Pratt Street Ale House Cask Night at Victoria Gastro Pub

Late-breaking here, but Pratt Street Ale House will be providing three casks at Columbia's beautiful Victoria Gastro Pub *tonight* (Monday) (5 PM+):

Oak Aged 3 Lions, Old Habit (brown ale) and Best Bitter.

I assume affable brewmaster Steve Jones will also be on hand. I might even sneak in but heads up regardless, and kudos to Victoria for upping the ante and diving into cask beer the last month or so.

Heavy Seas Cask Night at Victoria Gastro Pub

It is on TONIGHT Monday December 28th starting at 5 PM at Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia.

They will be featuring Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, Yule Tide and Small Craft Warning on tap PLUS two special casks:

A Below Decks (Barleywine style) aged in white oak and an Oak Aged Winter Storm.

Be sure to swing by one of the most beautiful beer bars in all of Maryland for the event!

Real Time

Hambleton Nightmare English Porter on cask at Mahaffeys, yum. Look at that head.

Miscellaneous

-- Tonight (Tuesday) is Max's weekly Beer Social night starting at 6 PM. This week they'll feature a cask from York Brewery (England) called Oakham Attila at 4.3% ABV. New drafts this week can be found at the bottom of this post.

Future Beer Social events include:

April 21st Dieu Du Ciel Equinoxe Du Printemps (maple scotch ale) and Dieu Du Ciel Solstice D Hiver (barleywine)

April 28th De Hoevebrowers, a "new little brewery in East Flanders Belgium", featuring Toria (blonde) and Kekelaring (brown ale).

-- The Brewer's Art now has the much-anticipated Charm City Sour Cherry on tap as well as the Green Peppercorn Tripel. I thought the Sour Cherry wasn't as good as last year but I'll be back to try it again soon. The Green Peppercorn Tripel, on the other hand, was spectacular, vastly superior to their bottled version and absolutely lively and delicious. Do not miss either.

-- Wednesday is Stoudt's meet the brewery night at The Judges Bench from 7-9 PM.

-- Wednesday is also pint night featuring Virginia's Starr Hill brewing (with brewmaster Mark Thompson) at Frisco Grille.

-- Thursday is beer bottle night at Mahaffey's, $3 for most 12 oz bottles. Their bomber this week is Avery's Collaboration Not Litigation. Oddly, they'll be featuring a mead on tap this week. Finally, on Saturday will be Mahaffey's anniversary party, with a free catered buffet from 7-9 PM.

-- Thursday night at 8 PM is the nationwide one night only theatre event called Beer Wars. It is only being show in six Maryland theatres, I'll be at the Snowden Square one. Be sure to check it out, tickets are $15 and there's a hosted panel afterwards with several major brewers broadcast live from Hollywood. The movie's theme is about the ongoing battle between craft brewers and the major breweries while obviously providing some more general content about the brewers, the industry and whatnot.

-- Local Clipper City Brewing Co. just released its beloved Belgian-style saison ale, "Red Sky At Night". I'll have to pick up some bottles before its all gone. Anyone know if they plan to put it on tap?

-- American Craft Beer Week will be May 11-17 this year. This is an awesome nationwide event with local flavor.

Some of the goings-on:

May 11th-17th: Max's Craft Beer Week, weeklong selection of GREAT taps, approximately 80 throughout the week. More info as it comes in but there's a preliminary list at the bottom of this email. Do not miss this.

May 11th: Clipper City taps several firkins at Max's including Loose Cannon (great!), Peg Leg and Red Sky at Night

May 16th: Clipper City's Real Ale & BBQ Fest at Clipper City noon-4 PM, $49/ticket

-- Clipper City is hosting a home brew competition. Anything goes, so long as the beer is above 7% ABV in keeping with their Heavy Seas line, and they'll favor those which are big and assertive. Entries must be submitted between June 8th and June 19th, winner announced July 3rd.

-- Clipper City is also having a beer dinner at Sotto Sopro in Mt. Vernon on April 30th. On May 7th they'll have a beer dinner at The Melting Pot in Gaithersburg. On May 11th they'll be part of a Meet The Brewery event at Max's. On May 23rd they'll participate in the Kayak, Tunes and Brews event at the Wisp Ski Resort in western Maryland. And on May 30th they'll be at the Maryland Brewer's Spring Fest.

-- Reminder, City Paper's Brew Fest is April 25th in Fells Point.

-- The Brewer's Association just released its annual top 50 craft breweries list (by sales) and Maryland's own Flying Dog checks in at No. 30. Congratulations to Flying Dog! They also check in at No. 41 overall in the United States once you factor in the mega breweries.

