Miscellaneous

--- Its just an idea right now, but potentially a place on Light Street called The Reserve could end up being a beer hangout.

It's going to be a bar/restaurant called The Reserve, and will feature upscale pub food, outdoor seating and occasionally some low-key live music, according to co-owner Andrew Dunlap.

He wants The Reserve to have a good wine list and a great selection of beers on tap.

--- Oliver's/The Wharf Rat on Pratt Street is now the Pratt Street Ale House, having finally re-opened. New website, logo, apparently tons of TV's inside now, but still serving the classic English-style ales (via three handpumps). I tried going in there once before the renovation, but couldn't get through the doors. Didn't help it was a few hours before a Ravens game.

The original Oliver's is still in operation over in Fell's Point.

--- Not sure I've mentioned this before on here and if so, thats pure negligence, but Baltimore Beer Week will debut this year, from October 8th through the 18th, marked by the Brewers Association of Maryland Oktoberfest (1oth) and the Society for Preservation of Beer in Wood (SPBW) Chesapeake Real Ale Festival (17th).

There's a website with not much else up right now where you can email them to get on the mailing list. I tried that when I first saw the website but got a bounceback email. Tried again today, hopefully that's resolved now.

Hopefully establishments in the entire state can get involved, I'd love to be witness to the great wealth of beer resources here putting a great event together. Be sure to notify your favorite beer bars and establishments about this event and nudge them to get involved.

--- DuClaw's "Colossus" will be available in stores and their four locations on April 1st. It is a 21.92% ABV brewed in 2006, aged and allowed to mature, best stored at cool temperatures. They'll put the beasts in 1L swing-top bottles, signed by DuClaw's brewmaster Jim Wagner.

More Updates

This is what happens when I skip town for a bit ... backlog.

The 2nd Chance Saloon, newly opened in Columbia, is now blogging. Or, we hope they're blogging, its just one entry right now from January 7th.

Hair O' The Dog Wine & Spirits in far out Easton, Maryland, also has its own interesting blog. Not being a born/bred Marylandian (sp?) I don't have much affinity for parts beyond the Chesapeake and they're a bit of a hike but its still Maryland and well, they care about good beer so they'll soon be merrily indexed here.

And just so we're clear, Maryland is up there with two-piece Michigan among the oddest shaped states in the union. Any other favorite oddly shaped states worth mention?

So Yeah Dood has finally launched. Interesting, informative and thoughtful beer blog, it is.

File this under muddled and confusing: Wharf Rat is sold, but stays open, the original Fells Point property stays in the hands of the old owner, the newer property on Pratt Street stays open with the new owners. Except there was a rumor it closed and Beer Advocate noting it as "closed" added to the confusion. But now it really is closed starting January 30th, for renovation you see.

Got all that?

Beer In Baltimore's on top of things though, so keep track of all that, over there.

Blob's Park has officially opened. Here's the dates/times (and entertainment schedule):

Friday & Saturday doors open 630 PM, music from 8 PM to midnight, closes at 1 AM
Sunday doors open at 2 PM, music from 4-8 PM, closes at 10 PM

Mark your calendars, the first week of February is "IPA Week" at The Judge's Bench in downtown Ellicott City. I haven't been there in a while (or Ellicott Mills Brewing), should make my way over especially since its so close. Its a nice place, if a bit tiny, with really easy parking and 17 above average taps and a well-organized bottle list. They also do some take-home beers, kind of cool.

Greg from the Food, Wine Beer & Culture website continues to do some excellent beer exploration, hitting up Flying Dog and Brewer's Alley in Frederick, Red Brick Station in White Marsh which I need to visit at some point, Kooper's in Fells Point, and Red Star in Fells Point.

Its an interesting and versatile blog he's put together discussing home brewing, dining, cooking, wine and the like.

And this, from my friend Dan in California who passed this along -- Coors celebrates the 50th anniversary of their introducing the brewing industry and the world to the aluminum can. Environmentally friendly, replacing the old -- now collectable -- tin cans. The can is making a comeback in craft brewing, and I support the movement.

Its more portable than bottles, does a much better job of protecting the beer and its flavors from light, no longer imparts odd flavors, and can be reused and cheaply. Botters are more aesthetically pleasing and easier to display and collect and don't give off that cheap look aluminum cans do, but they're not as good for the beer.

Thanks Dan.

And finally, I'll have a discussion about downtown Ellicott City's Diamondback Tavern in an upcoming entry. They sent a nice email along which I need to respond to (as well as Dan's, actually), but I'll tease with this:

$2 tap beer, all their tap beers, all day Sunday at Diamondback. Not bad, hm?

Two Important News Items

How important is up to your discretion.

1)As reported at Kasper On Tap, The Wharf Rat/Oliver's is selling its Pratt Street location near the Harbor in downtown Baltimore. It appears they'll continue to brew beers there, and the owner will retain his much smaller location in Fell's Point. It was purchased by a former brewer at Fordham and another businessman who has owned several bars.

2)Old Dominion Brewing, synonymous with Virginia beer, is closing its Ashburn location in 2009 and relocating to Dover, Delaware. Coastal Brewing, the parent company, also controls Fordham Brewing. So, Northern Virginia loses one of its flagship breweries.

This Week's Events

In downtown on Saturday at the Wharf Rat on Pratt Street is the aforementioned Chesapeake Real Ale Festival.

At The Perfect Pour in Columbia there will be a pair of beer tastings. On Friday from 5-8 pm Clipper City will be featured featuring the seasonals Winter Storm and Balto-Marzhon and many more. On Saturday they'll pour German beers from 2-7 pm including Welterburger, Weihenstephaner, Aecht Schlenkerla, Franziskaner and Warsteiner.

