Max's Tuesday Beer Social

This Tuesday's Max's Beer Social (6 PM Mobtown Lounge) is Laughing Dog Brewery. They are the only place to get kegs of this.

Laughing Dog CSB - Bitter/ESB
Laughing Dog Apha Dog - Imperial IPA
Laughing Dog Dogzilla - Black IPA
Laughing Dog St. Benny Labby Abbey - Belgian Style Ale (awfully generic there!)

ON THE BEER ENGINES:

Olivers ESB

Brew Dog Paradoz Isle of Arran

Victory Storm King Stout

NEW DRAFTS

Stoudts Abbey Triple

Stoudts Double IPA

Stoudts Fat Dog

Coney Island Sword Sallower

Boulder Pass Time pale

Boulder Singletrack Copper

Bockor Jacobins Cuvee Rouge

Brew Dog Paradox Smokehead

Monschrof Kellerbrau

Monschrof Festbier

Gordon Biersch Pilsner

Gordon Biersch Marzen

Gordon Biersch Festbier

Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen

Gordon Biersch Blonde Bock

Atwater Cherry Stout

Avery The Beast

Dogfish Head Festina Pesche

Stone Vertical Epic 09/09/09

Reminder

Max's Tuesday Beer Social this week is Chouffe, including the head brewer straight out of Belgium!

ON DRAFT

La Chouffe

Houblon Chouffe

Duvel Green

Mardesous Blonde

Mardesous 8

Ommegang Witte

Ommegang Hennepin

IN BOTTLES

Mc Chouffe

Duvel

Cave Aged Hennepin

Cave Aged Abbey

and we may have a few special beers.......

See you All Tuesday.

As always we start at 6pm in the Mobtown Lounge.

Max's German Fest Update

From the email. Hacker-Pschorr Hef is one of my all-time favorites, had it on tap once at a Champps in Chicago, fell in love:

FOLKS.

We are half way through the first day of our 2nd Annual German beers fest and it is going great, I though I would drop you a quick e-mail about the gravity kegs we will be tapping for tomorrow.

TAPPING TOMORROW-GRAVITY KEGS

Fischer Greuth lager

Bayer Theinheim Unfiltered Lager

Kraus Hirschaid Lager

Spezial Bamberg Rauchbier

Zehender Monchsambach Amber lager

Schneider Edel Weisse(Wooden Gravity)

Hofstetten Hochzeitsbier 1810-Tapped today -not much left

Reissdorf Koelsch-Tapped Today-Not much left

Also, we have a few changes to the menu,

NOT COMING:

Einbecker Urbock Dunkel

Wurzburger Pils

Baynof Berliner Weisse

JUST ADDED

Julius Echter Hefeweizen

Hacker Pschorr hefeweizen

becks Oktoberfest

I hope to see you all, either later toinght or over the next two days. Cheers

PS:

Please check out our website, for info on Our Battle for the battles.

Ron, Jess and Jason are kayaking for a great cause, check it out.

Almost forgot! I missed this last year, will smack myself if I miss it again this year.

Max's 2nd Annual German Beer Fest

September 18-20, 2009 11am-close (2am) each day
NO ENTRANCE FEE
We will be featuring over 80 Authentic German Beers on Draft
Over 70 Authentic German Beers in Bottles
and a full German Inspired food menu.
We will be offering 12oz Sample mugs, 1 Liter Steins, 1 Liter Boots and 2 Liter Boots.
Full Draft list TBA....Soon

Max's Tuesday Beer Social A No Go

Max's usual Tuesday Beer Social is a no-go this week as they prep for the German beer fest thing. I'll have more details on that in a bit, strangely omitting it from reference on here (bad, bad Baltimore Beer Guy).

Boots and liters and steins, oh my!

Next week's will be interesting though with the brewer from Chouffe.

Max's Tuesday Beer Social 9-25-09

MAX'S TUESDAY BEER SOCIAL

SARANAC

This Tuesday Chris Quick from Saranac will be here to tast some of New York States finest beers. We will be serving Saranac Pumpkin and a few others on draft and a bunch of bottles, Helles, Rye Pilsner, Amber Wheat, Pale Pale Ale, Summer Ale and Pommegrante Wheat.These are some really nice beers that you don't want to miss.

