Call To Arms

OK so ...

Just tinkered around a bit with the Howard County Beer Map, updated it a bit, moved the markers around a bit, just made it more usable. My question to you is, is it up to date? Are there any places that ought be removed (I took several down today) or that should be added -- be it beer/wine/liquor stores, or bars?

Is Carpe Vinum in Ellicott City still open? Whats the name of the wine place just across from The Judges Bench, relatively new? Do they have decent beer selection?

What about places like TGI Friday's and Michael's Pub in Columbia, are they worthy or are their beers fairly standard? How about the Columbia Ale House?

And what do people think of Buffalo Wild Wings? I've heard they carry a decent tap beer selection but obviously haven't been to any in the area, not that there's any in Howard County but speaking generally here.

Thanks.

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.

Bell's Oberon to ... D.C.

For whatever reason, Michigan-based Bell's beer isn't in Maryland. So if you'd like to enjoy it, head to Washington D.C., particularly starting March 30th when the Oberon starts pouring.

Items

From the excellent Live In Howard County Blog:

The Pine Orchard Wine liquor store is offering an unusual sale today and tomorrow, March 24 and 25. All wine, beer and liquor in the shop will be sold at $1.00 over cost. It's a great excuse to stock up. Cash, checks, or debit cards only for this sale...no credit cards. Pine Orchard Wine is located on Rt. 40 just west of Centennial and Bethany Lane.

And via email, Mahaffey's Wednesday bomber this week is Abita's Andygator, a "helles doublebock". Interesting.

And they just put a Heavy Seas (Clipper City) Peg Leg Stout w/coffee on cask, one time deal type thing so hop on down to Canton if that sounds interesting.

Best of Howard County Poll

Its a tight race! Interesting results so far. Open forum below to defend your vote or petition for more votes for the various establishments.

Happy Anniversary, Baltimore Beer Guy

I almost didn't even notice, but Baltimore Beer Guy went live March 19th of 2008.

We're just now over a year into existence. Hooray (!) (?) (!).

So much more to do ... thank you, with great sincerity, for visiting.

Freeze Frame

At Frisco Grille:

Rogue Frog In The Rye (Rye IPA)

Rogue Anniversary Glen

Troegs Nugget Nectar

The Anniversary Glen ended up tasting, oddly, like Orval. It shouldn't, and I have no clue as to why that came to be.

Condolences to the Maryland Terrapin fans, that beatdown at the hands of Memphis was brutal to put it mildly.

New Beer Blog

Just discovered (via his posting a comment here) a new Baltimore beer blogger:

A Beer In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Fridge

Its now linked on the menu at right. Be sure to visit!

Freeze Frame

Potentially a regular feature here. Basically, whats available or what was imbibed, wherever I've gone that day. Where possible I'll try and provide pictures as well, my camera phone is decent enough.

So today's freeze frame:

The Judges Bench -- Unibroue Trois Pistoles and Troegs Nugget Nectar

Hard to go wrong with those Belgian darks which I think is a small portion of why Unibroue is so successful. And most of us are aware of the cult-like appeal of Nugget Nectar which for the most part lives up to the hype.

Brewer's Art Latest

Visited recently, along with the three standards (Beacon Pale, Ozzy and Resurrection) they had the Proletary dark ale, Cerberus Tripel and Sublimation on tap.

Just an FYI. Haven't seen a whole lot of movement from them the last few months and they produce a ton of good beers so I have a feeling a ton of good stuff is coming, and soon. Charm City Sour Cherry, anyone?

Ommegang Night At Frisco Grille

Columbia's Frisco Grille will have an Ommegang (pint) night this coming Wednesday March 25th, featuring Rare Vos and some other offerings.

They're just coming off this Wednesday's excellent Rogue pint night with eight Rogue beers (I also escaped with a pretty cool Rogue t-shirt courtesy of the great Frisco folks).

Judges Bench Second Anniversary Celebration

Not sure what all will be going on, but The Judges Bench in downtown Ellicott City will hold a 2nd anniversary celebration on April 1st (yes, April Fool's Day).