-- Max's new drafts this week are: Abita Purple Haze, Allagash Black, Allagash Curieux, Cazeau Tournay Black, Cazeau Tournay Blonde, Contreras Valeir Blonde, Contreras Valeir Divers, Dogfish Head Black & Blue, Dogfish Head 60 Minute, Dogfish Head Midas Touch, Dominion Spring Buck, Ommegang Rouge, Peroni, Redstone Black Raspberry Nectar, Redstone Sunshine Nectar, Rogue Dead Guy, Southern Tier 422, Southern Tier Unearthly, Southern Tier Uber Sun, Stone Pale Ale, Stone Russian Imperial Stout, Whitemarsh Station Bitter

-- Max's anticipated drafts for Craft Beer Week: Allagash Four, Allagash Interlude, Allagash Black, Allagash Dry Hopped Barrel Aged Mussette, Avery Collaboration Not Litigation, Avery Maharajah, Cape Ann Eclipse, Cape Ann Green Horn Double IPA, Cape Ann Tea Party, Dogfish Head 120 Minute, World Wide Stout, Black & Blue, Red & White, Fort, Midas Touch, Burton Baton and Palo Santo Marron, Ommegang Rouge, Redstone Nectar of the Hops, Southern Tier Chocolate, Southern Tier Gemeni, Southern Tier Jah Va, Southern Tier Oaked Unearthly, Troegs Mad Elf, Uinta Barleywine, Victory Abbey 8, Victory Rauchbier Porter and casks of Magic Hat #9, Magic Hat Old Ale, Magic Hat Bob's First Ale, Heavy Seas Red Sky w/spices, Heavy Seas Peg Leg w/oak chips.

-- I'll be back with another miscellaneous email soon, but wanted to get these items out tonight.

Firkin Friday at Bel Air DuClaw

DuClaw Brewing Company is hosting another "Firkin Friday", this time at its Bel Air location. They'll be pouring the following cask-conditioned beers:

Alchemy oatmeal stout with molasses and Mad Bishop, their seasonal Oktoberfest beer.

Here's my recent review of a Firkin Friday event. Map out how to get to DuClaw and many other Maryland breweries/brewpubs with Baltimore Beer Guy's Maryland Beer Google Map. I've also created an ever-growing listing of places to find cask conditioned "real ale" on tap/beer engine in Maryland.

Cask Condition Beer/Ale In Baltimore and Maryland

I found this thread on ChowHound discussing where to find Cask Conditioned (among many other names ... not sure yet who will win out in the zeitgeist) beer in Baltimore --- and by extension the state of Maryland.

Some obvious names come up: Oliver's/The Wharf Rat (in particular), Max's has a beer engine or two, Frisco Grille has a beer engine that usually has something on, Bertha's carries an in-house "Bertha's Best Bitter" made by Oliver's, Mahaffey's has a beer engine, the recently burned Metropolitan Coffeehouse and Grand Cru which I haven't visited.

Much like the Firkin Friday event at DuClaw (who also produces occasional cask beers but doesn't have a regular cask selection or hand pump), there are Firkin events at Grand Cru according to this thread (every Thursday) and Metropolitan Coffeehouse (if they've returned, their events were last on Thursday nights).

The thread also mentions Red Brick Station which "has [periodic] casks of their beer".

Are there others, because that just about covers it from my experience?

Update: While writing the very next entry, I stumbled across the page for Frederick's "Barley and Hops" and they advertise having cask conditioned beers on sale (I assume seasonally). Nice.

Update: Add Growlers of Gaithersburg, as well. We love our beer engines out here, huh?

Update: Add Johansson's (in Westminster). I just made a trip up there and they had four engines (only one was in use at the time).

Update: Add Brewer's Alley in Frederick. They have at least one beer engine I saw on a recent visit.

DuClaw Firkin Friday Review

So I went to DuClaw's "Firkin Friday" event at their Arundel Mills location. In brief, at the event they tap a firkin or a cask or "real ale" kegs of particular beers. The casks hold about 85 pours before kicking, and the event started promptly at 5 p.m.

Parking, as usual, was a hassle but I've got a pair of legs and found a spot a few sections over. Once there I was a few minutes early but was able to actually get a seat at the increasingly crowded bar. Two of the kegs were perched atop a counter behind the bar and another one was on the far side of the bar.

The festivities begin with an employee taking hammer to a spigot that punctures the seal of the keg. A little beer sometimes sneaks out as the spigot seals the opening. After that, it's fun time.

They were offering a (cascade) dry-hopped "Hellrazer" pale ale, a casked "Alchemy" oatmeal stout and a raspberry "Misfit Red". I went with the Hellrazer and the Misfit Red. The misfit had a tremendously fresh and refreshing raspberry taste, but it overpowered the more subtle cask flavors. That would be great with or without a cask and I fought it delicious.

Even better was the Hellrazer. The hop flavors really came through (not enough brewers realize just how good pale ales, IPA's, anything freshly hoppy really, taste) and enhanced their pale ale.

Yes there's a tradeoff in carbonation and a cooler temperature, but casked beers are terrific. I'm glad they're not the dominant style here but as a novelty I think we could afford much more than what's offered. Luckily, Baltimore seems to be a hotbed for serving beer in this style that offers a different flavor profile from how a beer tastes when traditionally served.