cinq Cents

De Dolle Dulle Teve

De Dolle Stille Nacht

De Koninck Winter

De Ranke Pere Noel

De Ranke Guldenberg

Delirium Noel

Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux

Dupont Foret

Dupont Saison

Echt Kriekenbier

Gouden Carolus Cuvee Blauw

Gouden Carolus Noel

Klokke Roeland

La Rulles Estivale

Ommegang Abbey

Ommegang Rare Vos

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence

Ommegang Hennepin

Ommegang Pale Ale

Ommegang Rouge

Ommegang Witte

Ommegang Three Philosophers

Petrus Winter

Scaldis

Scaldis Noel

Van Bossche Buffalo Stout

Van Eecke Kapittel Abt

Van Eecke Kapittel Blonde

Van Eecke Kapittel Pater

Van Eecke Kapittel Prior

Van Eecke Poppering Hommelbier

Strubbe Ichtegems Grand Cru

Sint Canarus Potteloereke

Silly Double Enghien Blonde

Silly Enghien Noel

Silly Pink Killer

Silly Saison De Silly

Silly Super 64

Silly Pils

Silly Titje

Kerkom Bink Blosem

Kerkom Bink Blonde

Kerkom Bink Bruin

Kerkom Bink Triple

Het Alternatief Hik Blonde

De Regenboog Vuuve

De Regenboog Wostyntje

St. Bernardus Wit

La Divine Dark Triple

Allagash Cask TBA

Brewers Art Seven Beauties (Cask)

Beer Notes

2010-01-28T01:30:00.000-05:00

We're long overdue for a round of Beer Notes, so carve out some serious chunks of time, click all the happy little links, absorb what is to be absorbed and yeah. Here goes:

-- Victoria Gastro Pub

See below for several pictures of the Victoria Gastro Pub/Flying Dog winnebago trip from last week. It was a really great time, and more could be on the way to places like Clipper City and maybe even Troegs and Stoudts.

They just switched out 7 of their 24 taps on Friday, so there should be a bonanza of new stuff on from what I've written about before as well as a few others barman Alex told me recently: Stoudts Winterbock, St. Bernardus 6 and 8, Flying Dog's delicious new and rare Coffee Stout, Flying Dog Gonzo (nitro), Dieu Du Ciel (!), Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti, Hitacino Witbier and The Bruery's Mischief (extremely limited showing in Maryland)

Also, coming Monday (2/1): its Great Divide night with the Titan IPA, Hercules Imperial IPA, Yeti Imperial Stout and Old Ruffian Barleywine all on tap.

A date has been set for their Unibroue beer dinner: March 9th.

In the meantime I really enjoy that they have an all but permanent supply of Flying Dog's "Raging Bitch" Belgian IPA which sells an incredible volume there.

There's nothing official but like several other major beer bars it looks like Victoria would like to expand their tap system to something like 40 taps (plus a beer engine) above the current 24. They also now have over 200 bottles available.

They were also recently featured on MPT television.

-- Pratt Street Ale House

Their Scottish Ale is making its debut this month, hitting Metropolitan Coffee House among other sports. It has a new recipe with a hint of smoked and peated malt at about 7% ABV.

Much, much more from BeerInBaltimore.com. New beer releases and several events to look forward to from PSAH and brewer Stephen Jones who just recently celebrated a birthday.

Also, save the date: Real Ale fest set for March 27th.

Also, just added on cask: the Blonde Ale, dry hopped with Frederick grown, picked, dried Chinook hops! Yum! Just one pin available, so its gone soon.

Be sure to be there on Tuesday (2/2) as they'll release the new Bishop's Indulgence, an 8% stout with cocoa nibs and vanilla beans. That goes off at 6 PM. At the same time in the lounge brewmaster and Baltimore Beer Guy friend Stephen Jones will hold an informal "cask ales social" discussion about cask beer featuring a glass-bottomed firkin to show whats going on. That could be one of the more interesting, can't-miss beer events of the year.

-- Today (Thursday 1/28) Max's will feature the following beers on cask: Boulder Mojo Rosin, North Coast Red Seal, RCH Pitchfork as well as Cape Ann's Fishermans Greenhorn on the bar.