Be sure to congratulate owner Mike on transforming the place into an excellent stop for craft beer nuts.

Looney's Opens in Maple Lawn

I neglected to mention the Looney's grand opening just before St. Patrick's Day.

Its an Irish bar/restaurant, with its most famous location in Canton. Sounds like there were some opening week issues to work out but you gotta love what appears to be 24 taps (but are there any good beers on tap?).

Regardless, we'll have to add it to the growing list of beer places in Howard County if it passes the test, feel free to comment below about the beer selection and how much rotation is expected or if they've got a set group of beers they'll remain loyal to.

Clipper City To Release Red Sky at Night

This is one of their more anticipated releases every year, and attends to one of my favorite beer styles, Belgian-style saison.

"Our annual tribute to Belgian style saison aka country farm house ale. Brewed with a special yeast and rocky candy sugar, this 7.5% ABC saison is spicy upfront with a dry hop tang in the finish. Available while supplies last."

So, be on the lookout!

Clipper City Meet The Brewer at Judges Bench

I might actually attend this, its nearby and I've fallen back in love with The Judges Bench in downtown Ellicott City.

Clipper City will be there on March 25th for a "Meet the Brewer" event from 5-8 PM.

Judges is a tiny place, but it has 17 taps and flies through them because it doesn't use a normal keg system but something smaller so things go on and off with great frequency providing great variety.

We're Near Festival Season

The major spring events as I stare at my massive backlog of emails:

April 4th -- Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Fest in Timonium

April 25th -- City Paper Beer Fest in Fells Point/Baltimore

May 30th -- SAVOR

May 30th -- Maryland Brewer's Springfest in Frederick

First Annual Clipper City Real Ale and BBQ Fest

May 16th at the Clipper City brewery facility near BWI Airport.

"Try all you can taste from seven different cask conditioned "real ales" poured directly from the firkin, along with BBQ chicken, ribs and pulled pork w/all the fixins. Beer by Clipper City, BBQ by Andy Nelson (killer!)"

Throw in some live music and a souvenir take home glass. Noon-5 PM, $49/person, limit 250. Booking info at the website or call (800)830-3976

DuClaw 12 Pack Beer Dinner

DuClaw will pair 6 beers with 6 food courses on Thursday April 2nd at their Bel Air location and Thursday April 9th at their Fells Point location. Tickets can be purchased through their online store, limited to 34 adults.

1. Deconstructed Niçoise salad made from baby spinach greens, grilled Ahi Tuna, steamed haricot verts and château potatoes, hard cooked egg and Niçoise olives, drizzled with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette.
Served with Brewer's Alley Kolsch

2. Pan roasted quail stuffed with a toasted hazelnut and corn bread stuffing, presented in a nest of spaghetti squash with Parisian potatoes napped with pan jus.
Served with DuClaw Brewing Company Old Flame

3. Grilled ginger lemongrass marinated shrimp served over sesame mai fun and dressed with a spicy mango salsa.
Served with Great Divide Fresh Hop Pale Ale

4. Grill wild boar tenderloin resting on shaved caramelized onions. Accompanied by a demi-glacé made from forest mushrooms and shaved black truffles.
Served with Sam Adams Honey Porter

5. A crunchy, gooey brownie pudding topped with a raspberry crème anglaise and homemade whipped cream.
Served with DuClaw Brewing Company Naked Fish

6. Neufchâtel cheese and dried fruit pâté served with shortbread cookies.
Served with DuClaw Brewing Company Misery

New Brewer's Alley Beer

At Frederick's Brewer's Alley, "Meet brewmaster Tom Flores and head brewer Maggie Lenz from 4-6 PM at the bar on ...

