The Baltimore Craft Beer Festival (BCBF) has grown significantly since its beginning in 2015. This is a premier showcase for Maryland breweries. If you want the breath of what Maryland breweries are producing, this is the one event to attend each year. BCBF is a Brewers Association of Maryland (BAM) event held at the Canton Waterfront Park in downtown Baltimore. The Brewers Association of Maryland (BAM), was founded in 1996, and serves as the non-profit trade association of Maryland brewing companies. The mission of BAM is to grow, promote and protect the Maryland craft beer industry.
This year would find 63 breweries in attendance, from old guards like Heavy Seas and Flying Dog, the USA location of Guinness Open Gate & Barrel House, to four breweries (Heart & Solar, Joy Hound, Wistful, Baile & Cask) where an opening is still a plan and a dream. While production levels may vary widely, the two things they all have in common is that they all are active BAM members and they brought some great beer to share.
While live music is always showcased at the event, this year BCBF partnered with DelFest (DelFest.com), a live music event held each Memorial Day weekend, near Cumberland MD in Allegany County.
Some of the most unique offerings for the day came from Poole Island Brewing Mordechai’s Imperial Kashruth Kvass (a traditional drink made using rye break), the Gypsy Brewing Dunkelweizen with a locally sourced pawpaw (Asimina triloba) fruit addition, and Brookeville Beer Farm offered their Fall Colors Weizenbock run through a Randle with cinnamon. And better than most area bottle shops, you can purchase a great variety of Maryland beer directly from the brewery attendees.
An event like the BCBF is a great place to engage with fellow beer enthusiasts and gain insight from brewery staff that a beer drinker may not normally have access to. Here are five I had a chance to talk beer with.
Inverness Brewing
Monkton MD - 16200 Markoe Rd, Monkton, MD 21111
Inverness Brewing is a 100 acre historic Monkton farm that is home to 50 black Angus cattle, 600 thriving hop plants, seasonal crops, and Folly the Dog. Brewing operation began in August 2018, making Inverness Brewing the first Baltimore County Farm Brewery.
I spoke to Tom Davidson and Craig McGrath, the two brewers at Inverness. They told me that visitors to Inverness can expect a beautiful pastoral and bucolic venue, a wonderful place to have a beer that is dog and kid-friendly. “So you can have a beer and you can look out over the farm and just take in, check out some cattle, a couple of horses.”
“So you can have a beer and you can look out over the farm and just take in, check out some cattle, a couple of horses.”
Inverness has a hop yard with 1200 strings of hops harvested this year with plans for even more next season. They are also considering growing some barley on the farm. Currently, they do use some local Maryland malts.
Craig and Tom shared that if you come to the taproom, try their Helles lager, it’s one they are particularly proud of. They just began canning three beers including the Helles, a West Coast IPA, and a Session IPA, which are available at the brewery and a local shop in Jarrettsville MD.
Inverness is currently working to double their brewing capacity. So look for more good beer from them soon.
Crooked Crab Brewing
Odenton MD - 8251 Telegraph Rd, Odenton, MD 21113
I spoke with Earl Holman, one of the owners and general manager of Crooked Crab Brewing, which opened in February 2018.
Earl described the brewery as first and foremost a community brewery that wants to have a beer for everybody. They currently have five year-round beers and cover the spectrum of styles. Plus they offer seasonal beer that rotates availability.
Visitors will find the taproom with 12 beers on tap, TVs, and food trucks available every day they are open. Hours, current taps and food truck schedules can all be found on their website - CrookedCrabBrewing.com.
I asked Earl what was the one beer patrons of the taproom need to try, and without hesitation, he said the 6.2% ABV Haze for Days New England Pale Ale.
In January each year, we can look for variants and one-offs of their popular High Joltage Coffee Stout.
Crooked Crab beer is self-distributed throughout central Maryland and on tap in and better beer bars and restaurants in Baltimore, DC, and Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties.
Mobtown Brewing Company
Baltimore, Maryland - 4015 Foster Avenue, Suite 400 Baltimore 21224
I talked with Dave Carpenter, head brewer and majority owner of Mobtown Brewing Company. Mobtown is located in the Brewer's Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, where the iconic National Brewing Company and the Gunther Brewing Company were once located.
Dave grew up in Baltimore County and moved into the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore about 14 years ago. Dave said they’re treating Mobtown like they are home brewers and Mobtown it just like a giant home brewery. “And so we are just constantly creating new stuff. So, we'll make a beer, we'll put it on tap, once it's gone, it's gone. Our whole goal is to kinda keep creating new things so that when people come in, there's always something new on tap.”
