In February 2021, I traveled to Sapwood Cellars, a beer enthusiast’s destination you are not likely to stumble upon. Found at the back of a nondescript business park along Maryland’s Route 108, near Columbia, Maryland, many come this way either in want of more as the result of a local beer festival or as directed by a spouse or colleague. Beer drinkers walking through these doors have an intention, drinking and/or gathering great beer. Let Untappd or Google Maps “breweries near me” be your guide.
Michael Tonsmeire (l) and Scott Janish (r) of Sapwood Cellars in Columbia, MD.
Opening in September 2018, Sapwood Cellars was founded by Michael Tonsmeire and Scott Janish. These two were homebrewing friends that took that passion to the obvious next leap. Before founding Sapwood Cellars, Mike worked as an economist for the Labor Department for 12 years. Scott worked in the financial protection industry for 13 years.
Mike Tonsmeire and the Sapwood Cellar barrel-aging area.
Sapwood Cellars is noted for their moderate-alcohol IPAs and barrel-aged sours. They wrote books on the subjects. Mike is well known for The Mad Fermentationist blog and his book “American Sour Beers” (2014). Scott is the author of “The New IPA: Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor” (2019). He does deep dives into the scientific literature of brewing and applies it to modern-day brewing practices at ScottJanish.com. His drive is to not only know which ingredients make the best beer, but why.
You could say this location actually chose them. When looking to establish their brewery, they discovered the current space after another brewery had begun setting up, but never opened. This allowed them to focus on brewing beer earlier than if they had to start from scratch.
The Sapwood Cellars name and logo, half acorn and half hop cone, comes from a mashup of the two sides of their brewing interests. “Sap” represents their love of IPAs and “wood” for the barrels used to age sour beers. Cellar being from the cool place where beer traditionally rests in barrels to ferment.
The walls are splashed with paintings which at first glad you might simply admire and dismiss. A discerned look would reveal these are the original artworks for many of their beer labels by artist Dustin Sinner.
Their beer menu today has more Belgian-style and dark beers and some with higher potency. Drinking at the tasting room a patron may want a beer or two of regular ABV, but at home they can enjoy higher alcohol beers without worry.
Sapwood had established a canning line just in time when COVID-19 restrictions put a halt to indoor gatherings. They were ready to shift much their production from taproom draft to cans to-go and with some for distribution. With COVID-19 restrictions, 80% of their beer now goes into cans now. That may shift back toward a draft focus after gathering restrictions are relaxed.
“Belgian-styled beers are fun to brew but don’t move as fast. Sours are fun, but IPAs pay the bills.”
They brew a lot of DIPAs because that is what customers want most. Mike stated, “Belgian-styled beers are fun to brew but don't move as fast.” ‘Sours are fun, but IPAs pay the bills.” Scott is vegan so all of their beers are brewed vegan. This means no lactose (milk sugar) or other animal derived ingredients are using in the beer or brewing process. Mike is allowed an occasional breaking of that rule with the use of a little honey as an ingredient.
Their philosophy regarding the growing number of breweries, “I don't think we are competing with each other, but in making people into brewery drinkers rather that beer-bar drinkers.” ‘Freshness is such a big thing. You come to a place like ours, this [beer] was canned on Thursday, released on Friday. It’s going to be fresher than anything you will pick up in the grocery store with the pretty packaging.” ‘The beer was made here. Our staff are going to know more about the beer you are drinking than at a typical beer bar.”
When asked about what might be their most popular beer they hesitate because they keep brewing forward. A beer is ephemeral. They brew one, then move on to the next batch of whatever catches their fancy. However, if you had to pick one, it would be Snip Snap, their highly rated hazy double IPA brewed by dry hopping with Citra, then dry hopped again with Galaxy hops.
LOOKING AHEAD
Looking ahead, they will be moving their sour barrel line to a new location a couple doors down. The expansion will afford them room when shuffling barrels, and also provide them a sense of safety by moving the sour beer microbes a safe distance from the regular brewing facility. They are currently preparing a 100% Maryland ingredient sour beer. It will include Maryland harvested wild yeast, Maryland hops from Black Locust Hops, and Maryland barley from Dark Cloud Malthouse. If you are traveling through Central Maryland, a trip to Sapwood Cellars is worth the slight detour.
Hours of Operation
WED–THU: 2-8 PM
FRI: 2-9 PM
SAT: 1-8 PM
SUN: 12-6 PM
Sapwood Cellars
8980 Maryland 108 Suite MNO,
Columbia, MD 21045
sapwoodcellars.com
This is an expanded version of the article I wrote for the Mid-Atlantic Brew News — April/May 2021 edition.
Mid-Atlantic Brew News (MABN) is a bimonthly publication for beer enthusiasts with over 30,000 copies distributed across the Mid-Atlantic region, with a focus on craft beer happenings across six states (MD, DE, VA, NJ, PA, WV) and DC.
