This post was originally going to be the basis for a more complete Mid-Atlantic Brew News article planned for June 2020, after the Maryland Craft Beer Festival normally held in Frederick MD. Due to the Coronavirus meeting restrictions that event was canceled like so many other 2020 Spring beer festivals.
A Touch of Swagger
At the Baltimore Craft Beer Fest (BCBF) in early November, I talked with Michael Clements of Idiom Brewing. While I certainly was aware of the beer town Frederick has grown to become, it was something Michael said grabbed my attention. With a bit of a smile he said Frederick brewers declare their city has become the Mid-Atlantic beer capital. While some towns may take exception with that thought, I thought it displayed a bit of swagger for the city.
“Frederick brewers declare their city has become the Mid-Atlantic beer capital.”
Shortly after that discussion, I learned about a different kind of beer festival, the Frederick City HyperLocal Brewfest would be held in November. My first thought was that this falls right in line with Michael Clements comment about the attitude of town and its beer.
I arrived at the Brewfest shortly after the doors opened and at the time, the room (actually a small building) at the Frederick City Fairgrounds seemed cavernous. I grabbed a pint and introduced myself to some of the brewers, hoping to catch some quick talk time. Pouring some of their finest was Rockwell Brewing, Flying Dog, Monocacy Brewing, Smoketown Brewing Station, Steinhardt Brewing, and Idiom Brewing.
After catching up with some local beer writer friends I thought it was time to get back for some brewer-talk-time, only to realize the beer tents were totally overwhelmed. What was a short time ago a large room and a small crowd was suddenly a much smaller room with a much larger gathering. The lines of folks waiting for a beer were now 15-20 people deep and any chance for talking with the brewers had passed. I would need a follow-up visit to Frederick and learn about the thinking that led to this beer event.
Frederick Maryland
Frederick MD is a small city by many standards, with an estimated population (2018) around 72,000. Asheville NC, which many people use as a comparison for beer cities, has a population near 92,000. I was going to spend a day there and my focus was two-fold. I was looking for a walkable Frederick beer experience and, I wanted to learn what elements have aligned that has allowed Frederick to blossom into a growing craft beer destination.
Walkable Frederick Beer & Creekside
If you've been to Frederick in recent years you are probably aware of the Carroll Creek area. This city showcase is an attractive linear park running more than a mile through the heart of historic downtown Frederick with an array of shops, dining, Carroll Creek Park, a distillery, and a few breweries. Within a short 5-minute walk along the Creek, you can be tasting the beer of Idiom Brewing, Attaboy Beer, and the recently opened (October 2019) Smoketown Creekside. This is Smoketown’s second location with the original Smoketown Brewing Station still a short 20-minute drive to Brunswick, MD. The new Smoketown brewery is at the same location formally housing House Cat Brewing which closed its doors in April 2019. Also new to the area is the Attaboy Barrel House (24 S Wisner St #110, Frederick, MD). The Barrel House is their aging and blending cellar. There they have a taproom and five barrel-aged beers on tap. Check their website for taproom hours since they are still adjusting. Adding to the local mix is the coming addition of Steinhardt Brewing to the Carroll Creek area.
Creekside Breweries 3+1
I had contacted a couple of the Carroll Creek breweries the days before. First, I met with Jim Steinhardt (Steinhardt Brewing). Jim graciously invited me to meet him at his brewery which was currently in his garage. If you have tasted his beer that might surprise you but then it really doesn't matter, his beer is good.
Like many in the business, Jim began as a homebrewer. Friends began to notice how good the beer was and wanted to buy it. One thing led to another and about 5-years ago he decided it was time to make this thing into a business.
Steinhardt Brewing is about to move into the Union Knitting Mills building aligning Carroll Creek in downtown Frederick and with that his production to grow about 10-fold, from the current 3 barrel system to a 7-barrel system. Steinhardt Brewing focuses on Belgian-style beer but offers beer from across the spectrum of styles. While there will be four breweries within easy walking distance, each will have a somewhat unique personality and character and perhaps the Belgian-style will be Steinhardt’s distinction. Also in the new section of the Union Knitting Mills will be a cidery that will include a restaurant in the mix.
Jim hopes to open the expanded brewery in April 2020, but as many brewers have learned, Murphy has a law for that. As we were finishing up, Jim mentioned that perhaps this will be the last interview at his current brewing location. Cheers to that!