As always we start at 6pm in the Mobtown Lounge

See you Tuesday

ON THE BEER ENGINES:

Victory Hop Devil

Otter Creek Copper W. Mint Infusion

Wolavers Oatmeal Stout w/ Vermont Coffee

NEW DRAFTS

Oud Beersel Framboise

Brew Dog Dogma

Brew Dog Punk IPA

Val Dieu Triple

21st Amendment Hell Or High Watermelon Wheat

21st Amendment Brew Free or Die IPA

Brooklyn Sorachi Ace

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Dogfish Head Theobroma

Lagunitas Dogtown Pale

Rogue Dead Guy

Southampton Double White

Allagash White

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin

Whitmarsh Maddy Moos Hefeweizen

Heavy Seas Prosit

Plus a Bunch More.....

Max's Tuesday Beer Social 8-18-09

CHRISTOFFEL NOBEL

This Tuesday we are featuring a great new beer from the Christoffel Brewery in the Netherlands. Christoffel Nobel is a dry hopped triple lager or Imperial Pilsner. 8.7%ABV. This is a great new beer and you don't want to miss. See you Tuesday.This beer is in bottles and will be served by the bottle.

As always we start at 6pm in the Mobtown Lounge

See you Tuesday

ON THE BEER ENGINES:

Victory Hop Wallop

Heavy Seas Big DIPA

Olivers Double Hop Blonde

NEW DRAFTS

Lake Placid UBU

Blue Point Hoptical Illusion

Troegs Hopback

St Bernardus Wit

Caracole Nostradamus

Dominion Beach House

Fordham Queen Ann Kolsch

Kona Longboard

Smuttynose IPA

Southern Tier Harvest

Southern Tier Pumpkin

Val Dieu Grand Cru

Lancaster Strawberry

Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale

Oskar Blues Old Chub

Brooklyn Lager

De Koninck Blonde

La Trappe Isi dor

Bockor Cuvee Des Jacobins

Victory Wild Devil

Victory Whirl Wind Wit

Victory Sunrise Weiss

Victory Storm King Stout

Victory St Boisterous

Victory Rauch Porter

Victory Old Horizontal

Victory Hop Devil

Victory Donnybrook Stout

Victory CBC Saphir Weiss

Victory Abbey 8

Victory Baltic Thunder

Stone Ruination

Dogfish Head 90 Minute

Max's Tuesday Beer Social 8-11-2009

I may just sneak down there tonight, I've had several beers from The Bruery before, good stuff.

THE BRUERY

This Tuesday we are featuring one of my new favorite breweries.The Bruery from Orange County, CA. We will be featuring a bunch of there bottles. These guys are brand new to Maryland. So here is the line up.

Orchard White-5.7%ABV. Belgian Style Witbier, with Coriander, citrus peel and Lavendar

Black Orchard- 5.7%ABV. Belgian Style Black Witbier. With Chamomile, Coriander and Orange peel

Saison Rue- 8.5%ABV. Belgian/French Style Farmhouse. with A Wild Yeast Strain

Saison De Lente-6.5%ABV. Spring Saison with the Fresh Hoppiness and Brett

Trade Winds Triple- 8.0%ABV. Belgian Style Golden with An East Asian Twist. Using Rice in the mash and Spiced with Thai Basil.

These are all in bottles but will be served by the glass. See you All Tuesday

As always we start at 6pm in the Mobtown Lounge.

ON THE BEER ENGINES

Whitemarsh Sandia

Heavy Seas Big DIPA

NEW DRAFTS

St Fueillien Blanche

St Fueillien Saison

Blue Point Toasted Lager

La Trappe Isdor

Smuttynose Summer Weizen

Brooklyn Summer

Brew Dog Paradox

Flying Dog Double Dog

Dogfish Head 90 Minute

Great Divide Hercules

Ommegang Hennepin

Stoudts Pils

Stoudts Heifer in Wheat

Troegs Hopback Amber

Stoudts Scarlet lady

Max's Victory Blowout Event

Thursday August 13th from 5-close

They'll serve over 20+ Victory beers on tap plus some brewery folk along with Susan Greene from Global.

HERE IS THE DRAFT LINE UP:

Hop Devil

Prima Pils

Golden Monkey

Storm King Stout

Festbier

Sunrise Weiss

Whirlwind Wit

Donnybrook Stout

Old Horizontal

Wild Devil

Baltic Thunder

Abbey 8

Rauchbier Porter

Scarlet Fire

Mad Kings Weiss

Helios

Max's Tuesday Beer Social 8-4-09

The featured beer is new to the US, Cerveceria Jerome from Mendoza, Argentina. They'll serve Diablo (7.5% ABV English strong style ale), Golden Archangel (9% ABV Belgian tripel), Negra (6.5% ABV stout), Roja (6% ABV amber/red ale) and Rubia (6% ABV blonde/wit). They'll be bottled but served by the glass.

