Max's Taphouse Draft Expansion Opening Kick-off April 22nd

Just announced in an e-mail from Max's Taphouse (with typos corrected):

The time is coming soon!  Max's is almost finished with the new installation of its new draft system. In celebration of this, we have gone through our keg stock and picked out some of the best, rarest and tastiest beers we have.We will have 102 beers on draft and it's going to be a great line-up!

HERE IS A LIST OF SOME OF THE DRAFTS WE WILL HAVE ON:

Schnieder Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse

Het Alternatief Hik Blonde

Sint Canarus Potteloereke

The Bruery Saison de Lente

Aecht Schlenkerla Lentbier

Contreras Valeir Divers

Malhuer 10

Malhuer 12

Leipziger Gose

Fritz Briem 1809 Beliner Weisse

De Dolle Stille Nacht

De Dolle Dulle Teve

Mikkeller Simcoe Single Hop

Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin Single Hop

Mikkeller Cascade Single Hop

Mikkeller Tomohawk Single Hop

Mikkeller Amarillo Single Hop

Mikkeller East Kent Golding Single Hop

Mikkeller Nugget Single Hop

Mikkeller Chinook Single Hop

Mikkeller Warrior Single Hop

Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast Stout

Mikkeller Black

Amager Imperial Stout

Haandbryggeriet Nissefar

Brooklyn Dark Matter

JW Lees Harvest Ale

BFM Bats

BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon Chien 2007

Duvel Green

Hopfenstark Saison 55

Hopfenstark Saison 16

Hopfenstark Post Colnial

Hopfenstark Ostalgia

Hopfenstark Lou Lou Porter

Emelisse Barleywine

Emellisse Espresso Stout

Emelisse Rauchbier

Great Divide Oak Aged Espresso Yeti

De Hoevebrouwers Toria Triple

De Hoevebrouwers Toria

Het Alternatief Bitter Truth

Het Alternatief Ambetanterik

Evolution Sprung

Evolution Lot #6

Avery Maharaja

Bear Republic Nor Cal

Bear Republic Rebellion

Heavy Seas Letter Of Marque

Stone Sublimely Self Righteous

Ommegang Rare Vos

Ommegang Three Philosophers

Allagash Confluence

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Dogfish Head Midas Touch

Dogfish Head Raison Detre

Weyerbacher Quad

Dupont Biere De Miel

The Bruery Rugbrod

Southern Tier Jah Va

Great Divide Hercules

Pausa Cafe Chicca

Del Borogo Genziana

Italiano Tipo Pils

Le Trou Diable Weizgrip

Le Trou Diable La Buteuse

Le Trou Diable La Chose

Le Trou Diable La Grivoise

Le Trou Diable L'Imperatrice

RJ Rockers Fish Paralazer

Alvinne Podge (Cask)

De Regenboog Catherine The Great (Cask)

Olivers Cherry Blosom(Cask)

Stillwater Stateside (Cask)

Victory Bottoms Up Brown Ale(Cask)   ......  plus more TBA....

Firkins du Jour UPDATED

Max's Taphouse, Fells Point: Williams Bros. Grozet (gooseberry-wheat ale from Scotland), RCH Santa Fe (7.3% strong ale from England), Gwatkins Golden Cider (England), Williams Bros Session (a session ale from Scotland--3.8%), plus a Lagunitas en route.

Pratt Street Ale House, downtown via Facebook: " 'My Monkey's Got Wood' will be on the beer engine at the Pratt Street Ale House today starting @ 5pm. Special pricing 5 - 7pm ($3 10 oz snifter). This is the only cask of batch # 1 we'll be serving so come try it while you can!"

Metropolitan, Federal Hill: "Joker IPA from Williams Bros. Brewing in Alloa, Scotland.  Joker is a 4.3% Scottish IPA, which is copper colored and very elegant compared to many of the other IPAs we have served from time to time."

Frisco Grille, Columbia: Stillwater Saison.  More scheduled events, including a meet-and-greet with Allagash's Rob Tod on the 21st, here.

Dogfish Head, Rehoboth Beach: a firkin of 75 Minute IPA (via Graham and Facebook). 

From the comments: Clementine's, 5402 Harford Road in the Hamilton neighborhood, gets aboard the real-ale wagon with a firkin from Heavy Seas, to be tapped 5:30 Friday the 16th..............

Anyone else want to check in or report?

City Paper Brew Fest April 24th

Just a plug/reminder for what usually turns out to be a fun (and sold out) fest on the square at the foot of Broadway  in Fells Point every April.  Advance tickets here @ $30 each.

Preliminary list: of breweries:
Clipper City/Heavy Seas
Baltimore-Washington Beer Works
Twisted Tea <==not a beer, but..... well, you get the idea.......
Sam Adams
Leinenkugel
Otter Creek
Harpoon
Yuengling
Miller/Coors
Heineken
Warsteiner
Pratt Street Ale House/Oliver's
The Brewers' Art
Fordham
Old Dominion
Stoudts
Victory
Troegs
Red Brick Station..."more to come!", says the City Paper and your intrepid blogger...........  

Beer Bargain of the Year RIGHT NOW

Max;s Taphouse has long had a "house beer" special whereas they offer a selected beer (it's always whatever they want to move--heck, for all we know, someone's dangling them dollars to promote a beer, we know that's how this business runs) for $3.50 a "pint" glass "all day every day".