Attaboy Beer
I stopped into Attaboy Beer hoping to catch owners Brian & Carly Odgen but alas, they were away on holiday. I found the taproom was bright and welcoming with an entire wall painted floor to ceiling in bold red letters - BEER. I was told that the new Attaboy Barrel House was open but currently only on Saturday’s. While enjoying a pint, I overheard the staff ask an elderly couple if they would like another beer. Their reply was, “No, we’re going to be hitting some other breweries today.” And in fact, I did see them later that day at another brewery. A staff member did tell me that Nick Wilson, one of the Olde Mother Brewing owners, had just entered the taproom and might be interested in talking with me. Nick had dropped in with some family and friends. I talked to Nick for a few moments and he invited me to meet him later at the brewery when he had more time.
Idiom Brewing
It was Michael Clements of Idiom Brewing statement that first aroused my attention to the growing swagger of the City of Frederick beer scene. Now I would meet him at his brewery. I sat for a pint and wood-fired pizza from the food truck just outside before meeting Michael. The place was packed which had caught them off guard and he could only give me a few minutes. I wanted to know what stars have aligned that created the Frederick craft beer hub.
“I think a lot of the times people want to be at a place where they feel like they’re at home. And the local pub used to be that before prohibition.”
“Well I think most of the state is actually growing with craft beer. All jurisdictions, all cities. I think that's not just Maryland. I think that's all over the country. I think a lot of the times people want to be at a place where they feel like they're at home. And the local pub used to be that before prohibition. And I think that vibe is coming back. I think that people are looking for local ingredients, local people, places to invest in with their money and their time. And I think that's why local breweries are skyrocketing as well as local distilleries and wineries and things of that nature.
“We are on Carroll Creek, what's considered the linear park, away from Market Street, which is considered main street in Frederick. So we're a little bit off the beaten path but the breweries here have helped to revitalize this area. Not only from a business standpoint but also from a socioeconomic standpoint. We’ve gotten a lot of support from the city. A lot of support from the County. Also because we're in a historic building, we’ve worked with a local group called the East Frederick Rising, which focuses on this side of Frederick and building up the buildings and the businesses.”
I asked Michael about there being so many breweries in the city if that creates a problem. “We all spend time going to each other's events and patronizing them. We are definitely a close-knit community. We all are trying to earn our dollars and trying to earn customers. But I think that's healthy. I mean, when there is a competition it pushes each other to be better, to raise the bar and to promote the whole scene.”
“I believe in Maryland we have the largest concentration of breweries within a five-mile radius.”
Why should beer enthusiasts come to Frederick? “I believe in Maryland we have the largest concentration of breweries within a five-mile radius. You can hit 10 breweries now within a five-mile radius. And, we have the Frederick Brew Bus that operates on Saturdays.”
Smoketown Creekside
I had bounced around Frederick all day, and at the end of my day I finally made it to newest brewery in the city, Smoketown Creekside. This once was the location for House Cat Brewing that had closed back in the Spring. I introduced myself to Dave Blackmon, Smoketown’s owner, whom I met and spoke with briefly at the Hyper Local Brewfest.
Dave shared with me that the City of Frederick has been supportive of his coming to town. It is no secret that he has wanted to build on the incredible music scene that had flourished years before at the Brunswick firehouse but has been stymied by the town leadership. He plans on bringing that dream to the new Creekside location. He has even brought pieces of the Brunswick stage to Creekside. If you go to their Creekside website you'll see that the stage is booked for weeks ahead as are the food trucks.
Frederick Uptown
Rockwell Brewing
Rockwell Brewing is a short distance 5-minute drive north from the Carroll Creek breweries. It was Rockwell that pulled together the Hyper Local Brewfest and while we talked a lot about their beer, I wanted to learn more about the Brewfest and their thoughts on the Frederick beer scene in a larger sense.
I met with Matt Thrasher and Paul Tinney, Rockwell’s founders and owners, at their brewery. Paul and Matt were home-brewing buddies long before Rockwell opened its doors in March 2017. The brewery name came from Paul’s background as a designer of acoustic guitars. You may notice that the Rockwell tap handles look like the head of a guitar.
What is Hyper Local?