Starts 6 PM in the Mobtown Lounge

ON THE BEER ENGINES:

Heavy Seas Big DIPA

Whitemarsh Cerveca Sandia

NEW DRAFTS

Flying Dog Snake Dog

Flying Dog Gonzo(Nitro)

Heavy Seas Hang Ten

Mardesous Blonde

North Coast Acme IPA

Olivers Bishop Breakfast Stout

Otter Creek Imperial IPA

Otter Creek Summer Ale

Sam Adams Cherry Wheat

Saranac Caramel Porter

Triple Karmeliet

Whitemarsh Cerveca Sandia

De Ranke Noir

Silly Pink Killer

Fullers London Pride

BFM La Torpille

De Glazen Toren Ondinke

Landshark Lager

The Bruery Is In Maryland!

At least, at Max's. I was there this Saturday afternoon and spotted several Bruery 750ml bottles in the fridge. Hopefully they'll be a fixture and not some cruel tease.

Update: Bruery owner Patrick Rue comments below to confirm that The Bruery is officially in Maryland!

Brewer's Art, Max's Earn Baltimore Magazine Best Bar Honors

In its readers' poll. Ya dig?

Just For Laughs

Not beer-related, but an amusing menu item at Max's today on their "specials" menu:

"Tater Bowl"

Crunchy tater tots smothered in our pulled pork bar-b-que topped with melted jack/cheddar cheeses, a healthy dose of sour cream and bacon.

Its amazing, but not for the faint of heart. Actually if you're worried about your heart at all best avoid this.

Miscellaneous

-- Yours For Good Fermentables takes American Craft Beer Week a step further asking us to support LOCAL beer. Sounds good to me.

-- A rare picture of Mahaffey's upstairs bar. I've yet to trek up there, worth the visit?

-- Beer in Baltimore has details on tonight's cask event at Max's. Also, a first day report from Max's great American Craft Beer Week event. Another excited report from BeerInBaltimore.com.

Mothers Day Picture Dump

1)Cheese plate at Grand Cru in Belvedere Square. That block in the lower right is Chimay cheese from the Trappist monks responsible for Chimay beer!

2)A small piece of Chimay cheese. It has the consistency of muenster, if a bit sweaty and a slight zip.

3)Troegs Sunshine Pils at Grand Cru

4 &5) The bar area at Grand Cru, draught beers are written on a blackboard like system above the bar. They have an impressive eight taps and a beer engine for cask beer plus several fridges worth of beer. Sneaky good, especially for a wine place.

6 & 7)Went to DuClaw in Fells Point later, then wandered over to Fells Point Square where there was a crap I mean craft fair going on. To the right, obscured slightly by a tree, the great Max's. To the left, world famous Bertha's which carries an English bitter on cask from Oliver's/Wharf Rat brewing.

American Craft Beer Week at Max's FINAL

So here's the *mostly* final list of beers on tap and featured breweries next week from Monday May 11th to Sunday May 17th

