28 November 2008

The Owl Bar

The Baltimore Sun's Sam Sessa ("Midnight Sun") has a post on the wonderful place all of us beer geeks keep passing up in order to go across the street to the Brewers' Art:

The Owl Bar. In the former Hotel Belvedere at Chase and Charles Streets.

Yes, the bar, as well as the lobby you pass through to get there, is a freakin' time capsule, although the beer selection now reflects modern drinking sensibilities, with a good selection of micros. If you haven't been there, you must go. Now. Before someone manages to turn it into a modern nightclub or a sushi bar. Dress properly; I feel out of place in sneakers there. Bonus points for a fedora and trenchcoat. And check out what may be one of the last phone booths in Baltimore while you're there, before the phone companies render the last of Superman's changing rooms to the history bins.

(For any phone historians keeping track, I believe Baltimore's last actual free-standing phone booth--a three-sided box with a door or one in a past life, not a phone stand or kiosk--sits on the south side of Wilkens Avenue just west of Hilton Avenue, outside St. Agnes Hospital. I'd welcome reports of any others in the region; the last one in the metropolitan DC region, in Clarendon, Va., was removed earlier this year.)

4 comments:

Brad said...

I'm doing things backwards. I've been to the Owl Bar but not Brewer's Art. Though I've had my fair share of Ozzy and Resurrection. Anyway, great place to hang out. I believe there's a brick oven you can hover around too.

cs.dramaturg said...

Totally agree about the time-warp effect of going into the Owl Bar. Order the pizza! Yes, the beer selection feels a bit more 'modern' but if you go with a classic cocktail you can't miss. It's like sipping a little dram of Prohibition.

And don't miss the Thirteenth Floor upstairs (with ballroom dancing lessons and supper on Wednesday nights!)

betsy said...

It's lovely. It always feels like 2 in the morning there.

BeerGuy said...

I really like the Owl Bar. The food is decent as well, their Old Bay wings are fantastic, cooked perfectly.

Nice long bar, plenty of seating, can hang out there beforehand if Brewer's Art isn't open, decent number of taps, some contract-brewed house beers, they always seem to have a Dominion offering and the Troegenator and a rare (for MD.) Shiner or two, usually the Hef and I think the Bock.