The Great Resurrection Hunt

The Baltimore Sun's Sam Sessa recently asked what establishments have the cheapest Brewer's Art Resurrection on tap. I'm more curious, given its scarcity and huge waiting list, if we can't cobble together the full list of establishments with permanent (or damn close) accounts with Brewers Art to supply the stuff.

Based on my own findings and other establishments mentioned in Sessa's post, here's an incomplete list. Please comment below to help fill in the blanks.

Brewers Art
Frisco Grille
Greene Turtle (Columbia)
Hon Bar/Cafe Hon
Sliders
Mahaffey's
Muggsy's
Bill Batemans
One Eyed Mikes
Captain Larry's
Baltimore Taphouse
Hamilton Tavern
Lures
Rocket to Venus (maybe)
The Parkside (maybe)
The Pickled Parrot
Annabel Lee Tavern
Hull Street Blues Cafe
Red Star
Alonso's
Emerald Tavern

Beer Notes

-- Just added captions/explanations for the bevy of pics in the posts below. I spent last Friday jumping around from Frederick to downtown to sneak in a few beer visits. Its pretty cool what one can do on a tank of gas and with a little energy to enjoy good beer in Maryland.

-- Now on tap at the great Brewer's Art: their new Clamper's Ale, described on their Twitter link as 'draft brewed w/Sorachi Ace hops and lemon peel!' Mmmm. Also: their Coup De Boule, Le Canard Belgian brown and Virgo (see here) the first in a monthly Zodiac series of pale ales. Oh and their new Autumn menu was released not long ago, yay menu variety.

-- Speaking of Twitter, be sure to follow my MDbeerspotter Twitter account, I try to repost interesting items and there's some cool interaction going on with other local beer geeks, beer writers, beer reps, breweries, bars, and so on.

-- Here's the FULL Baltimore Beer Week schedule. Great stuff.

-- Beer and food pairings (so DC!) from Metrocurean -- Orr Shtuhl and Melanie Corbett.

-- The New York Times spends 36 hours in Baltimore and smartly makes a pit stop at Brewer's Art.

-- Alexander Mitchell (Beer In Baltimore) is killin' it this week. Metropolitan Coffeehouse Beer Week events, more info on the opening day events for Baltimore Beer Week, Christmas beers (they're comin'!).

-- Gilly's down in Rockville is hosting its second annual 'Gillys-Tober-Fest on Saturday October 10th from 4-7 PM. All listed beers (below) will be available to sample free. Some of the craft brews will only be sold by the pint. There will be sales, tons of glassware, and a fun overall experience. Seriously this is a cool little sandwich shop/deli with a couple rotating taps and a really cool selection of bottled beers (and glassware) and wines. They even let you open any purchased refrigerated beers to go with your food (for a small corking fee, free on Thursdays)

Brooklyn Oktoberfest & Post Road Pumpkin
Southern Tier Pumpking
Dogfish Punkin
Sam Adams Octoberfest, Imperial White, Cherry Wheat, Boston Lager
Clipper City Prosit!, Big DIPA, The Great Pumpkin
Flying Dog Dogtoberfest, Double Dog Pale Ale, Tire Bite Golden, Doggie Style Pale Ale
Becks Oktoberfest
Starr Hill Festie & Northern Lights

-- Bad Decisions' raved-about 'Bacon & Beer Happy Hour' is returning (Edition VI) on Tuesday October 20th from 2-close. Its a big party with an all-bacon menu and bacon themed libations.

-- Just ... dammit. On Monday DC's Brickskeller let loose a couple bottles of Lost Abbey's Red Barn, a Saison style and one of my favorite beers, ever.

-- OK that's all for now, Baltimore Beer Week is finally here! Keep the emails, Tweets and other communication going, cheers.

Brewers Art

1)And finally from last Friday, a stop at the great Brewer's Art. I just had to try their new pale, first in a 'Zodiac' series (Virgo). Not bad, nice malt/hop balance plus that distinctly odd flavor Brewer's Art beers have (is it the water?). Also, a taster of the '13', hard to describe.

2)The handles. I just love their handles (L to R) Coup De Boule, Le Canard, '13', Ozzy and Resurrection.

3)Zoomed in Le Canard, its a devil duck! Love it.