Abita Red Ale
Allagash Black
Allagash Dry Hopped Barrel Aged Mussette
Allagash Four
Allagash Interlude
Appalachian Trail Blaze
Arcadia Hop Rocket
Avery Collaboration Not Litigation
Avery Maharaja
Blue Point Hefeweizen
Blue Point Oatmeal Stout
Blue Point Old Howeling Bastard
Blue Point Rastafar Rye
Brewers Art 7 Beauties
Brewers Art Green Peppercorn Tripel
Brewers Art Ozzy (cask)
Brewers Art Sublimation
Brewers Art Tiny Tim
Brooklyn Intensified Coffee Stout
Cape Ann Bavarian Wheat
Cape Ann Fishermans IPA
Cape Ann Greenhorn Double IPA
Cape Ann Tea Party
Dogfish Head 120 Minute
Dogfish Head Black & Blue
Dogfish Head Burton Baton
Dogfish Head Fort
Dogfish Head Immort Ale
Dogfish Head Midas Touch
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
Dogfish Head Red & White
Dogfish Head World Wide Stout
Flying Dog (cask) TBA
Flying Dog Dog Schwartz
Flying Dog Doggie Style (nitro)
Flying Dog Double Dog (nitro)
Flying Dog Snake Dog (nitro)
Flying Dog Gonzo (nitro)
Great Divide Belgica
Great Divide Saison
Great Divide Dunkel Weizen
Heavy Seas Loose Cannon (cask)
Heavy Seas Peg Leg w/oak chips (cask)
Heavy Seas Red Sky w/spices (cask)
Hebrew Rejewvenator w/dates
Lagunitas Bourbon Aged Cappachino Stout
Laginutas Brown Shugga 2007
Lagunitas Correction Ale
Lagunitas Gnarleywine 2007
Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball
Lagunitas Hop Stoopid
Lagunitas Imperial Stout
Lagunitas Saison
Lagunitas Maximus (cask)
Lagunitas Undercover Shutdown
Magic Hat #9 (cask)
Magic Hat Old Ale (cask)
Magic Hat Bob's First Ale (cask)
Magic Hat Belgian Blonde (cask)
Magic Hat Wacko
Olivers Cherry Blossom
Olivers Mad Monk (cask)
Olivers Oak Aged 3 Lions (cask)
Ommegang Abbey Ale
Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence
Ommegang Rouge
Ommegang Noel (test batch)
Otter Creek Imperial IPA
Redstone Nectar of the Hops
Sierra Nevada Brown Saison
Sierra Nevada Celebration
Smuttynose Brett & I 2007
Smuttynose Gravitation
Smuttynose Hanami
Smuttynose Imperial Stout
Smuttynose IPA
Smuttynose Maibock
Smuttynose Old Brown Dog
Smuttynose Pumpkin
Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog
Smuttynose Robust Porter
Smuttynose Smhmutzig Hofen Weiss 2008
Smuttynose Shoals Pale
Smuttynose Smutt-A-Roni 2007
Smuttynose Smuttanator 2008
Smuttynose Star Island Single
Smuttynose Summer Weizen
Smuttynose Terminator G Bock 2008
Smuttynose Wheat Wine 2008
Southern Tier 422
Southern Tier Choklat
Southern Tier Gemeni
Southern Tier Iniquity
Southern Tier Cuvee Series #2
Southern Tier Jah Va
Southern Tier Uber Sun
Stone Red Wine Barrel Aged Old Guardian
Stone Vertical Epic 08/08/08
Stoudts Abbey Double
Stoudts German Kolsch
Troegs Bourbon Aged Mad Elf
Troegs Hopback (cask)
Troegs Mad Elf
Troegs Pale (cask)
Troegs Triple Rye IPA
Uinta Barleywine
Victory Rauchbier Porter
Victory Abbey 8
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe (cask)
Whitemarsh Dunkel Weisse
Whitemarsh Maibock

Monday May 11th (5-close)
Brewers Art, Clipper City, Oliver Ales, Whitemarsh Brewing, Flying Dog

Tuesday May 12th (6-11 PM)
Magic Hat, Troegs

Wednesday May 13th (5-10 PM)
Sierra Nevada, Cape Ann

Thursday May 14th (5-10 PM)
Smuttynose

Friday May 15th (5-8 PM)
Stone, Dogfish Head, Lagunitas

Saturday May 16th (TBA)
Flying Dog

Sunday May 17th (11am-close)
Southern Tier

Off to Max's Belgian Beer Fest

Doors open at 11 Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Free Belgian buffet Friday AM.

I know several of the regulars at Frisco Grille will be there in the AM. This really is one of the beer events of the year in the U.S. Max's will be hopping but its fun and lively and some great beer is available all three days. I advise going for taster glasses the entire way, as chalices will limit just how much you can "try" unless there's something you just absolutely love or are ordering bottles.

The tap list is available online, with the bottle list printed on the beer lists at the event. I've done a decent amount of homework, enough to know almost everything there is special or close to it, while marking a good 20 or so beers most desired. The tap list is very heavy with Belgian Dark/BSDA's, tons of winter/Christmas beers among those, spicy and potent.

Personally I've always favored pale malts and yeast/hops for flavor, so the Belgian Pales, Tripels and Saisons are much higher on my list, maybe mixing in a malty Dubbel somewhere. Oh and Belgium's famous, puckery, fierce lambics, fruit beers and Flanders style ales. So much to choose from!

As always be safe if you make your way there, man is not equipped to handle so much potent brew, and I'll certainly be pacing myself, however frustrating that is at least the fest runs several days, enough to derive immense enjoyment even if I can't try everything I've targeted.

Whatever "reporting" is to be had, I'll try and provide. Basically: lots and lots of people drinking great beer, shoulder-to-shoulder, for three days straight.

Update: Pretty darn cool, was able to procure a bar seat at opening and meet some regulars from Beer Advocate's Mid-Atlantic forums. I'll post what I drank on another entry maybe, add my one picture I took and whatever other details come to mind. Doubt I'll go back Saturday, was able to hit a LOT of what I had targeted and its been a week of solid drinking, the body needs a rest. Sunday sounds tempting though.