In addition, they'll play host to Boulder Brewing and rep Melvin who is on a "right coast" tour of sorts. The highlight will be their Mojo Risin double IPA three ways: firkin, draft and nitro.

Boulder Mojo Risin (nitro)
Boulder Mojo Risin
Boulder Hazed & Infused
Boulder Sweaty Betty
Boulder Planet Porter
Singletrack (Copper Ale not published in Max's email)
Never Summer (winter seasonal see above)

The show begins around 6 PM.

-- On tap right now at Mahaffey's is Sierra Nevada's Glissade (golden bock) and Tupper's Hop Pocket, back in action! Coming soon, Sierra's Bigfoot Barleywine and the return of Ola Dubh 40, a rare, extremely expensive dark offering aged in barrels that housed scotch for 40 years. Rare, rare, rare.

-- In Harbor East, a place called City Tap House is planning to open soon, with ambitions for 100+ taps. Read the comments, not sure whether this is another Max's or more of a Yard House/corporate type experience yet.

the City Tap House will have a beer sommelier, private tasting lounge, open kitchen and wood-burning pizza oven, according to owner Brian Harrington.

The Tap House, which will occupy the space next to RA Sushi near the intersection of South Eden and Lancaster streets, will seat 175 in the dining areas as well as 60 around the island bar. ...

-- Flying Dog Brewery

The first Thursday of every month, Flying Dog hosts Twitter-based tweetups/'Bitch Sessions' featuring representatives and employees. Its an opportunity to meet at a new place that features Flying Dog beers, taste some Flying Dog creations and maybe walk away with some swag.

The next one is February 4th, with Sessions set for the Bentz Street Sports Pub in Frederick MD and another at the Sean Bolans in Bel Air MD (with other locations still possible, be sure to check the website. Further details such as time and them are available at the link.

There will be a Flying Dog night Friday January 29th at Callahans in Frederick. They'll have $3 Doggie Style Pale Ale pints, a new happy hour menu and some samples and giveaways.

Flying Dog will be the featured beer at Frisco Grille's weekly "Pint Night" Wednesday February 3rd. Super rep Matt Crow will be on hand as Frisco Grille pours four Flying Dog offerings including the spring seasonal Garde Dog. Buy a Flying Dog beer (after 7 PM) and get a complimentary Flying Dog glass while supplies last.

Another pint night goes off at the WOW Cafe & Wingery in Frederick on February 11th from 7-9 PM. Stephanie will be on hand for samplings and giveaways plus $3 pints and $4 bottle specials. Tire Bite and Doggie Style will be on tap, with bottled Road Dog, Old Scratch, In-Heat Wheat, Snake Dog, Raging Bitch and K-9 Cruiser.

A cool "Meet The Brewers" event will be held February 17th at Koopers Tavern in Fells Point. From 7PM+ they'll have two Flying Dog "beer of the month" beers on tap and five different bottles.

Aaaaaand Alonso's on Cold Spring Lane in Baltimore will have a specialty Flying Dog firkin on March 3rd. The last firkin I had from Flying Dog was at Frisco Grille, the Doggie Style Pale Ale and the hop flavor coming out of it was ridiculously good. No pressure, guys!

Oh hell, one more: Flying Dog will be at Lures on March 16th for Lures' "beer club" event.

-- Troegs' Nugget Nectar release schedule:

Jan 1st = 22oz
Jan 15th = 12 oz
February 1st = DRAFT

-- Muggsy's Mug House

Muggsy's in Federal Hill has several goings-on in February (thanks for the heads-up email Danny!). The headliner is the "Week of 100,000 Mugs" starting February 1st. Basically, you come in, order a mug, get a raffle ticket to win prizes. Do this as often as you want all week. They're promising a ton of great beers.

The drawing (be there) will be on February 6th at midnight. Grand prize is a trip to Atlantic City for the 5th Annual Atlantic City Beer Festival (held March 20th and 21st). It plays host to 75 brewers and breweries. Prize includes two nights stay and admission to all three sessions.

The catch is you must be present at Muggsy's to win prizes, of which there will be many secondary prizes all week.

Features that week include two steal the glass nights featuring Schmalz (Tuesday) and Stone (Thursday) as well as a Friday firkin for their monthly "First Friday Firkin Night". Prize examples include the Harpoon package: t-shirts, hats and a bottle of 100 Barrel series Wet Hopped Ale (!).

