Figgy Pudding Fun Run = Free Guinness

Yeh, this is weird. Yeh, our town is weird. But its cool. We've got night of the Elvises (Elvi?). We've got that weird pirate gathering downtown. And we've got Figgy Pudding fun runs through Fells Point.

The 2nd Annual Great Fells Point Figgy Pudding 5k Run takes you through historic Fells Point, along the promenade and down the paved streets lined with some of the oldest buildings and best views in Baltimore. Runners receive a Figgy Pudding Funrun tee shirt and a free pint of Guiness at Slainte Irish Pub. Afterwards, stick around for the Fells Point Olde Tyme Christmas activities!

Hey, free beer. In a former life I was a runner, and then I found beer. Maybe its time I once again merge the two?

Food As a Lure to Good Beer In Fells Point and Canton

Stumbled across this article at (Baltimore) Metromix.com about "dinner specials to keep you and your wallet full" in Canton and Fells Point. And look, they mention a ton of beer places.

Notable:

The Waterfront Hotel, a place I haven't tried but rumored to have some decent taps (between Max's and Slainte), has 12 entrees for $12 on Tuesday nights.

Slainte, a favorite of mine although the beer is moderately good with mostly English/Irish options, has an $8 pot pie night on Wednesdays with all kinds of varieties from shrimp creole, beef, Guinness, etc. Pot pie is a great winter food so no complaints here.

Mahaffey's, which has great beer options, does a "Thursday Gastronomique" with all kinds of interesting upscale food options for $13.95 or less. Its a small kitchen but I've spoken with one of the chefs before, they're quite capable with a surprisingly good menu.

On Friday, Todd Conner's offers a $5 big burger complete wit homemade herb potato chips and the burger on a mini focaccia roll. I really gotta try this place at some point and they seem to have about five taps including a Dogfish Head the last time I poked my head in.

Similarly, I'm really interested in trying Jack's Bistro at the far end of Canton. They offer $12 entress on Sunday if you dine at the bar. They offer a meat entree, a seafood entree, and a vegetarian entree. Plus, two happy hours and an impressive beer list on tap and in bottles, at $2 off from 5-7 PM and 11 PM- 1 AM.

Finally, be sure to enjoy planning any such trips to these places with Baltimore Beer Guy's custom Downtown Baltimore Beer Map, located on the menu at right as well as other useful beer maps.

Don't Try This At Home, Kids

Family friends who live in beautiful New Hampshire came over last weekend. We probably should have done more "touristy" things, but much of the fun centered around beer and food. I won't complain.

Anyway, much beer was consumed over the ~3 days, and unfortunately I didn't do the best job of keeping a collective record of the incredible variety of beers we had. What follows is a 'from memory', partial naming of brews consumed.

From the personal collection (bottles):

Clay Pipe Backfin Pale Ale
Victory Whirlwind Witbier
Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale
Russian River/Avery Collaboration Not Litigation Ale
St. Sebastiaan Golden Ale
Hacker Pschorr Weisse
Rodenbach Grand Cru Flemish Sour Ale

Ellicott Mills Brewing Company

Marzen
Dunkel

Pussers (Annapolis)

Magic Hat #9 (bottle)
Heineken

McGarvey's (Annapolis)

Aviator Lager

Bertha's Mussels

Bertha's Best Bitter (cask)
Stella Artois (bottle)

Eichenkranz

Our server was vague as hell, they had two German beers on tap, something dark she called a K-Beer, and some kind of amber.

Slainte

Clipper City Oxford Organic Rasberry Wheat (bottle)
Clipper City Heavy Seas Hop 3 Ale
Some kind of beer shandy
Some kind of Irish cream ale in a can with nitro cartridge
Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier (bottle)
Guinness

Max's (for the Kentucky Derby)

Some kind of farmhouse ale
Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour
Smuttynose something or other
Great Divide Yeti Stout
Cherry Kriek beer from I forget who
Various Hefeweisen's
Boddington's

Anyway, I've forgotten some of what we all drank, but it was a great time and a fantastic opportunity to enjoy various parts of Baltimore and a great variety of beers. I finally made my way to Annapolis and it was a beautiful day despite warnings of bad weather. We watched some soccer at Slainte and saw Big Brown put together one of the most impressive Kentucky Derby victories ever at Max's. Not bad.

As for personal favorites, I've really gotten into sour beers and that Rodenbach bottle was fantastic. Monk's Cafe's version wasn't bad. The Irish Cream Ale at Slainte was interesting, sort of mild and creamy (thanks for letting me have a taste Bob!). The Franziskaner Hef was fantastic. I was sort of neutral on Bertha's Best Bitter, but my curiosity is running wild when it comes to cask beers and I'd definitely try it again. The Marzen is a classic standby at Ellicott Mills and tends to be slightly superior to their other offerings.