Map of downtown brewpubs
Baltimore is well-fixed for good brewpubs with six pubs in the downtown area, and more in the works. There are also four more in the nearby suburbs (Plus a couple even further out...)
Baltimore Brewing makes lagers---and some of the best lagers in the U.S. Every beer made here is a perfect example of the style. The pils is light in color with a dense head and a powerful hop nose and flavor. Hopheads love the pils above all others. The maerzen is a sweeter, reddish-colored vienna-style maerzen with a soft malty character. The dark is a Munich-style dunkle, very malty with a good roasted malt flavor. The weizen is a bit cloudy, fairly light in body, with the characteristic spicy clove nose of a German weizen. People who don't understand weizens sometimes criticize this either because they don't understand the style, or because they don't like the style, but give it a try if you enjoy German wheats. Baltimore Brewing's beers are sold at pubs throughout the city as "DeGroen's".
Seasonal beers are always a treat at Baltimore Brewing. It seems to me that they really enjoy variations on the bock style since the last year has seen at least 3 bock sub-styles as the seasonal beer: a maibock, a weizenbock, and a dopplebock. Other styles, including an altbier and a smoked beer, occasionally show up and are always a treat.
The brewpub itself is a great place to drink. It feels like a German beer hall, with its wide-open atmosphere and high ceilings. The backbar is dominated by a large copper brewing kettle, which really IS a kettle, not a refrigerator like at some trendy brewpubs.
Food at Baltimore Brewing is fairly good and the prices are reasonable. I'm particularly fond of the brewery burger, though lately the venison goulash has been quite good.
Baltimore Brewing has done well in recent years at the Great American Beer Festival. In 1994 they picked up a silver medal for their pilsner. In 1995, they won the gold for their dopplebock. I'm very partial to their excellent rauchbock (smoked bock) which debuted in 1996 and returned in 1997.
Jump to Baltimore Brewing Company's
web page
Read Dave Brockington's Review of Baltimore Brewing's Pilsner
Photo of the
Baltimore Brewing Company (285 KB)
Seasonal ales are the area where Sisson's does best. In recent months they had a nicely balanced, lightly spiced Christmas ale, and in early 1997, a firm, sweet, dark, malty Scotch ale.
Sisson's has one of the best happy hours around. You can get a full pint of any of their house beers for about two bucks. Interestingly, they have a late night happy hour too, but I think this is only on certain weeknights.
If you're hungry, Sisson's has excellent food, since they're primarily a cajun/creole restaurant. Light fare consists of burgers, sandwiches, soups, salads, desserts etc., while dinner includes most of your seafood entrees etc. The gumbo of the day is always a winner.
Some past seasonal beers have included a very smooth cherry wheat beer that's made with about a half-pound of fresh cherries per gallon, so it's not an overwhelming cherry character, but somewhat subtle. They also brewed a Pagan Porter (OG 1058) that was smooth and chocolatey. One of my personal favorites is their Scotch ale, which is a seasonal beer. The 1994 version was malty and sweet with very little hops character, but the 1995 version tasted a more assertively hopped to me, and reminded me of the Scottish Ale brewed by Grant's. (Wharf Rat---aka "Olivers"---beers are also available at various other pubs around town, and at the Wharf Rat in Fells Point). Both the Pratt Street and Fells Point locations offer a sampler of 3 beers for 3 bucks---try several of their beers....great deal since the samples (half pint glasses) aren't skimpy like at some pubs. The sampler is not available on days when the Orioles are at home. Every Friday is "Firkin Friday" when a firkin of a cask-conditioned ale is opened and served until gone. The management seems to have a genuine appreciation for good beer in the British tradition. Good staff education, and a bevy of hand pumps.
Food at Wharf Rat is sort of English pub-grub style. Club sandwiches, ploughman's lunch, fish & chips etc. I like the meatloaf here which is made with a bit of sausage, giving it a more intense flavor than most meatloafs. Lately, they seem to have dropped the meatloaf at their Pratt Street location, but it's still available in Fells Point.
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taps at Wharf Rat (200 KB)
Photo of
Wharf Rat's brewhouse (200 KB)
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Wharf Rat exterior (200 KB)
Read Dave Brockington's Review of Wharf Rat's Special Bitter
Read Dave Brockington's Review of Wharf Rat's Blackfriar Stout
The menu is innovative and the quality is good, although some reviews in the press have given it mixed marks on consistency. Prices are fairly high if you're looking for pub grub, but are not really out of line with menus of this caliber. Although they did not initially serve lunch, they now open at noon.