Tuesday March 24th -- George St. Maple Porter

The starting point in the design of this beer is a style category known as Robust Porter, which is a strong version of Porter. The color is between Nut Brown Ale and Oatmeal Stout. Our rendition of this style uses real maple syrup from Virginia, which comes through in the delicate maple aroma and the beginning of each sip. The maple flavor is then followed by the roasted maltiness typical of Porters. The bitterness you perceive in this beer comes more from the highly roasted malts used and less from the hops, though there are some hops added for balance. The residual sweetness comes from the caramel malts used and not from the maple syrup. This is because the syrup is so fermentable, all the sugars in it are used up by the yeast. However, a lot of the maple aromatics are retained, even after fermentation. Additionally, the full mouthfeel helps balance the overall flavor, as well as the heat from the alcohol. The intensity and alcohol strength of this beer makes it good for sipping at a leisurely pace. We are serving our Maple Porter in a brandy snifter to encourage a slower pace of consumption and to allow the beer to heat up a little as you cup it in your hand. This leads to an experience of flavor that unfolds over time and presents layers of complexity which emerge, as long as you are patient enough to wait!

Thursday March 26th -- New Moon Ale (Cask)

Tuesday March 31st -- 21 Cherries

Our Head Brewer, Maggie Lenz, wanted to brew this beer for her little brother, Nick, who turns 21 years old this April (2009). This amber colored beer has a slight red tint which comes from tart red cherries added directly to the aging beer. It was brewed as a lager, so the aroma is a mild and wonderful blend of slightly toasted malt and fresh fruit. The first taste you get is a general tart fruitiness that then more fully develops into red pie cherries, giving you a tart and refreshing finish that gets you ready for the next sip. Additionally, cinnamon and vanilla were sparingly added to the kettle as back up for the cherries, helping to bring out the flavor.

Firkin Friday at DuClaw

DuClaw will be pouring two firkins at their Fells Point location this Friday (March 20) at 5 PM:

Misfit Red and a blueberry Bare Ass Blonde

SAVOR Tickets Now On Sale

I didn't make this last year, probably won't make it this year but it still sounds way cool.

SAVOR is one of the beer community's biggest events and is returning to Washington D.C. It brings together some of the best breweries in one giant room at the National Building Museum as they offer samples of their brews along with gourmet food. It is held around the same time as American craft beer week (I've mangled the title but we'll get it right soon enough) so there will be other events going on at the same time here in Maryland as well as the entire Mid-Atlantic/Chesapeake region.

They also hold various salons but literally everything is sold out but one hosted by Maryland's own Hugh Sisson, head man at Clipper City.

Here's the link to purchase the ticket$$$

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoy the spirit of the day, responsibly of course. It'll be amateur hour out there at most places unfortunately, but there should be some good beer flowing at the usual great beer stops like Max's, Mahaffey's (owner Wayne is a classic) and Frisco Grille.

I'm not a huge fan of the Irish beers (Guinness, Smithwick's, Harp, etc.) but they should be on tap almost anywhere today. I will say Baltimore quietly has a ton of Irish bars and establishments, you can basically throw a dart at a list full of names and probably be quite satisfied wherever you land.

Let us know where you went if you went out.

Mmmm, Garde Dog

Cracked open a bottle of Garde Dog from Frederick's Flying Dog brewing. Mmmmm, good stuff. Its actually on tap right now at Frisco Grille but this bottle will do just nicely. Its paired with my Dwight Schrute stress ball because The Office was on tonight and the stress ball was a gift from my friend Steve's delightful sister.

Anyway, good stuff, an excellent winter/spring brew that seems to have improved from last year.

I actually attended the Garde Dog release at Flying Dog's tasting room a few weeks back, really good time and one of their finest brews.

Troegs Nugget Nectar at Frisco Grille

No, it won't be from a Firkin this time but it'll be just as good. Available Wednesday and it sounds like they have some extra kegs so it may appear a few more times in the coming days.

They also have Flying Dog's excellent Garde Dog in the Bier De Garde style on tap right now. Yum.

Back Again

My apologies, I got sick again and just decided to take a little break from BBG.

I've got some emails to get to and a backlog of links and items to address, so business as usual, hm?