4)The somewhat new Banh Mi sandwich, really good although it took me forever to chew through the bread. Basically a pork loin sandwich with daikon slaw, butter lettuce, sriracha aioli, cilantro.

5)A zoom-in of the ingredients, came out blurry.

Related Brewers Art

Above, the Brewer's Art bottled beer list (beautiful booklet, really) and their present tap list. Brewer's Art obviously makes all their own beers on tap, the seasonals on at present are two distinct saisons, one dark one light, and the Kolsch mentioned below. Perfect summer offerings.

I overheard an employee mention that this week they're changing their dining menu, something they do about six times a year to reflect seasonal food availability and chef inspiration and whatnot.

On the bar menu I noticed they've changed up the mac and cheese recipe, this time including grilled spring onion, smoked tomato and thyme. Sounds delicious, I'll have to try that next time I'm in, its neat how they serve it in a mini cast iron dish. The grilled pork banh mi sounded interesting as well, with spicy carrot and daikon slaw, butter lettuce, sriracha aioli and cilantro, plus a side of their delicious rosemary garlic fries.

Best get yourself down there, its a great little beer and food place discussed frequently enough on here, with two distinct bar areas, a lounge of sorts and two spacious white linen dining rooms.

Owner/founder/however we shall call him Volker was at the bar for a few moments while I was there today as well. I probably should have introduced myself and genuflected but oh well, next time.

Real Time

Brewers Art Ozzy, at home

Brewer's Art Latest

Forgot to add this, text from a friend who went there a few days ago might not be 100% up to date:

Ozzy, 7 Beauties, Dorothea, Tiny Tim, Sublimation, Resurrection, Green Peppercorn Tripel all on tap

The Dorothea is a wheat beer, hadn't heard of that one before

Picture Dump

Brewers Art dark basement bar a few weeks ago. Charm City Sour Cherry!

Great Quote

From The Brewers Art's Volker Stewart at The Sun's Midnight Sun blog, discussing the defunct Celis Brewery in Austin Texas:

Celis White was an epiphany for me in 1994, when I visited Austin for the first time. I thought "perhaps someone can brew solid Belgian style beers in the US."

We're so very glad this ephiphany happened.

Brewer's Art Is The Best

You knew this of course, but Esquire confirms it. Esquire Magazine has named Brewer's Art America's best bar. They've earned this and then some.

Confirmed pretty much everywhere, hat tip to Brian at I Am Beer Wise for the heads up.

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.

Brewer's Art Latest

Directly from the website.

Are you ready for it?

Sure?

Really sure?

I know I am ...

Currently, we have our blond
and smooth longtime favorite
Green Peppercorn Tripel on,
and the Charm City Sour Cherry
is on the horizon!

Boom! I absolutely cannot wait for that Charm City Sour Cherry, currently in first place in the Brewer's Art poll way down at the bottom of the menu on the right.

Secondo

Brewers Art Green Peppercorn Tripel, just bottled.

DELICIOUS, they toned down the peppercorn from last year's tap version, much more aromatic "blond" this time.

Brewer's Art Potpourri

The great Brewers Art's holiday beer, St. Festivus will make its first appearance on Thanksgiving eve (that is, this Wednesday). I've been told it usually sticks around for at least a month or so before supplies kick.

I've yet to try this beer, but look forward to it when I make it back to Charm City.

On my last visit they still had the very good Cerberus Tripel on, but that may give way to St. Festivus.

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.

Tis The Season of Winter Beers

Fall came and went, and many beer drinkers fell in love with the various Fest beers, Marzens, Oktoberfest beers and pumpkin beers. But not I. No sir, those are a tough sell, but my heart is warmed as the weather cools by the arrival of some pretty cool winter beers.

As noted earlier, Sierra Nevada has released its "Celebration" Ale, a tasty IPA that reminds me of some of the better flavors I get from the great Firestone Brewing's pales and IPA's. Right now I'm knocking down a bottle of Harrisburg PA based Troegs' Mad Elf, a sort of sweet winter ale made with cherries and honey. This is a much coveted brew and I gotta admit I'm enjoying it.

But then, I'll enjoy almost any decent cherry beer (Brewers Art Charm City Sour Cherry, any of the various Belgian cherry lambics, Mad Elf, etc.).

