St. Patricks Day at Nicks Cross St. Market

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.).

Clipper City Update

Their full list of events is available at the Baltimore Beer Week website, but a couple stand out:

-- "Back to our Roots" (Thursday October 16th 6-8 PM at Ryleigh's in Federal Hill) Clipper City returns to its roots, at Ryleigh's which was originally Sissons. Enjoy oysters while learning the history of brew pubs in Maryland.

-- Pyrates Plan Raid of The Judges Bench (downtown Ellicott City Friday October 16th 5-8 PM). They'll have 10 Clipper City beers on tap along with special cheese pairings. The highlight will be a rare 2008 Below Decks on draft plus its a keep the pint glass event.

Abbey Burger Bistro

The concept has a ton of potential. Burger bar + Belgian name ... good beer?

There's a thread at Chow.com about this. Waffle fries, beef from Roseda Farms, yada yada. All in Federal Hill, which is bizarre given its frat rep. I was thinking more Canton or Mt. Vernon, perhaps? Or Belvedere Square.

We ddin't delve too deeply into the beer selection, but I had an Arrogant Bastard -- not widely available around here. They seem to be concentrating on Belgian beers. The waitress said more were on the way.

Meet The Brewery Night

Finally! A local item for Baltimore Beer Guy.

Clipper City Brewing's website is pointing to an event called Meet The Brewery Night this Wednesday (March 26) to be held at Muggsy's in Federal Hill.

Start: 03/26/2008 - 5:00pm

End: 03/26/2008 - 8:00pm

Timezone: Etc/GMT

Meet the Brewery Night at Muggsy's in Federal Hill

1236 Light Street
Baltimore, MD 21230

Meet some of the folks behind the beers and snatch an eyepatch and maybe a pint glass!!

I doubt I'll make this event, but it sounds interesting. I have yet to set foot in Federal Hill, but I'm aware of several bars/restaurants/pubs/breweries in the area. A Federal Hill stop is obviously on the to-do list for Baltimore Beer Guy.

Muggsy's website doesn't really have much going on right now (no beer menu, no food menu, no photos) other than this brief snippet:

Here at Muggsy's, we pride ourselves in our beer knowledge, and the quality of local Micro-brew beers. With 11 drafts that we rotate on and off, and our selection of over 50 different kinds of bottled beer, you're always guarenteed to find a great beer to enjoy.

Here's a little more insight from Baltimore Metromix, written after attending Muggsy's opening night.

The location Muggsy's has commandeered has always featured a lot of drafts. The current owners fill these taps with interesting, but not uncommon, brews. Those who know beer will be pleased but not surprised, while those looking for a domestic light on tap will be disappointed.

Sounds good to me.