The setting and decor is very chic. Upstairs is a classy restaurant with fireplaces in each of several rooms. The room next to the bar is set up as a casual lounge that feels like somebody's living room with it's sofa and easy chairs. Downstairs is a funky bar with cool little alcoves and nooks.
On a recent visit (5/16/97) they had 4 house beers on tap: a Belgian pale ale, "Ozzy", "Ressurection" (which is a somewhat sweet, but oddly hoppy dubbel), and a complex sweet-and-sour brown cherry ale.
Stopped in on 8/1/97 and had a very nice glass of wit. Not much lactic character, but a very smooth brew with a creamy head and just a hint of spiciness. Very pale color, and very light and refreshing. A superb summer-time brew!
The setting can best be described as industrial chic. When you walk in, you first think you're in a microbrewery, not a brewpub, but then you round the corner and there's the bar, several picnic tables, and an area with pool tables.
Food is mostly seafood. Some good, reasonably priced food. I had a shrimp sandwich that was excellent and cost about $7.
When I stopped by in mid-March (3/18/97), they had a brown ale that was fairly light in body, but too sharply hopped and dry in palate for what I look for in brown ales. I also tried their strong ale, which I found disappointingly light and watery. I can't imagine what possessed the brewers to think it was "strong"---it isn't. I tried the Aero 77 too, but was likewise disappointed: it's a very light-colored and light-bodied beer with some hop character, but not much. Aero 77 is, I think, light, bland, and rather uninteresting.
On another visit (4/22/97), I tried the stout and the porter. The stout was served under nitrogen and looked mighty appetizing, but I found the beer rather one-dimensional in that it displayed an almost acrid sharpness of black malt and was, I thought, a bit unbalanced. The porter, however, was quite good with a firm, creamy mouthfeel and a flavor of mostly chocolate malt.
Overall, the place shows a lot of promise and I look forward to stopping back, especially now that I understand a Belgian wit beer is in the works for the near future. Overall though, on my first two visits I found the beers disappointingly thin-bodied, weakly-flavored, and generally of average character lacking any real distinction.
Suburban brewpubs include:
Four house beers on tap when I visited in April 1996: Old Ellicott Ale, Patapsco Valley Gold, Tiber River Red, and Savage Mills Porter. When I visited a year later (4/22/97), the same beers were being served, but a seasonal India Pale Ale was available. The IPA was excellent and a real treat compared to the beers I'd had a year ago. The IPA had a firm body with a good amount of residual sweetness, which was dominated by the piney citric character that is the hallmark of American hop varieties such as Cascade or Centennial. I do not know what kind of hops or what kind of gravity this beer had, but I would guess that it's close to 1070 and that it was hopped with American hops to about 50+ bittering units. Again, a real treat and a beer that I hope is repeated.
From my 1996 tasting notes: The porter was light-bodied, some reddish hues, creamy head, generally smooth with a sharp acidic sour note. The Old Ellicott Ale was bland, watery, and unremarkable---it would probably be good for somebody who prefers bottled water to beer. The Patapsco Valley Gold was fairly decent and is similar to a European lager with noticeable hops and a nice light body. This beer also had very good clarity. The Red was smooth and lightly carbonated with quite a bit of sweetness.
I do not find the atmosphere of this bar to be especially comfortable, relaxing, or distinctive. Lots of black glass, plastic, and brass, reminding me of 1970s and 1980s fern bars.
Unfortunately, I have still not tried the food, although I have been told by several people that it is really quite good. Generally, I found the beers to be ordinary and uninspired and the staff to be not well educated in beer flavors and styles. This may have changed but I was not my usual inquisitive self on the 4/97 visit. Will keep you posted on my next visit. I'd like to hear more comments on this place, so please, check it out and send me e-mail.
About twelve guest beers as well, most of which are microbrewery products.
I didn't care for the atmosphere of the place, which struck me as artificial and trendy, with the brewpub thrown in as a gimmick. TVs everywhere. On my May 96 visit, the staff seemed poorly educated as to beer flavors and style and the beer was badly abused (Seriously, folks! Good beer never gets served in frozen mugs.) Beer temperatures are also too cold. When I asked about the beers, the bartender told me she didn't know because she hated the taste of beer. When I complained about the frozen mug, she looked at me like I was from Mars. This was the worst staff education I'd ever encountered in a brewpub.