Feel free to comment with your experience. Today wasn't too bad until right around when I was leaving at 2 PM when things started getting more crowded. Saturday is likely to be a zoo though, good luck if you're going.

Max's Rare and Obscure Beers Event

Just a reminder, its tonight, 5 pm until close. The list:

ON CASK

George Gales Prize Old Ale

JW Lees Harvest Ale Aged in Calvados

De Regenboog Catherine The Great

ON DRAFT

BFM Abbaye De Bon Chien

BFM La Mandragore

JW Lees Harvest Ale

Southern Tier Choklat

Southern Tier Creme Brulee

Smuttynose Brett & I

Smuttynose Jack Daniels Porter

Smuttynose Oak Aged Barleywine 2005

Great Divide Espresso Yeti

Dogfish Head 120 Minute

Dogfish Head Theobroma

Dogfish Head Palo Santo

Dogfish Head Pangaea

Allagash Victoria

Allagash Black

Birra De Borgo TE

Birra De Borgo Genziana

E. Dupont Organic Bouche Brut 2007

Samichlaus Helles

Piccolo Birrificio Chiostro

I'm not familiar with all of those obviously, and my favorite resource to study up and get relevant advance information including reviews, ABV and style is Beer Advocate. Searching within their site's search engine is a bit clumsy at times though, so my trick is to go to Google and type, for example, "Piccolo Birrificio Chiostro Beer Advocate" and that will usually pull up the specific page for that beer on the first return. If not, play around.

Miscellaneous

Tom Cizauskas at Yours For Good Fermentables (and fellow C.R.A.B.B.) writes prolific on mild ales. I confess ignorance, but this was an education and gives intrigue to a potential visit to Oliver's/The Wharf Rat. These beers are right up their wheelhouse.

Also more Baltimore Beer Week talk (see here, here) and the Sun's "winter beer tasting" featuring an all-star cast of local beer folks to be published at an unknown date and time.

Greg at Food, Wine, Beer, Culture had a nice night at Max's recently.

HowChow reviews Frisco Grille, probably my top beer hangout.

But it's also fun if you're a neophyte who wants to taste a few beers before you order your pint. Frisco Grille has no pretentions. You can sample and explore.

Ram's Head Tavern has a blog. I'll add that to the links soon.

Finally, an interesting profile of Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione and by extension the entire craft beer industry at the New Yorker. Gives yourself a few minutes to work through this, it's The New Yorker after all (via Kasper on Tap).

Downtown Baltimore Beer Report

Went on a little excursion last night. Some findings:

The Brewer's Art is great as always. They have the usuals on tap, plus their seasonal Cerberus Tripel served in a smaller snifter type glass as its a potent one at 10% ABV. They also have a guest beer on tap, which is the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, a Christmas IPA that is a cult favorite with the beer crowd.

Downtown at Max's, they're clearing the decks this week to make room for their Rare Beers event (Thursday night, FYI). Even with a leaner beer menu I found plenty of solid choices and enjoyed a rare winter Saison from DuPont.

Elsewhere, Ale Mary's had the usual six taps, one of them being I believe a Sam Adams chocolate stout or porter of some kind. I passed on that but did enjoy some steamed shrimp. Of course after that I reeked of Old Bay. As an aside, this city does great steamed shrimp, just delicious. I thought I had it great when I was living in the Florida Gulf Coast and several places down there had fresh steamed fish as well, usually with more of a Cajuned-up version of Old Bay. Baltimore does it equally well and they seem to be a staple on the menu most places in town.

While wandering around I also peeked into several small, almost-invisible places, several of which would have maybe one tap. The big winner among those places seemed not to be Bud or Miller but Dogfish Head. Nice to see. I also finally took a quick peek at Todd Conner's, which has a small row of handles including Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA I think it was. There were some boring standards but its nice to see they have a craft option or two in there as well.

Part of the appeal was walking around in the cold and wind. I'm a bit of a reptile and am at home in fairly high temperatures, but a brisk walk around our old city in fresh -- albeit crisp and cold -- air is good for the soul. I'm a cheerful sort, but its easy to imagine a more tortured, restless Edgar Allen Poe possibly walking the same streets albeit at a later hour and deep in thought, cold air chilling his face and fingers. Here's thinking a great brew at Max's in modern day might've settled him a bit.

To learn of other great beer options in and around downtown Baltimore, be sure to consult Baltimore Beer Guy's custom map, Downtown Baltimore Beer with links and addresses in a useful Google Map.