Also in February, for Mardi Gras week, they'll be pouring "the maltiest" beers available including Louisiana native Abita. Look for a steal the pint night on Fat Tuesday February 16th.

-- This is an event I'm really looking forward to: the "Pints and Pancakes" breakfast at T-Bonz in Ellicott City. T-Bonz is a hidden beer gem and is hosting a pretty cool event here. Basically, you gain access to a mess of pancakes and can drink from an interesting lineup of breakfast themed beers. It will go from 10AM-2PM on the first "no football Sunday" of the year.

Featured beers: Butternuts Porkslap Pale Ale, Pub Dog Chocolate Oatmeal Stout (delicious!), Abita Purple Haze Raspberry Wheat Beer, Flying Dog Coffee Stout (delicious very rare one-off beer), Lancaster Strawberry Blonde, Riverhorse Oatmeal Milk Stout, Wells Banana Bread Beer, Kona Pipeline Coffee Porter, Wild Blue Blueberry Lager, 33rd Street Ale.

-- Kudos to downtown Ellicott City's The Judges Bench which now lists their taplist (as of the opening time each day) online. Any place that rotates their taps -- and Judges definitely does with 17 taps in a space with only storage room for sixtels so they invariably move through a lot -- needs to have their beer list online to eliminate the guesswork. Anyway, great news.

Speaking of downtown Ellicott City, I stopped by the tiny, very modern looking Pure Wine Cafe the other day, and they have a small if respectable bottled beer selection in a cool little space. Hard to complain about a Flying Dog Garde Dog in a nice glass with several Ommegang and other selections available.

That area's a sneaky good pub crawl spot if you're looking for good beer: there's Ellicott Mills Brewing Company, The Judges Bench and its 17 taps and excellent beer fridge, Diamondback Tavern and their Flying Dog friendly taps, Phoenix Emporium which doesn't have any taps but does have a very extensive bottle list and now Pure Wine Cafe. There's plenty of free parking and its just fun walking around the historic old town.

-- Elsewhere in Howard County, there's two YouTube videos online showcasing Maryland Homebrew's wares. Its a nice little homebrew shop tucked away near the post office in Columbia not far down the road from Frisco Grille.

-- More HoCo as the great HowChow generates an interesting discussion about liquor stores and reveals that a Buffalo Wild Wings (24 taps) may be headed to Dobbin Road at the sight of the former Rocky Run.

-- Frisco Grille, among other bars, will be host to a new local brewery very early in April featuring a pint/firkin night event with some really cool glassware. I should be able to say a LOT more in a few weeks.

One Frisco Grille event I can talk about is a visit from Allagash brewer Rob Tod, who will be on hand for something of a "meet and greet" from 530-730 PM on a special Frisco Grille "pint night" April 21st.

-- Looney's (North/Bel Air) is hosting a Rock 4 Relief benefit concert for the Haiti earthquake victims on Sunday January 31st with several live bands from noon to 8 PM. Its a concert and silent auction with 30$ of all sales donated to Catholic Relief Services and the American Red Cross. Similar 20% proceeds will be donated from Looney's in Canton and Maple Lawn locations.

-- Ram's Head Tavern Annapolis is hosting a $70 Fordham Brewing Beer Dinner on Thursday March 4th at 7 PM.

Speaking of Fordham, their Queen Anne Kolsch should be released soon if not out already. That is one of my absolute favorite styles and a sure sign warm weather is (hopefully) on the way.

Also, be sure to get on their email list for more thorough updates on musical acts and whatnot. The most recent one has a generous 20% off full check coupon.

-- Long Trail Brewing out of Vermont will be expanding into Maryland, Delaware and Virginia sometime in 2010, just a heads up. We'll have to give them a hearty welcome whenever they arrive.

-- Earlier this month, Ruddy Duck put their Robust Porter (7% ABV) on tap.

-- Slightly belated: DuClaw released their Old Flame last week, its an Old Ale style. Next month is their release of Serum, which has been pushed back a bit to Feburary 17th and 18th. The Serum is their Double IPA, woo!

Again, belated, but obviously they closed their Fells Point location. I thought it had one of the best spots down there but as they've noted, it was more of a seasonal location great for the summer and people watching but a little overlooked in the winter. Fortunately there's three other locations to fall back on!

