Back in September 2020, I met with Nicki Sener, co-founder and brewer at Ten Eyck Brewing in Queenstown, MD. Much of this article was originally written for the Mid-Atlantic Brew News Oct/Nov 2020 edition, but has been edited and updated.
New Kids at the Oak
While some counties have many breweries for craft beer enthusiasts to frequent. Queen Anne’s County is now home to four: Cult Classic, Bull and Goat, Patriot Acres, and now Ten Eyck. Ten Eyck Brewing (205 Grange Hall Rd, Queenstown, MD / teneyckbrewing.com), the latest, officially opened their doors on August 7, 2020.
Ten Eyck Brewing Company is locally owned by a team of women veterans and first responders. Their mantra is, “We've served around the globe, and now we want to serve our Eastern Shore community.“
I first met Nicki Sener, co-owner and brewer, back in December 2019. At that time the brewery was just a wooden frame with a dirt floor awaiting concrete. With hopes to open in the Spring 2020, COVID-19 hit them like it did the rest of the beer industry and the world.
Catching Up
Late last year, Side Dish hit the shelves in time for the Holidays. For many, this was their first exposure to Ten Eyck beer. This is a seasonal imperial brown ale, brewed with roasted sweet potatoes, maple syrup, and a bit of vanilla, created to be paired with Holiday foods. It’s as good as it sounds but really can be enjoyed year round.
Now, I wanted to catch up with Nicki and to see the new brewery and taproom. Just the day before, they had hosted a beer and cupcake pairing with Carrie Sue's CupCakery. Imagine a maple-bacon cupcake paired with an imperial brown ale.
Two foeders by Foeder Crafters of America (St. Louis, MO) have arrived and are now conditioning two very different beers. One, a peach saison using peaches from Fifer Orchards (Camden, DE). The other, Son of Mogh (a tribute to their Star Trek obsession) is a Russian Imperial Stout brewed in collaboration with Brewery Fire (Taneytown, MD). Note: The peach saison later expanded to the point where the batch was lost and the foeder had to be repaired. But, the Son of Mogh was great.
Foeder Crafters of America at Ten Eyck.
Ten Eyck soft serve beer.
Like many breweries, Ten Eyck has a sense of locality and support for local businesses. When possible, they like to use locally available ingredients such as peaches, fresh hops from Black Locust Hops in Baltimore County, and black raspberries grown locally at Godrey’s Farm in Sudlersville.
For those who want something aside from beer, they make their own cider which is available at the brewery. They have added seltzers and even soft serve beer which is like soft serve ice cream, only made from and tasting like beer. They were actually the first to offer this product in Maryland (July 2021).
The beer garden is arrayed with tables created from local tree slabs and particularly wide armed Adirondack chairs fashioned to securely rest your body and your beer.
The Name
People ask about the name. Ten Eyck (pronounced ten-ike) is a family name for Nicki, originating in the Netherlands it translates as “at the oak”. Ten Eyck Brewing is an appropriate name, about a mile away is the site of where the Wye Oak stood, the largest white oak tree (Maryland’s state tree) in the country until it fell in 2002. A picture of that tree hangs in the taproom. While not from the Wye Oak, the bar is made from impressive slabs of oak the curve across the taproom. As their website says, “We named our brewery after the Ten Eyck family because we envision a place for the community to gather. Beer brings people together!”
“We named our brewery after the Ten Eyck family because we envision a place for the community to gather. Beer brings people together!”
Looking Forward
The first Eycktoberfest was held on October 17 — the second edition will be on October 9, 2021.
At some point, Ten Eyck plans to be a jumping off place for cyclists wanting to explore the many bucolic country roads of the mid-shore countryside. They already have cycling jerseys in the available merch, which would be a great way to remember a paired beer and bide ride.
While growlers and crowlers are available for draft beer to-go now, they have a small canning system on site and are offering cans to go which are also available at some local bottle shops.
Getting There
Ten Eyck is about 15-miles east of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, just off the intersection of US 50 (major beach corridor) and Rt. 213. Nicki said that some days is seems the brewery is filled with locals, some days from folks returning from a trip to the beach, but what is really fun are those days where there is a healthy mix of the two.
One Final Thought
Gents, you'll get a kick out of the men’s restroom. Sorry ladies, I didn’t check out to see if there was a women’s room bidet.
This is an expanded version of the article I wrote for the Mid-Atlantic Brew News — October/November 2020 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.