On Tuesday of next week (October 21) The Brickskeller in Washington D.C. will host author Brian Yaeger (a fellow USC alum) who wrote "Red White and Brew: American Beer Odyssey". No cover, discussion begins at 7:30 pm and they'll have "greatly reduced prices" on select beers mentioned in his book. The book is obviously available for purchase and autographs.

The Chesapeake Real Ale Festival

This looks ten kinds of awesome.

The event celebrating "real ale" (among many other names) will be held at The Wharf Rat (on Pratt Street) in downtown Baltimore from 1-6 pm on Saturday October 18th.

Tickets are $35 in advance, $45 at the door. A ton of breweries will be there offering their crafted selections of real ale.

Promised offerings:

Barley & Hops: Annapolis Rocks Pale Ale
Brewers Alley: Oatmeal Stout
Brewers Art: Beacon Ale and Seven Beauties Rye
Cape Ann Brewing: Pumpkin Stout
Clipper City: Loose Cannon and Winter Storm
District Chophouse: Bourbon Stout
Dogfish Head: Palo Santa Marron
DuClaw: Alchemy Oatmeal Stout
Flying Dog: Gonzo Imperial Porter
Franklin's: Sierra Madre American Pale and ESB
Growlers: Gaithersburg Nut Brown
Lancaster Brewing: Celtic Rose
Old Dominion: Unfiltered Dry Hopped Ale
Otter Creek: World Tour "Otter Mon" Jamaican Stout
Red Brick Station: Dry hopped Twice Daily Crisis IPA with East Kent Golden and Willamette hops
Rock Bottom (Bethesda): ESB (Extra Scary Beer)
Smuttynose: Old Brown Dog
Troegs: HopBack Amber
Victory Brewing: ESB
Weyerbacher: Old Heathen Imperial Stout
Wharf Rat: Dark Mild, Harvest Ale and Pin of 3 Lions
Wild Goose: IPA
Yards Brewing: General Washington Tavern Porter and Brawler (English ruby mild)

Designated drivers get in free, but won't receive a mug or any of the "many" door prizes.

So uh, have fun if you go and feel free to report back here with details on how things went.

My thanks to Nick Nichols for sending me an email with all the awesome beers that are promised.

A Sampling of Beer In and Around a Ravens Home Game

My family has Ravens season tickets, so the old man and myself inevitably find ourselves with some free time ahead of the game and in search of beer and sometimes a bite to eat. We don't really tailgate, but that affords us the opportunity to explore a bit.

For a while we would meet a friend before the game at the famous Pickles Pub. That's a fun hangout, as you can sit outside and get a beer from inside or at several of the various stations right there. Everything's in cans or bottles, obviously, and you can't expect any exciting craft options. Most of the offerings are the usual Bud/Miller/Coors, Corona stuff, although one of the stands had tall cans of that classic from another era, Pabst Blue Ribbon. It's not the tastiest brew but I'll occasionally have one of those.

This last week we shifted over to Ravens Walk, which is a fun walkway starting just past Camden Yards and heading directly to M&T Bank Stadium's entrance. There's several places to grab a bite to eat (even get fresh shucked oysters!) and grab a beer. We started out at the Greene Turtle stand, and the line took incredibly long. The beer wasn't much better, again Bud/Miller/Coors/Corona although they did have Heineken keg cans.

Just down the way we shifted to Oregon Grill's stand, which had cans of Molson's lager. I'd never had a Molson so that was a bit of a novelty. Not the worst beer either, I was surprised. Another stand adjacent to it had a sign with "craft beer" but I was disappointed to see their idea of craft beer -- on tap, mind you -- was Guinness, Smithwick's and Harp. I wasn't feeling the Irish beer so I passed, but did notice they also had cans of Amstel and bottles of the Sam Adams Oktoberfest seasonal.

I've read in many places of people walking to and from the Harbor and especially Oliver's main Wharf Rat location for some fine British-styled real ales. That's definitely on my list for next time and would be a pretty quick walk from the hotel parking garage we use.

We actually got stuck in traffic leaving the new lot we tried (we'll switch back to the old hotel one block further next time, I'm forgetting the names of both) and simply reparked and headed to the hotel bar. In the bar they had Heineken on tap, as well as Clipper City Pale which was delicious. I stole a look at their bar menu and found several unique beers. I went with a Lindeman's Framboise which was outrageously delicious (beer ... sweet tooth ... oy).

Inside the stadium, if you enter past the Ravens Walk, is an Irish pub. I haven't hit that up yet but it looks fairly promising. Our seats are actually in the club area so we're always flying right by that as we try to get to our seats just before kickoff.

As far as club area beers, the bar immediately behind our section has several generic canned offerings, but also pours a ridiculously fresh Heineken on tap. I usually hate Heineken but this was an amazingly different taste than I'd had from them in cans and bottles. I was shocked.

I've wandered around the entire arc of the club section and mostly it's the usual generic stuff on tap, but at a few stops you can find say, a Leinenkugel wheat, or a Sam Adams seasonal, basically the macro micros.

One additional note: the old man was entertaining at this last game and with the guests we went to the Rusty Scupper about a mile from the stadium. Their bar had several whatever beers on tap, but did include a Scupper amber ale contract brewed by Clipper City. I found it enjoyable and yet another example of a beer to be had as part of the whole fanfare surrounding a Ravens home game.

Feel free to comment about other beer offerings in and around the game below, or in different sections of the stadium.