-- Gilly's in Rockville has a ton of new beers in stock from Southern Tier, Victory, Allagash, Rogue and North Coast. Also: Saturday January 30th is a "Nobil Pils" tasting from Sam Adams, $3 pints and keep the glass. The Noble Pils is made with all five "noble" hops and will replace the White Ale as the new spring seasonal for Sam Adams.

Saturday February 6th is a Sierra Nevada tasting with special discount. Do check them out, its a little out of the way for me but they now have a six tap system, a really nice beer and glassware selection and a cool deli with unique sandwiches, cheeses, etc. Plus the people are nice. Another hidden gem beer place.

Currently on tap: Heavy Seas Winter Storm Warning, Kona Longboard Lager, Lindeman's Peche, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron and Brooklyn Brown Ale.

Just arrived in stock: De Dochter Embrasse, Kalle Triple, Hornsby Cider, Atwater Cherry Stout, Flying Dog Garde Dog and Raging Bitch BIPA, Arcadia Hopmouth, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Eerwaarde Pater and more ...

Also: DC IPA adds his $0.02 about Gilly's.

-- Join the Lures (Crownsville, MD) "Beer Club". For $30 you get a platinum members card, a free beer each month ("do the math"), a free birthday dinner (up to $20) and a members only hat. Yet another place I need to visit soon, I keep hearing good things about it.

-- Nice deal coming out of famed pizza joint Joe Squared: a free 10-inch pizza with purchase of two bottles of beer (not named National Bohemian, at least).

-- Check out the "Mid Atlantic Beer Club" More info at the Twitter account.

-- Check out this cheese and beer pairing "clock"

-- For Christmas I sent my friend Steve in California bottles of Heavy Seas Yule Tide and Brewers Art's Coup De Boule. He's got pictures.

-- The Ravens' season is over but the playoff win over New England netted some interesting spoils: lobsters! Max's inherited the beasts and is auctioning them off for charity but in the meantime, check them out at the Lobster Cam.

If you're still feeling Raven crazy, The Raven lager is on tap at two places I'm aware of (maybe many more): Annabel Lee Tavern in Canton and The Diamondback Tavern in downtown Ellicott City.

-- Brewer's Art just changed its dining and appetizer menus (yum!). The veggie banh mi, chili dog and mac-n-cheese all look great.

Currently on tap (per website): La Petroleuse, Zodiac and the deliciously sessionable Proletary Pale.

-- Be sure to check out the website "Alex Brews" run by a DC native and Twitter follower of mine. Also: "Beer Blog" by another local. Also: DC IPA (+Twitter). Also: Beer . Simple. Also: Brew Notes. Also: Beltway Beer. Also: Scottie Knows Beer. Also: The Amber Age run by Mid-Atlantic Brewing News' Kevin Smith (Twitter) who also writes the Frederick Craft Beer Examiner and wrote up "The Brewing Decade In Brief" recently. Yes, I think we're in the middle of a modest renaissance of beer blogging in the area.

Thanks also to The Foaming Head for a link, too kind. They're a great NY based clearinghouse of beer items

-- Follow Orr Shtuhl on Twitter, he has a knack for uncovering the elusive Bells Hopslam in and around DC. Speaking of DC, DCBeer writes up five new DC beer spots to check out in 2010. They recently hosted a canned beer tasting at can-beer-only Red Derby. We could use a place like that in Maryland.

-- The Atlantic reviews new DC beer hotspot ChurchKey/Birch & Barley and the first sentence of the review is "I hate beer". Really?!

-- This is cool: a listing of places in Pennsylvania that carry Russian River beer (with their phone numbers). Thanks to my Twitter friend David for the link.

-- Also cool: a gallery of photos taken from the Clipper City Brewery and Brewer's Art via DC Foodies who ventured north to partake in two of Baltimore's finest breweries.

-- New, sort of bare-bones beer website: BrewAdvice.com. The concept is like the Yahoo! Answers thing where brewers can ask questions and select from a range of brief answers as guidance.

-- So, Tupper's Hop Pocket is back. I've never tried it having only been in this area for about two years now but the oldtimers rave about it. Its been spotted at Mahaffey's and The Judges Bench and is listed as pending at Frisco Grille, so its making the rounds. Thoughts?