“And so we are just constantly creating new stuff. So, we’ll make a beer, we’ll put it on tap, once it’s gone, it’s gone. Our whole goal is to kinda keep creating new things so that when people come in, there’s always something new on tap.”
I asked Dave how they came up with the name for the brewery. Baltimore is a mob town has been like a classic name for Baltimore since the revolutionary war. Because people that live in Baltimore have always been known for rioting and being disobedient, we became known as mobtown. Baltimore had been put under martial law during the Civil War for fear we were going to rebel, we're like that as a brewery. We're gonna do crazy stuff. We're going to go against the norm.”
So what inspires Mobtown’s beer and what can beer enthusiasts expect in the coming season? “We're doing spice winter warmer and barleywines. The fun for me is like playing around with all the different styles and trying to do something different. So right now on tap, we've got hazy IPA, Belgian IPAs, hefeweizen, lagers, pilsners, stouts, sour beers. Whatever I might come up with my head and it's some odd, weird style.”
I asked Dave what's the one beer someone should not miss if they come into the taproom. “Try the Ex-Girlfriend Sour because we've only got a couple of kegs of it left and once it's gone it's gone. Because who knows when we're going to feel like brewing that again. Maybe never.”
Mobtown will be releasing kegs and 16-ounce cans of the first easy IPA that they brewed called The Doctor Says I'm Hazy and a Belgian called Amber Tiny Purple Fishes. You can look for these in and around Baltimore City, and in a few shops in Baltimore County, Montgomery and Howard Counties.
True Respite Brewing
Rockville, MD - 7301 Calhoun Place, Suite 600, Rockville, MD 20855
I enjoyed talking with Brendan O'Leary, one of the co-founders of True Respite Brewing Company. Brendan runs the sales and distribution in the business. What makes True Respite unique? They pride themselves on their pace of beer releases and in many different styles. They do a lot of hazy IPAs, stouts, sours, and also like to do Belgian styles. They are particularly proud of their nut brown ale. To display their variety and curiosity, at the Baltimore Craft Beer Festival they brought a German Doppelbock, an Imperial s’mores stout, and a hazy IPA, plus a peanut butter hefeweizen.
Brendan said that if you come out to True Respite you can expect great service, a cozy, comfortable, taproom, and a personal experience. Of course, there is the beer, anywhere from 12 to 16 beers of a huge variety. What may make True Respite truly uniques is that every one of their staff has brewed with the brewer. They all are taught on the beer styles and the ingredients that go into them.
True Respite does host food trucks and patron are welcome to bring their own food. We have a bunch of beer releases coming up. Most notable, our pucker double strawberry shortcake, which is an Imperial sour with strawberry, vanilla and biscuit balls, a couple of hazy IPAs, and are working on a sour IPA in collaboration with Forward Brewing, a brewing in planning in Annapolis, MD.
I asked Brendan, what’s the one beer visitors to the taproom should not miss? “Oh, if I only had to pick one, it would be our flagship Week Away hazy IPA. That's our beer that we brew the most of, doing 30 barrels of that a month at this point. And that may not be enough.”
True Respite beer is a woman-owned business and is currently distributed throughout Maryland, Washington DC and they have just entered Delaware. Maryland’s Eastern shore should be getting its first shipments by the beginning of December 2019.
Idiom Brewing
Frederick, Maryland - 340 E. Patrick Street, #104 Frederick, MD
I spoke with Michael Clements, owner and the brewer of Idiom Brewing Company in Frederick, Maryland. Frederick has grown dramatically as a beer destination and some now may call the Mid-Atlantic beer capital.
The idea for Idiom started almost 12 years ago. Idiom opened their taproom about a year ago, in November 2018. They are already working for their first expansion for the taproom to double the space and seating capacity.
They have already increased their production capacity by 300% in the last year. While Idiom does not make food from the taproom they do have food trucks all the time.
Their main focus is English styles but they also brew a variety of emerging styles, like sours, some dessert styles, and New England IPAs.
One of the Idiom’s rotating New England IPA recipes is called Phrased, which they brewed the seventh iteration of that beer last November. This is their expression of New England IPAs which they like to play with, constantly changing either the malt bill, the hop bill or both. And so, if you find it available in the taproom, Michael’s advice is to make sure that's the beer you try.
