To find your way to Elder Pine Brewing & Blending (4200 Sundown Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20882) requires a drive through bucolic roads of Montgomery County MD. Not only will you enjoy the beer once your arrive, you're likely to enjoy the ride getting there.
I had the chance to meet with Paul Davidson, Elder Pine Brewing & Blending head brewer and co-founder and Brittany Slechter, taproom manager, just before opening on a Friday afternoon back in October of 2019. When you first enter the taproom you will notice the oak barrels, racks of them. Sure, it may be a convenient store space, but it also makes a statement about who they are. As you walk further into the taproom you take in the large black and white murals behind the bar and front wall that demand your attention. Sitting at the bar you'll discover the Elder Pine logo engraved into the bar top. Even the elegant all-black cans speak of a different kind of thinking about their beer and place.
Founders Paul Davidson and George Lynn met while brewing at Flying Dog Brewing. Together, they moved toward their mutual dream of opening their own brewery. Elder Pine is now a reality, located on an 17-acre Christmas tree farm planted by the Lynn family.
For a brewery that just celebrated their first anniversary that September (2019), they have come a long way. Building began in early 2016, and they were finally brewing near the end of 2018, almost three years later.
And the barrels. Paul told me there are “around 80 barrels, most of them are whiskey barrels. “We have some red wine barrels and these are tequila barrels that held red wine prior to tequila.”
Paul mentioned that they like to experiment with a variety of combinations. “Like the last blend we just released was a barleywine aged in rye whiskey barrels blended with a rye wine that was aged in rye whiskey barrels, and it was fermented with kviek (pronounced kvike), which is a Norwegian yeast that we use in a lot of beers.”
“Blending is the art of combining beers into a harmonious array of flavors, textures and aromas for a truly remarkable and unique experience.”
An Elder Pine philosophy on their beer blending states, ”Blending is the art of combining beers into a harmonious array of flavors, textures and aromas for a truly remarkable and unique experience. In particular, our barrel-aged beers will be fine-tuned and balanced through the blending process. Each aging vessel is unique and behaves differently from another vessel even mere inches away. The characteristic of these barrel-aged beers provides a dynamic palette for us to create the optimal blend at that particular moment in time.”
Elder Pine had just started distributing in Europe, sending three beers to six countries in collaboration with August Burns Red, heavy metal band on a European tour celebrating the 10-year anniversary of one of their best selling albums.
They create a wide array of beer styles including a Baltic porter, imperial stout, Kevik IPA, double IPA, fruited sour, black lager. And all of their beers are canned and send out for distribution. We have just joined the team at Tavour to help spread their beer across the country and have also just signed with a Delaware distributor, so now they can be found on the shelves in Maryland, DC and Delaware!
What’s next? Foeders are scheduled to arrive mid-January! “We just got the update that they are on their last stages of getting it ready to ship out! We have decided on our first beer for the foeder and it will be a dark lager.”
As if a trip to Elder Pine is not enough, three minutes down the road is Waredaca Brewing (4017 Damascus Rd, Gaithersburg, MD), a farm brewery where, “All beers made at WBC have ingredients in them that are grown or produced here on the farm.”
ONE MORE THING
I was so impressed with the beer, the atmosphere and the drive getting there, that I led a group of friends back to Elder Pine to share my experience. A good time was had by all.
Tuesday: 3:00 - 8:00 PM
Wednesday: 3:00 - 8:00 PM
Thursday: 3:00 - 8:00 PM
Friday: 3:00 - 9:00 PM
Saturday: 12:00 - 9:00 PM
Sunday: 12:00 - 7:00 PM
Elder Pine Brewery
4200 Sundown Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20882
elder@elderpine.com
elderpine.com