-- Long tail: so Mr. Mitchell didn't like Poe Boys, but has anyone else given it a try? Its got Flying Dog on tap. We would all love to have a million 15+ tap beer bars around but its just not reality right now. In the meantime I think it helps that beyond the Max's, Mahaffey's, Frisco Grill etc. places out there there's enough Poe Boys, Buffalo Wild Wings etc. that carry some of the corporate stuff but also make room for a few craft goodies in the mix.

-- Franklin's new brewer Mike Roy has started a blog, bookmark it! This Friday's firkin will be their Anarchy Ale.

That's all (for now). Hopefully this has proven useful. Someone recently accused me on HowChow's blog of simply regurgitating the beer emails everyone's on. First of all, I do provide information that isn't always available via those emails (plenty right here, for starters) of which I appreciate the many great people in the beer world in Maryland who are kind enough to bother with me and talk shop and share the goods, if you will. Second, not everyone is signed up to those emails (hell, I'm probably missing a few). I enjoy being a conduit passing along the obvious but also the not so obvious that may not be in email but rather on the websites or Twitter and even information I personally glean from my various friends and contacts.

Bottom line: this is fun, no need to be all snide like that.

As to those out there reading who qualify as "contact" types that I don't already personally know, feel free to shoot me an email sometime, I'd be happy to relay what I can to Baltimore Beer Guy's audience and help the overall beer scene here grow and be more connected. A rising tide lifts all, right? Cheers.

Beer Events, Condensed

2010-01-27T23:00:00.002-05:00

1/28 TBD Firkin at Frisco Grille
1/28 Boulder Brewing Co. event at Max's + Firkin TH at Max's
1/29 Flying Dog event at Callahans in Frederick MD
1/29 Firkin (Anarchy Ale) at Franklin's
1/30 Gilly's "Noble Pils" Sam Adams event

2/1 Great Divide event at Victoria Gastro Pub
2/1 (all week) Muggsy's "week of the 100,000 mugs"
2/1 Troegs Nugget Nectar officially released on tap
2/2 Pratt Street Ale House "cask ale social" and Bishops Indulgence release
2/3 Flying Dog pint night at Frisco Grille
2/4 Flying Dog Tweetup/"Bitch Session" various locations
2/4 Rams Head Tavern "Spring Buck" (Belgian blonde) release - all locations
2/5 Firkin events at Alonso's and Muggsy's
2/7 Flying Dog 'Bowl Bash' at Frederick Indoor Sports Center
2/9 "New Brew" at Franklin's
2/10 Allagash beer dinner at Victoria Gastro Pub + Fluxus, Interlude, Hugh Malone, Victor, Black on tap
2/12-2/14 Max's Belgian Beer Fest (!)
2/16 Fat Tuesday Abita event at Victoria Gastro Pub
2/17 Flying Dog "meet the brewers" event at Kooper's in Fells Point
2/17-2/18 DuClaw Serum (DIPA) release events
2/20 Flying Dog bus trip at T-Bonz

3/4 Flying Dog "Bitch Session"/Tweetup various locations
3/4 Ram's Head Annapolis beer dinner - Fordham Brewing Co.
3/5 Firkin events at Alonso's (Flying Dog!) and Muggsy's
3/9 Unibroue beer dinner at Victoria Gastro Pub
3/9 Flying Dog "Beer Club" event at Lures
3/27 Heavy Seas Real Ale Fest
3/27 Cask Ale Fest at Pratt Street Ale House

4/1 ... (?) firkin event at Frisco Grille
4/2 Firkin event at Alonso's, Muggsy's
4/10 Pyrate Invasion in Fells Point
4/21 Allagash owner Rob Tod "meet and greet" and pint night at Frisco Grille
4/24 City Paper Brew Fest in Fells Point

Weekly:
Mondays - Beer Club events at Victoria Gastro Pub
Tuesdays - Cask night at Pratt Street Ale House; Beer Social at Max's
Wednesdays - "Pint Night" at Frisco Grille
Thursdays - Firkin Thursday events at Frisco Grille, Max's and Metropolitan Coffeehouse
Sundays - 1/2 price draft beers after 930 PM at Victoria Gastro Pub

Just a *taste* of whats going on in the coming months. Send me an email to provide updates of what else is going on, thanks!

