The Best Maryland Breweries
What are the best breweries in Maryland? I get asked that question occasionally. Of course I have my opinion, as we all do. Honestly, can this question be answered subjectively?
A Bit of Background
I attended the Black Flag Brewery’s 7th year anniversary event for their bottle club members in July 2023. It was an excellent experience. For one, I was able to sample all of their previous anniversary releases in a single flight. Just as interesting was the bottle share component of the evening. I brought a couple of prized beers from my beer fridge as did many others.
As I sat down at the bar, I confessed to the couple next to me that I am beer geek, thinking somehow I was unique. They smiled and said, “Look around, we all are.” I knew I was in good company.
Many beers were poured and shared that evening. And having a curious beer geeks mind and a writer on the subject, I asked several patrons there opinion of the best breweries in Maryland. I have asked this question (and am asked) many times and the response, I have learned, is sometimes determined by where you live in the state. The answers from people in the center of the state will likely answer with breweries from their area, as will those from the Eastern Shore.
But there is one source that provides numbers, ratings if you will, to beers and breweries — Untappd.
The Untappd Conundrum
I am the beer buyer for a local bottle shop near me. I often will utilize Untappd in my decisions to what to bring into the shop. The app is not my sole determining factor in the decisions. But, very often I have noticed people standing in front of the cooler doors viewing the Untappd app on their phone. Are they using it in their determining what beer they will be enjoying tonight?
I think so!
Sometimes when I bring in beer from a brewery new to our shop I will see the one rated slightly higher on Untappd purchased more often. It is my thinking, that these beer drinkers may know the brewery, but not the specific beers in the cooler before them. And, they are using the Untappd app to chose the higher rated beer.
It's a theory!
There is much trepidation when relying on Untappd for measuring a beer or a brewery’s worth. It is subjective of course. If we can get a look from above any individual review and look at the aggregate, the wisdom of the crowd, then I believe a more true assessment may be possible.
How is a brewery rating established on Untappd?
Untappd provides a description titled, “How are ratings determined on Untappd?”
This guide will help you understand what ratings are displayed where, how ratings are calculated and answer common questions about ratings!
As of this writing in August 2023, here are the 25 highest rated breweries in Maryland.
Ranking Criteria
According to Untappd, here is the criteria used for rating Top Rated Beers. I have added my own criteria for the list below. I used 1,000 ratings as the cutoff rather than Untappd 150. For some of the smaller breweries I've added the number of ratings at the time of this analysis in parentheses.
Brewery - To be a Top Rated beer for Untappd, a brewery must have 150 ratings or more. They must have at least 5 beers on the beer page, and a physical location tied to their brewery page to qualify for the Top Rated list.
Local - This is the rating displayed in the Local tab of the Top Rated Brewery list on the Discover page. This rating is calculated by the weighted formula below and will show breweries based within the search radius. This rating effectively rates all breweries against each other and gives weight to their beers with a higher rating count.
Global - This is the rating displayed in the Global tab of the Top Rated Brewery list on the Discover page. This rating is calculated by the weighted formula below. This rating effectively rates all breweries against each other and gives weight to their beers with a higher rating count.
Top Rated Maryland Breweries (Untappd Ratings August 2023)
Sapwood Cellars 4.12
The OtherSide Project 4.09 (1k)
Cushwa 4.07
Wet City 4.04 (12k)
Burley Oak 4.03
RAR 4.00
Saints Row 3.97 (33k)
Elder Pine 3.96
Nepenthe 3.92
Idiom 3.90
Midnight Run 3.90
Pipe The Side 3.90 (6k)
Third Hill 3.89
Black Flag 3.88
Brewery Fire 3.87
Forward 3.87 (18k)
Wico Street 3.86
Pickett 3.86
Pariah 3.86
Landmade 3.86
Ten Eyck 3.84
Burnish 3.84
True Respite 3.84
Checkerspot 3.82
Diamondback 3.81
Closing Thoughts
There you have it, the top breweries in the state. At least so says one source. While Untappd does provide numbers as assigned by the beer we enjoy and post to the app, we sometimes may have our biases when posting them. We may be influenced by the current ratings for the beer we are posting, sales reps certainly have an incentive toward upping a rating.
Let’s not get caught up in the numbers so much as enjoying the breath of great beer being created in Maryland. All of these breweries are making some excellent beer for us. Thank you!
One more thing! What do you think of rankings according to Untappd? Agree, disagree? Share your thoughts in the comments section and no one will ranking your taste in beer.