The Hyper Local Brewfest concept, it started with an article Paul had read in a brewers magazine. “One of the new trends is hyper-local breweries. The article focused on this hyperlocal meaning, you've got a neighborhood, you basically are a brewery in a neighborhood and that neighborhood embraces you.” Matt added about the event, “Let's focus on a festival by breweries for breweries.”
“you’ve got a neighborhood, you basically are a brewery in a neighborhood and that neighborhood embraces you”
Matt continued, “Festivals should be an extension of the tasting room. What better way for someone to come in and instead of traveling all these tasting rooms, do this hyperlocal city brewfest.”
Paul continued on his thoughts about hyperlocal breweries, “And these circles just keep getting smaller to where now we make as much beer as we can and it's difficult to get it outside of Frederick because there's just, you don't have enough, you don't need to. We're small by design, and enjoying being small and being in the community.”
Was the first Frederick Hyper Local Beer Fest a success? Matt thinks so. “Absolutely, we were so overwhelmed. We had over a thousand people there.” I asked if they would be thinking about another hyper-local brewfest thinking about doing it again. Matt replied, “Yeah. Definitely.”
What’s Special About Frederick?
Paul has an opinion about Frederick as a business place and a beer place. “I was in corporate business for a while. I went up to a neighboring Pennsylvania community that had phenomenal pricing on real estate. I talked to their chamber of commerce and asked them, what are you trying to do here in your downtown area? And without hesitation, we all want to be like Frederick. We want a revitalization of an old town feel that draws people out of the new shopping plazas and back to the hometown feel.’
‘And, that's kind of what Frederick has built into the place. Now you've seen where the brewers have popped up. They didn't start on prime real estate downtown. They started in these little revitalization zones? So Attaboy, Olde Mother, the East side of town where we are [Rockwell], it's an extension of what this city has brought in terms of its sort of historic, old town feel. And, breweries are gathering places for the community. The community here just hyperlocal again, has really embraced us, walkable to these neighborhoods. I think it's just an extension of the fact that the community is here and they want a place to be in their community.”
“If you plug in nine city breweries into a town that didn’t even need revitalization, that just pulls this whole community upward even more.”
Matt added, “It's a cool town to live in regardless. You read articles where a brewery comes into this dilapidated town in middle America and they just revitalize the whole community. If you plug in nine city breweries into a town that didn't even need revitalization, that just pulls this whole community upward even more.”
Olde Mother Brewing
When I caught up Nick Wilson at the new Olde Mother Brewing location on the north side of town, he added to that conversation. He opened the brewery in 2015 with a friend, Keith Marcoux. They wanted to start something small and could be in control of and the time came for them to expand in 2018. “They're kind of grown out of our old place”, Nick told me. They greatly increased their area for brewing and taproom space more than five-fold and expect to double their beer production over the next year.
Nick said they wanted the brewery and taproom to be centered in a neighborhood. “We chose the North side of the town because we wanted to be more of a staple, that’s where people are, but we didn't want to be necessarily in a tourist area. So we wanted to be off the [Carroll] Creek. So more of the people that live in your neighborhoods would want to stop in.”
“I think it’s really simple. The town itself is really neat. It’s well kept, it’s clean, it’s safe, you can walk around everywhere and have a good time.”
I asked Nick for his take on why Frederick has developed into such a craft beer destination. “I think it's really simple. The town itself is really neat. It's well kept, it's clean, it's safe, you can walk around everywhere and have a good time. And it's just like a charming village but bigger. And then, on top of that, people are making beers here are making top-notch stuff. And so then you have all of these breweries doing this kind of thing in close proximity to one another. It's like an easy destination for anybody to go hang out for a day or a weekend.”
As for their beer, Nick and Keith began creating their beer recipes but when they expanded, they brought in a new brewer. Now the three collaboration on the beer creations. “We love lagers, and we do a lot of traditional beers.” “We love our sours and any kind of crazy idea you could think of in-between for fun.”
A Brewery Too Far
While you can drop into any Frederick brewery and enjoy a beer, a meal, and an experience, you can easily spend an entire day and still be left wanting more. While I took in all that I could in a single day, there was still other beer places waiting, Jug Bridge Brewing, Monocacy Brewing, Midnight Run, and Maryland’s largest brewery Flying Dog. That simply gives me another reason to explore this great beer town.