Re-visited on 7/30/97 and am pleased to see some changes with respect to staff skill and knowledge. The beers were still served too cold and in frozen mugs, but at least this time the bartender was polite when I sent the beer back to be served in a decent glass. She also retained her sense of humor when I asked about the beers, giving reasonably informed answers and offering samples.
The beers on this latest visit were different from those on my first visit. They had a light lager, a golden ale, a porter, and a scottish ale. The scottish ale was fairly malty, but with a moderate diacetyl signature that would probably put off some drinkers, although I didn't find it too excessive for the style. The porter was quite malty with a pronounced chocolate nose. Fairly good, but it also had a similar diacetyl signature that was, I think, excessive.
The food is fairly good and reasonably priced. Had a blue cheese burger which was large and tasty.
The blonde is an unremarkable light beer for the mainstream, still-drinking-Dad's-beer, Bud drinkers. The brown ale is an American style brown, in the vein of Pete's Wicked Ale, but with a less malty character. Generally a cleanly-brewed beer, but lacks distinctiveness and complexity. The porter is very black in color with a sharp acrid bitterness of black patent malt. The description on the menu says "chocolate malt", but I get mostly a black malt character on it. Fairly low CO2. Again, a very cleanly-brewed beer, but lacking complexity. The beers were generally served too cold, which may contribute to my overall perception of them as fairly bland, pedestrian brews. This review reflects just one visit, and only a week or so after they opened, so I'll definitely be back to try the other brews, and I hope some of the pub's beer shortcomings are just due to their youth.
The kolsch is a 1040 OG beer with a firm malty body and a nice grassy hop character. It had some cloudiness and was a very pale golden color. The beer was fairly low in carbonation and did not retain its head well. The dunkelweizen is a poor example of the style, lacking any yeast complexity at all. I could detect no clove or banana traces at all, the flavor also lacked any discernible wheat signature. The color was much too light for a dunkelweizen. The dunkelweizen was a definite disappointment and needs quite a bit of work. The IPA, on the other hand, was one of the best examples of the style I've ever tasted at an American brewpub: redolent with Cascade hops in the nose, very distinct sharp hop flavor, and a long-lingering deep-seated hop bitterness make this a winner in my book and worth a visit. The IPA was well-carbonated, had good clarity, and retained its head very well. (Note: I have recently been told that the IPA's robust hop character got emasculated, so you might want to ask for a sampler before committing to a pint.)
On another visit had the nut brown ale, the oatmeal stout, and a plate of the thai chicken pasta. Everything was great. The nut brown ale had a moderate amount of diacetyl that seemed to give the beer a rounded depth and enhanced the body. Soft caramel and some low nuttiness. Good clarity, light brown color. Quite good. The oatmeal stout was outstanding. Very creamy and smooth with a lot of residual sweetness and some soft coffee and chocolate flavors. Seems to be right on target for style---a delicious beer. The oatmeal stout has a starting gravity of 1.060.
Recently (February 1997), they had an old ale called sumthin' or other Old Rock. It's a 1070 beer that's full bodied and malty sweet. Quite good, but with a bit of harshness and higher alcohol heat. As of March 1997, they have a great deal on Wednesday nights with $1 pints of house beers: they call it blues night: the Wednesday I stopped in they *were* playing blues, but off tapes, not a band as I'd hoped...sigh.
Brewpub located in the old fire hall right in the heart of Mt.Airy (a cool old town about 25 miles west of Baltimore). On a visit to the pub on 9/18/96, they had two house beers online --- a golden ale and an American pale ale. The golden was extremely light bodied and had an odd solvent-like smell that put me off. The American pale ale was quite good --- generally cleanly brewed with a nice deep amber color and a solid, fresh hop character throughout the flavor and aftertaste. Food is typical bar grub with variable quality. I had a chicken salad one night where the chicken strips were crunchier than the potato chips. Another night I had the chili, which was quite good with a deep-seated hotness. Some good guest beers as well.
Visited again on 2/13/97 and they had two beers on tap: the golden ale and a light-bodied Bohemian pilsner. Both were very similar in character---pale colored, moderate body, with a little bit of husky character in the flavor. The pilsner was hopped to a lower rate than I would like for the style. Unfortunately, they serve out of conditioning tanks here, and so will generally have no more than two house beers available at a time. This is unfortunate when, as on this visit, the beers are too similar in style. I was extremely disappointed in the bottled range as well. No representatives of the region's fine craft-brewed beers and no really good examples of the best American and imported brews.
Did I forget your favorite
place? Tell me about it...
Mark Stevens,
stevens@burp.org,
8/3/97
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