Elsewhere, I definitely recommend the Corsendonk Christmas beer available on tap right now at Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia.

Locally, I've talked to several people who swear by Frederick MD based Wild Goose's Snow Goose. And then there's Clipper City with its Winter Storm, a "winter warmer" that is on draft all over the place (Frisco Grille, Judge's Bench, etc.).

Lest I forget, the great Brewer's Art downtown should have some form of a winter beer available (I think its called St. Festivus?) if it's not already on tap.

Feel free to email me with other notables or comment below.

Related: cask conditioned beer/ale in Baltimore and Maryland, pumpkin, Oktoberfest and fest beers (bier) in Maryland

As always, be sure to use my various links on the side as resources in tracking down beers, places to drink and local breweries. Particularly useful for this entry are the Howard County Beer maps and Maryland Beer and Breweries Maps.

The Sun to Review Brewer's Art

Simply put, The Brewer's Art is one of my favorite places in Maryland. It's got a neat vibe, decent dining and tremendous beers.

The Baltimore Sun's Elizabeth Large will review it in next Sunday's Arts & Entertainment section (and online), so be on the lookout for that.

Unfortunately ...

Because I'm not a beer drinker, I sort of forget about it although I've had very good meals when I've eaten there in the past.

Well at least we'll get a feel for what the new menu is like. I thought it was just OK under the previous chef when I reviewed them in April. The garlic fries are always good and I always seem to find great reviews for the burgers online. Next time ...

Events

Halloween is obviously Friday. You don't need BBG's advice on this, but be careful, designate a driver etc.

More details to arrive at a later point in time, but The Brewer's Art will have a Holiday Beer Tasting event on December 6 from noon to 4 pm. Also, according to their website the Seven Beauties Rye and Cerberus Tripel are currently the seasonals on tap.

There will be a pair of beer tastings at The Perfect Pour in Columbia. On Friday to celebrate Halloween from 3-8 pm they will pour Coney Island Freaktoberfest, Wychcraft and Rogue Dead Guy Ale. On Saturday from 3-7 pm they'll transition to Thanksgiving and pour Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin and Ace Ciders.

Finally, be sure to check the Halloween beer specials page here at BBG and email in tips if you know of anything else going on. For example, just in the inbox today I've been informed DuClaw will be pouring its "31" spiced Munich Dunkel on Halloween until supplies last.

Brewer's Art Latest

Went down to The Brewer's Art a few nights ago, got a growler filled with Resurrection ($12.26 if I remember correctly) and had their latest: 7 Beauties Rye.

That was one strong brew. The dominant flavor was an almost burnt roastisness to go with coffee, with that signature something, hard to describe but classic Brewers Art, in the background. I think it colored the flavor of all the other beers I tried.

Even the next day drinking my growler of Resurrection it didn't taste quite right. Its definitely worth trying but it sort of stuck with me.

Also on tap were the 12 Labors Anniversary (celebrating their 12th anniversary), Ozzy, Resurrection and I think Beacon or another of the standard house brews.

Somewhat unrelated: their rosemary garlic mac-n-cheese (which was great!) is now "chipotle and caramelized onion mac-n-cheese". D'oh. I'll still try it at some point, but that's what it says on the menu.

Beer and Religion, Forever Linked

USA Today went to last week's Great American beer Festival in Denver and they found religion.

As noted in the article, Russian River has all kinds of religious names to some of its better brews. The Lost Abbey in my old hometown of San Diego is the same. Here in Maryland, the most popular brew at The Brewer's Art is "Resurrection". There's a great little Belgian themed beer bar in Fell's Point called Ale Mary's.

There are many more connections to be discovered.

(Via Chow.com)

Chow.com Talks To Russian River's Vinnie Cilurzo

Cool interview, Vinnie talks about the dangerous but awesome Brettanomyces yeast, his background, etc.

Russian River beers are no joke, among the world's finest. I was fortunate enough to check them out (several times!) on a summer trip to Northern California with my friend Steve from Summer of Beer. They're also now beginning to distribute a bit more around California and their kegs and bottles are even showing up in Pennsylvania.

Maryland would be all the better with a talented "wild" beer brewer like Cilurzo. Brewer's Art does the state proud through the talent of its mostly Belgian-inspired interpretations of beer, but I'm always looking for "more" of a good thing, if you will.