T-Bonz "Beers & Steers" Details

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.

Friday The Firkteenth At T-Bonz

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.

Pints and Pancakes II at T-Bonz!!

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.

T-Bonz Pints and Pancakes II

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.

Howard County Pub Crawl

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!

T-Bonz Movin' On Up

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.

T-Bonz Pints and Pancakes I

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

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

2)The Grilled Lincolns performing

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

T-Bonz Pints and Pancakes and More

Howard County Beer Roundup

-- Scan to the bottom to find Frisco Grille's calendar of events for this month. Featured pint nights include Pratt Street Ale House/Oliver Breweries on Wednesday the 13th (perhaps even a visit from brewmaster Stephen Jones!), He'Brew on the 20th and Dogfish Head on the 27th.

One change: this Wednesday (the 6th) will be a Flying Dog pint night, starting at 7 PM per usual (more exciting details in an upcoming post). Also, Firkin Thursdays as usual, starting at 4 PM.

This Thursday's firkin will be the always excellent Flying Dog's Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale.

And, if you haven't already, bookmark and regularly visit Frisco Grille's handy beer page, which lists up to the minute what is available on tap as well as their bottled beer list and what's "on deck" to be added to the taps whenever.

-- On January 31st T-Bonz in Ellicott City is hosting a 'Pints and Pancakes' breakfast from 10 to 2. The $5 entry fee nets you a free pancake breakfast which will also featured breakfast style beers and drinks. I have it on good authority a very special one-off beer from a local brewery will be one of the *breakfast* themed beers featured. Also, music from the Grilled Lincolns.

Side note on T-Bonz, I only discovered they were a beer place by stopping by for the food. Lo and behold its actually a legit craft beer bar as well, with around 10 taps and an interesting collection of bottles and seasonal themed offerings. Nobody talks about them but seriously they're probably the best (craft beer) thing going in Howard County after the Holy Trinity that is Frisco Grille/The Judges Bench/Victoria Gastro Pub.

-- The Columbia Mall's Champps will play host to a Heavy Seas Pint Night on Thursday January 7th from 5-8 PM. Has their beer menu changed lately? It was mostly the usual corporate stuff last time I was in there (a long time ago, mind you). Hmm ...

-- A branch of the Union Jacks pub group is apparently opening in Howard County (I think HowChow mentioned that a while back?), hopefully their beer list, however British, trends slightly crafty as well (Pratt Street Ale House offerings, anyone?).

-- And last but not least, Victoria Gastro Pub. Beer man Alex provided me a wealth of items to discuss yesterday so here goes:

This coming Monday (January 11th) is Ommegang night with their beer club. 'Mr. Ommegang' as Alex calls him will be in person, along with the Abbey Ale, Chocolate Indulgence, Hennepin and 3 Philosophers.

On Tuesday (January 12th) is their St. Bernardus beer dinner with a big line of St. Bernardus offerings (6,8,12) on tap including the rare (on tap) wit. Actually, the wit is on tap right now. If you're curious I'd advise scooting on down there pronto. I think Alex said they only have about two sixtels of each beer so between the dinner and general customer use those should go pretty fast.

Victoria's February beer dinner (Wednesday February 10th) will feature the Allagash brewery, featuring Fluxus '09, Interlude, Hugh Malone, Victor and the black.

Something I'm really looking forward to: an Abita themed night on Fat Tuesday, February 16th. Their chef will be cooking up crawfish (!) and several Abita beers from Louisiana will be available on tap including Andy Gator, Turbo Dog, Bock, Purple Haze and Jockamo.

Sometime towards the end of January they'll put on Unibroue's hard-to-find Trois Pistoles. This beer is released in exceedingly limited quantities to good beer bars.

Also lined up for beer dinners: Rogue in April, Trappist beers in May, Samuel Smith in June, Southern Tier in July and a Scottish beer dinner in August (think Brew Dog, Tracquair, Orkney) plus probably some opening and closing scotch from one of the Glen's.

A selection of beers "on deck" at Victoria: Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout and Fort, Jacobin Cuvee Rouge, Smuttynose Robust Porter, Avery The Czar, one sixtel each of Dogfish Head/Sierra Nevada's Life & Limb and Limb & Life, Avery's Dugana, their last three 1/2 kegs of Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous Ale, Southern Tier's Choklat, Piraat and Brewers Art's Green Peppercorn Tripel and Cerberus (!).

Notes: T-Bonz

T-Bonz (4910 Waterloo Rd. at the intersection of Waterloo Rd. and Montgomery Rd. in the back of the shopping center) is a solid dining establishment in Ellicott City (try the ribs). It is also a hidden treasure for good cult beer, arguably the best beer bar in Howard County outside the Holy Trinity that is Frisco Grille, The Judges Bench and Victoria Gastro Pub.

T-Bonz has about eight rotating beers on tap and several interesting bottled offerings. On this particular Saturday I enjoyed Clipper City's brand spaking new Yule Tide tripel on tap, plus tasted a Delerium Noel and Anchor's Christmas beer from other members in my party.

To be honest I had no idea this place was a beer haven until recently, so little is the word of mouth about them. That has to change. You won't find may beer geeks at the bar but someone's drinking the good stuff and the owners have clearly made a commitment to procure it.

Amusingly, they're hosting a beer + pancakes event on January 31st: a $5 cover gets you free pancakes while they provide "breakfast themed" beers, plus music from the Grilled Lincolns. Sounds good, hm?