The First Weekend of Baltimore Beer Week 2011

Continuing the event suggestions for Baltimore Beer Week with the Columbus Day Weekend of Baltimore Beer Weekend:

October 8th: Get an early start with our exclusive tour of the landmark Wiessner/American Brewery at 1700 N. Gay Street, between 9 AM and noon.  Then head either north to Timonium for the Maryland Brewers Oktoberfest, the biggest beer festival of the week, or southeast to Highlandtown and Mark Supik & Co. on Haven Street, for homebrew and a look at one of the nation's premier custom tap handle makers.  If those don't work for you, there are brunch events at Mt. Airy Inn and Metropolitan.  For something different, The Judge's Bench offers a blind tasting of mass-marketed industrial lagers; Hellas in Millersville is cracking open a Sam Adams Utopias to join a Sam Adams tasting line-up; Max's is showing a Yeti-themed movie to go with the Great Divide Yeti horizontal tasting; Mahaffey's is pouring "double digit" beers (i.e. beers above 10% abv); and Leinenkugel's Downtown Beer Festival features door prizes and a chance to win a trip to Wisconsin.  All 30 Saturday events are here.

October 9th: The line forms at sunrise for a chance to purchase one of the 101 bottles of Olde Bay Saison from Stillwater Artisinal Ales brewer Brian Strumke at Max's Taphouse beginning at 10 a.m., after which 20 Stillwater beers will be on tap.  The other big events include the Maryland Beer Festival at Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia and the Historical Walking Pub Tour of Highlandtown, Brewers Hill, and Canton, beginning at Elliott's Pour House at 3 p.m.  Join Baltimore Beer Week co-founder and Brewer’s Hill native Dominic Cantalupo along with the well-respected Baltimore Sun journalist and writer, Rob Kasper and Baltimore City Liquor Board Chairman, Steve Fogleman, as they take you on a walking pub tour through Brewer’s Hill and Canton.
Other events:  Pancakes and Pints for breakfast at Mahaffey's; the family-friendly pumpkin-carving (with pumpkin beers, of course) at Alonso's in Roland Park; a women's-only homebrew competition fundraiser for breast cancer research at Maryland Homebrew; an animal-shelter fundraiser at TBonz; another beer festival (with a Flying Dog fundraiser for a local school) at Honeygo Liquors in Perry Hall/White Marsh; a homebrew tasting competition of a different sort at Kloby's (raising money for firefighters); a Haunted Pyrate Pub crawl in Fells Point; speed-dating over Yards love Stout at Metropolitan; The Wharf Rat open on Sunday for once; and lots of pint nights.  Peruse all 28 events here.

October 10th:  Some folks get that day off from work as Columbus Day.  What's a Columbus?  Anyway, the big event that day is the limited-seating Beer Forum at Bertha's; $30 gets you a luncheon featuring the area’s most prominent brewers, including Steve Jones from Oliver’s, Mike McDonald from White Marsh/Red Brick, Volker Stewart from The Brewers Art and Hugh Sisson from Heavy Seas Beer.  Other events include beer dinners at Frisco Taphouse (their first ever), Alewife, and Mt. Airy Inn, a beer brunch at Metropolitan, and far too many firkins and beer tastings to recount.  Look for yourself instead.