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Good news for beer drinkers! Brewpubs are
becoming popular in Baltimore. Six brewpubs with the happy combination of
craft brewing with accompanying places to eat some surprisingly good meals
have found homes near Bucconeer.
Between the Convention Center and Camden Yards baseball stadium is where you can find the Wharf Rat—home of the Oliver Brewing Co. Proprietor Bill Oliver brews British-style beers, many dispensed by handpump. Their beer menu lists three cask-conditioned ales including a Best Bitter (described as an English amber ale), Oliver E.S.B. (somewhat higher in alcohol content), and Oliver Export Ale (an India Pale Ale (I.P.A.) style beer made using English hops). On Fridays at 4 p.m. they tap a small keg and serve the ale by spigot—and the ale varies from week to week. Also listed are two "slow pour ales": Oliver Cream Ale and Oliver Blackfriar Stout. With ten more draught ales named, eight more "guest draughts" including Doc Smitty's cider and Old Dominion root beer (non-alcoholic), and 30 bottled beers, you will certainly find an appropriate beer to enjoy with or without food.
This was the only pub I visited that offered a beer tasting sampler. For $3.00 you are given four to five ounce tastings of three Olivers products. Samples are served daily until 7 p.m. EXCEPT baseball game days.
Oliver's Wharf Rat is located at 204-208 Pratt Street (410-244-8900). The original Wharf Rat at Fells Point still remains happy to serve customers at 801 Ann Street, but they do not brew on site.
Capitol City Brewing Company opened at Harborplace as a restaurant only, trucking its beer in from other branch locations but it should be brewing on site now. Capitol City seats 380 including an outside patio. This should be a great place to people-watch with a view of the harbor for a backdrop.
I have only visited the Capitol City facility in Bethesda, where they had four to five beers on tap and lots of bottled brews from which to select. I am anticipating the chance to compare the Harborplace facility at 301 South Light Street (410-539-7468).
Sisson's Brewpub is Maryland's first brewpub. Hugh Sisson serves four regular brews. One is Marble Golden Ale using pale, crystal, and Munich malts with Saaz hops to produce their approach to a pilsner-style beer. My favorite is Stockade Amber Ale, their interpretation of an English bitter. They serve Redweiser, Blueberry Wheat, and Edgar Allen Porter.
But they always have a seasonal specialty beer as well, and 30 bottled selections. Sisson's also makes its own root beer.
Opened as a Cajun-Creole restaurant in 1979, Sisson started brewing in 1989. The menu now includes a variety of foods from burgers to shrimp creole. And through glass windows you can view the brewery activities that produce three to four batches (two to three thousand gallons) weekly.
Private rooms may be reserved for up to 150 people. Parking is available on two nearby lots. Opposite a side entrance to the Cross Street Market, Sisson's is located at 36 East Cross Street (410-539-2093).
Theo DeGroen opened the Baltimore Brewing Company in 1989. On the site of a former brewery, this brewpub offers four German style beers: Dunkles, MÆrzen, Pils, and Weizen. Six seasonal brews are cycled through the appropriate seasons, and you can expect Helles during July and August.
Food ranges from Plowman's Lunch to Chipotle Salad and Sauerbraten to Blackened Catfish Caesar Salad. (I don't make these up, I just report them.)
Tours are available by appointment. The brewpub is located at 104 Albemarle Street (410-837-5000).
The Brewer's Art has been recommended to me by fellow brewers. This brewpub is described in Barleycorn Magazine as "...emphasizing fine dining European "peasant cooking" and Belgium-style brews (guest and in-house)." Several blocks north of the Convention Center, it is located at 1106 N. Charles Street (410-547-9310).
The Globe Brewpub is the newest of our group. Styles of beer offered are a light, a pale ale, an I.P.A., and a brown ale—with additional seasonal specialty beers. This facility is so large the people at the other function probably didn't even know that customers were sitting at the bar. The building was originally part of Bethlehem Steel. They serve normal pub food. Globe is located across the south side of the Inner Harbor at 1321 Key Highway (410-347-7964).
All of the brewpubs we visited were handicapped accessible, but some were still limiting to free movement. For example, Sisson's is a two level restaurant, but has no elevator. Smoke from the bar on the lower level drove me out.
And if you drink, go with a non-drinking designated driver, take a cab, or have a nice long walk to your next brewpub.
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