Frisco Grille Dogfish Head Pint Night Teaser

2010-01-27T04:10:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night at 7 PM this week

Victoria Update: Flying Dog Coffee Stout

2010-01-25T19:39:00.001-05:00

They JUST put this on, a stupidly delicious one-off coffee stout from Flying Dog. I hate coffee, am neutral about stouts and love this beer, and would love it even without the bias.

Flying Dog made it on a seven barrel system. Kudos to brewer Matt Brophy.

See this beer here or Saturday at T-Bonz for their pancakes and beer brunch (recently also spotted at Max's and Frisco Grille).

Real Time Victoria Gastro Pub

2010-01-25T17:25:00.001-05:00

Enjoying a Sierra Nevada Glissade ... Spotted on tap:

Sierra Nevada Life and Limb, the great Weihenstephaner Hef, Unibroue Chambly Noire, Stone RIS, Oskar Blues Ten Fidy, Great Divide Old Ruffian Barleywine, Dogfish Head Old School Barleywine, Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, Stone/BrewDog BASHAH

The Bruery at Max's Tuesday Beer Social

2010-01-25T13:02:00.001-05:00

This Tuesday We will be featuring two great new beers from The Bruery in California. These guys are making some really excellent beers that you don't want to miss.

We will be featuring ON DRAFT:

Mischief -8.5%ABV. Hoppy Belgian Style Golden Strong Ale. dry hopped w/ American Hops

Rugbrod-8.0%ABV. Danish Style Rye, with 3 types of rye malt.

We will also have in bottles:

Hottenroth

Two Turtle Doves

Orchard White

Black Orchard

Saison Rue

Trade Winds

Autumn Maple

These are all in 750ml, we will not be serving these by the glass. Whole bottles only.

These are some great beers from a great brewery that you don't want to miss.

As always we start at 6pm

We will be meeting at the main bar (Downstairs)

See you All Tuesday

ON THE BEER ENGNIES:

Olivers Scottish Ale

North Coast Red Seal

Brew Dog Hardcore

NEW DRAFTS:

21st Amendment Golden Boom

Anchor Steam

Laughing Dog Alpha Dog

Laughing Dog Dogzilla

Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence

Sierra Nevada Glissade Bock

Southern Tier Choklat

St Bernardus Wit

St Fueillien Saison

Stoudts Fat Dog

Stoudtys Gold

Stoudts Reserve Bock

Stoudts Smooth Hoperator

La Trappe Isidor

Canned Beer Day

2010-01-25T12:53:00.003-05:00

Apparently yesterday was the 75th anniversary of the arrival of canned beer onto the American beer landscape. That has been both good and bad but I think we're taking a turn for the good thanks to folks like Oskar Blues, Butternuts, Reading, 21st Ammendment and now, apparently, Avery.

So be sure to celebrate your own way this week. Most good beer bars around here carry at minimum something from Oskar Blues.

Butternuts from New York recently arrived on the scene and I've spotted their cans at Victoria Gastro Pub and Max's.

Picture Dump

2010-01-25T03:12:00.002-05:00

1)I think that was some kind of IPA at Frisco Grille

2/3)Cool foaming head with bubbles of a pint of Flying Dog Raging Bitch at Victoria Gastro Pub ... addicting.

4/5)Lighting was dark but listings of two Brew Dog special bottles aged in unique whiskey casks from the Victoria Gastro Pub bottle menu.

Sierra Nevada Night at Victoria Gastro Pub

2010-01-25T01:36:00.003-05:00

This Monday is Sierra Nevada night at Victoria Gastro Pub.

They will be pouring the much-hyped Life & Limb and Limb & Life (they have about two sixtels of each), plus:

Glissade (a golden bock)
Harvest Wet Hop
Anniversary

All on tap, starting at around 5 PM.

T-Bonz Pints and Pancakes and More

2010-01-22T22:40:00.002-05:00

Firkin Thursday

2010-01-21T15:25:00.002-05:00

Frisco Grille: Heavy Seas Below Decks (barleywine)

Maxs: Oliver's Scottish Ale, Brew Dog Hardcore IPA, North Coast Red Seal

PLUS on the bar: Cape Ann Fishermans Greenhorn Double IPA

Flying Dog I

2010-01-21T12:57:00.002-05:00

Sooooo, I went on a little Winnebago ride Wednesday to the Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick with some patrons and employees of Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia.