As I type, it's 1999 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale.

I kid you not.  Some places would be charging you an extra premium for this.  Ridiculously malty, chewy, AND hoppy, yet very dry in actual flavor, my wife says "grapefruit, grapefruit, grapefruit!"

Come and get it.  Don't say I never told ya.

Bawlmer Beers Update

John O'Melia, the founder of Bawlmer Beers, and I finally caught up and touched base.

Long story short--he's swamped in paperwork and tax stuff.  But there will be more on the story later.

To answer one question, however:  The brewing system in question apparently came from the now-defunct Hart Robinson Brewing Co. in Carleton Place, Ontario, the brewer of a well-renown line of English-style ales, some of which appeared in cask (including Dragon's Breath Pale Ale).

Beer Revolt at Camden Yards?

The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Cowherd is blogging about an apparent revolt against steep beer prices at Oriole Park at Camden Yards:

 A well-orchestrated chant in the terrace box seats the other night turned the traditional bugle call over the PA system into -- you can't make this stuff up -- a plea for more equitable beverage pricing.
Instead of just yelling "CHARGE! after the bugle call, a half-dozen of these folks were yelling: CHARGE! LESS FOR BEER!"

(Also from the article, and of serious note: "The crowd of 9,129 for Monday night's 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays was the lowest in Camden yards' 19-year history."  Oh, yes, look at all the economic return we're getting from building those stadiums and all but giving them to the sports teams' owners......)

Bare Bones, Ellicott City

Here's a place that has largely fallen off the radar screens of most craft beer fans.  This place, at St. John's Lane on Rt. 40 just west of Rt. 29 northwest of old Ellicott City, ceased being a brewpub years ago after an epic series of screw-ups involving a now-extinct Cockeysville location, and have since contracted with other craft breweries to do beers for them.  Currently, beers are brewed for them by Clipper City, Olivers, and Fordham.  The eight house beers (mostly a litany of familiar styles, though a surprise sneaks in every now and then) and root beer are often playing second fiddle to the place's famous BBQ ribs and free happy hour food buffet (liberal offerings of hot wings, roasted potatoes, pasta, tacos, cheese, veggies, meatballs, etc.).

But a surprise met me the other day as I stopped in prior to the SPBW "meeting" in Ellicott City:
"What's the guest tap [pointing to a bare wood tap handle)?"
"Sierra Nevada Bigfoot."
".............. You're kidding, right?"
"Nope."

And they weren't.  Bar manager Noel Johnson claimed responsibility for last week's heat wave: "Who knew it'd get this hot when I put it on?"  And it was delicious, heat notwithstanding.
Waiting on deck to replace it?  "I have two kegs of [Heavy Seas] Big DIPA, then [Dogfish Head] Life and Limb, and Limb and Life."

Stop ignoring this place, folks.  But you still might, depending on the specific beer, want to specify a non-chilled glass.

Local Winners in World Beer Cup

Congratulations are in order to Heavy Seas Beer, who won a Gold for its Heavy Seas Gold in the Golden or Blonde Ale category (beating out 49 other entries), a Bronze for its Heavy Seas Pale Ale in the Classic English-Style Pale Ale (out of 29 entries), and a Bronze in Vienna-Style Lager (28 entries) for its Heavy Seas Marzen (formerly BaltoMarzHon).

There's a local tie-in to the Small Brewpub of the Year Award to Devil's Backbone Brewery of Roseland, Va., whose brewer, Jason Oliver, is a former veteran of the Wharf Rat/Oliver's Brewery (and ironically, the brewery was not named after him, as we all know).

Brewer's Alley in Frederick won a Silver for its IPA in the "English-Style India Pale Ale" category (32 entries);  Flying Dog of Frederick won a Silver in Aged Beer for its 2007 Gonzo Imperial Porter (20 entries);
Rock Bottom of Bethesda took a Gold for its Highland Courage in Scottish-Style Ale (29 entries).

From the press release:

This year, 642 breweries from 44 countries and 47 U.S. states vied for awards with 3,330 beers entered in 90 beer style categories. The entries in each category were eligible for gold, silver and bronze awards. Judges presented a total of 268 awards.
The 2010 World Beer Cup eclipsed the record of the Brewers Association's own Great American Beer Festival (GABF) to become the largest commercial competition ever. There were 3,308 entries judged in the 2009 GABF, compared to the 2010 World Beer Cup's 3,330 entries judged.

Look over the list of winners here.

Firkins Update

Alonso's, Roland Park: "Tomorrow night we'll be drinking a firkin of Flying Dog Brewery Snake Dog. We'll tap her around 5:00."

Metropolitan Coffeehouse: Tonight:  Firkin of Stillwater Stateside Saison, with brewer Brian Strumke in attendance.

Judge's Bench, Ellicott City, Tonight: SPBW "meeting" featuring a firkin of Olivers Oak 3 Lions ale;. "We've also sent them Hot Monkey Love and Cherry Blossom Ale kegs as well," said brewer Steve Jones.

Frisco Grille, Columbia: Williams Bros. Joker IPA

Anyone else want to check in or "represent"?

 

Beverage Tax coming to Baltimore? UPDATED

WJZ-TV is reporting that one of the proposals by Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to close a $120 million budget deficit is a four-cent-a-drink tax on soda, bottled water, beer, and alcohol.

More here.  And here.

Stay tuned.