1)Beer ready to ship. Flying Dog reuses containers so not everything necessarily says"Flying Dog" on it but its a conscientious and commendable decision.

2)The last of the ridiculously delicious "Raging Bitch" Belgian IPA. Flying Dog's had a really nice year and as such orders and production have soared. There's Bitch in the tanks but that isn't ready to ship yet.

3)The gift shop. That's Humphrey the Humping Dog. You'll see more of his insane little self in the set of pictures further below.

4)The tasting room taps and posters.

Flying Dog II

2010-01-21T12:56:00.001-05:00

1)Hmmmmmmmm ... I see an intriguing five letter word in there.

2)Oak barrels, firkins, beer. All for you, the consumer!

3)Well, well, well ... I'll have more details on these later but yeah, Flying Dog's getting into the real ale/cask/firkin business. Like, big time.

4)More firkins. They'rrrrrre comiiiiiing!

Flying Dog III

2010-01-21T10:28:00.001-05:00

1)World class Flying Dog rep Matt Crow attempting to add "Humphrey" the humping dog to a tap at Victoria Gastro Pub as bar manager Alex looks on.

2)Mmmm, beeerrrrrr

3)Whatever leaked out of there looked like molasses

4)Barrel aged beer, coming your way hopefully soon, I believe those started aging in September or so.

Many thanks to Flying Dog and Victoria Gastro Pub for organizing that little visit, always a great time no matter the format, good beer, good people, good times.

Stoudts Fat Dog Oatmeal Stout Cask Aged With Cherries and Chocolate at Victoria Gastro Pub

2010-01-18T18:06:00.001-05:00

One of a kind beer, I advise letting it warm up for a good while, it turns extremely chocolatey and smooth after a bit of a sharp hit while still cool to cold. Good stuff

Stoudts Night at Victoria Gastro Pub

2010-01-18T12:49:00.004-05:00

Today (Monday) starting at 5 PM is Stoudts night at Victoria Gastro Pub. They'll have several Stoudts beers on plus a rep and one of the Stoudt family members on hand.

Of special note is a unique firkin being poured: the Fat Dog oatmeal stout aged with cherries and chocolate

Also:

Scarlet Lady ESB
Abbey tripel
Pils
Gold Lager

PS ... keep up to date with Victoria beer and dining news at their brand new Twitter account.

Experience 21st Ammendment's Golden Doom

2010-01-15T12:30:00.004-05:00

Whatever that means!

I just got a call from Frisco Grille (Columbia, MD) saying they put 21st Ammendment's "Golden Doom" on tap. It just arrived from the warehouse, there's not much information about it but its a Belgian Golden style beer, an unexpected release from a brewery that's really starting to make its way in Maryland from out of its home base in San Francisco (blocks from the Giants' baseball stadium).

This follows the releases of the popular Monk's Blood, Hell or High Watermelon Wheat and Brew Free or Die IPA. Like the great Oskar Blues in Colorado, 21st Ammendment is famous for packaging their beer not in bottles but cans. Obviously they send it out in kegs as well.

Anyway, sounds exciting.

Thursday Cask Events

2010-01-14T12:33:00.003-05:00

At Max's:

Heavy Seas Winter Storm
Olivers Peeping Tom Porter
BFM Alex Le Rouge
JW Lees Harvest Ale aged in Lagavulin casks
And one more TBA

At Frisco Grille:

Heavy Seas Below Decks OR something from Oliver Ales depending on delivery status

Frisco Grille Oliver Ale Pint Night

2010-01-13T14:17:00.003-05:00

Check out Columbia's Frisco Grille today or tonight as they're featuring Oliver Ales/Pratt Street Ale House.

The pint night starts at 7 PM with free glassware with purchase of featured brewery beer, and there might even be an appearance from all around guy guy and awesome Oliver brewer Stephen Jones.

On tap:

Three Lions
Scottish Ale (new recipe!)
Bishop's Indulgence
Peeping Tom Porter (cask!)

That's a terrific lineup.

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence at Victoria Gastro Pub

2010-01-11T21:15:00.002-05:00