In a grayish blue brick warehouse, married couple Brian Ogden and Carly Ogden, opened ATTABOY BEER in early 2017. The ample bar space includes a marble-topped serving station with a few metal-wood tables and exposed ceiling ducts as well as an imposingly bright orange and blue-walled, capital-lettered BEER logo. Located at the same warehouse as Smoketown’s Creekside brewery, Attaboy generally specializes in crafting soft-toned pale suds while its neighboring competitor goes for more barrel aged dark ales.
Currently, Attaboy’s large warehouse-renovated glass-encased 10-barrelhouse operation (with several wood barrels for aging) lies on the other side of Carroll Creek just a few blocks away. That location concentrates on blended barrel-aged sour ales and one-off experimental brews.
I enjoyed two fine saisons at the benched parking lot patio during my June ’20 one-hour excursion.
Tart hibiscus-flowered lemon meringue creaming gathers white grape, papaya, passionfruit and orange blossom illusions to lather dry white-peppered herbage above hay-like barnyard leathering for Golden Fields Saison.
Even more tart, spritzy barrel aged saison,Farmboy (Raspberry), retained dry rosé, champale, shiraz and pinot tones as well as sour gooseberry, green grape and cranberry nuances that underscored its herb-salted raspberry piquancy.
In the midst of a mini-mall stationed just next door to Midnight Run Brewing on the outskirts of Frederick, Maryland, ROCKWELL BREWERY owner Paul Tinney (a guitar designer) and brewmaster Scott Kernon succeed at creating an “intimate and fun atmosphere” for lovers of straightforwardly stylistic suds.
Recalling a black-walled art deco studio, this mid-sized brewery’s exquisite post-modernist neo-Industrial setting features glimmering bulb-lit ROCKWELL lettering along the wall, an abstract tap station, mosaic wood bar, stark ceiling-bound exposed pipes and sturdy community tables.
The brewhouse and storage deck the rear and a cement benched deck with partial covering allows for extra seating during my friendly June ’20 excursion.
First up, mild helles lager, Mausketeer, plied maize-dried astringency to herbal Hallertau hops, musky pilsner malts and acrid barnyard mustiness for a briskly light-bodied thirst quencher.
Best sellin’ Rapture, a crisply dry blonde ale, lets spritzy lemon zest snuggle alongside grassy-hopped cracked wheat rusticity for perfect lawnmower fodder.
Dewy peat moisture soaks into sweet tobacco-roasted mocha malts for That “B” CB English Pale Ale, allowing British Golding hops to provide slight floral herbage.
Honeyed caramel spicing sweetened Sump N Good, a fine Vienna lager with subtle peach, apple, pear and cherry illusions.
Toasted amber grains and caramelized chocolate malts led Dropkick Irish Red, a dewy moderation scattering leafy-hopped red and orange fruiting.
Easygoing Spacegrass East Frederick IPA gathered floral-daubed peach, pineapple, grapefruit and orange tanginess for its dry piney hop lacquering.
Dry piney citrus bittering engaged floral-perfumed hops for Smooth Operator, an “easy IPA” garnering tangy orange-grapefruit, peach and pineapple juiciness.
A hazy yellowed glow brightened lactic Tidal Wave, a trusty New England IPA posting tangy grapefruit zest, tart passionfruit sedation and guava-candied pineapple souring.
Tart raspberry puree spread across candied lemon, green grape, guava and gooseberry souring for salt-licked Raspberry Beret, a lightly vinous sour ale.
Smooth coffee overtones fronted nitogenated Speed Of Darkness, a dry Irish Stout dangling mild dark cocoa creaming above waxy black patent malts.
Heavenly mocha moderation, Bitchin’ Camaro Milk Stout, brought soothing chocolate-coffee creaminess to fudged brownie, toffee and cookie dough sweetness.
Sublime Ace Of Spades Barleywinebolstered rummy cherry, burgundy, raisin and fig tones with toffee-spiced molasses chocolate malting.
Former garage-bound alchemists now specializing in ‘non-conformist ales,’ MIDNIGHT RUN BREWING is the creation of two collaborative friends, Rich & Brent. Since opening September ’17, the crafty science and art duo have continued to make unique small batch brews for local brethren and traveling connoisseurs alike.
Inside a freestanding red brick edifice dressed up in black art deco, its stained concrete floor, exposed pipes and milled wood left wall retain a semi-rustic feel. A three-barrel brew room is in the rear and an Edison light-chained back patio has three community tables.
Startling the senses with some of the most original, exciting and varied brews in Western Maryland, Midnight Run began serving suds Saturday at noon for my June ’20 visitation.
Limey blueberry bittering gained honeyed oats sweetness for sessionable Eternity Pale Ale, a tidy light-bodied opener.
Flagship India Pale Ale,Tempo, maintained sessionable accessibility as vibrant grapefruit, peach, tangerine, mango and papaya tropicalia seeped into piney wood tones as well as salty-spiced white peppering.
Sweet vanilla-creamed orange tang serenaded ‘hazy IPA,’ All Together, picking up herbal piney hop resin and brisk grapefruit-peeled lemon licks.
Zesty orange peel briskness dominated S.I.P.A., a crystal malt sweetened India Pale Ale with subtle herbage.
Crisply clean Imperial IPA, Atat, brought peachy orange-candied grapefruit tanginess to wood-dried peppery herbs and sturdy pale malting.
Dewy Belgian yeast added fungi cellared mildewing to bittersweet grapefruit-peeled orange zest for Continuum, a funky tropical (Citra-El Dorado-Cashmere-hopped) IPA.
Mild powder-candied raspberry tartness and vinous white grape must enveloped easygoing sour ale,Electric Monster: Sweet-Tart.
Mellow Belgian Blonde, Golden Child, tranquilized the tongue with its spicy lemon-candied repose, dainty banana bubblegum stint and herbal lemongrass nip.
Debonair ‘golden quad,’White Devil, revealed candi-sugared spiced rum, banana daiquiri, sugared fig, candied apple, lemon meringue, creamy vanilla and Chardonnay illusions dotting white-peppered clove, allspice and ginger snips in a dank cellared fungi yeast setting.
White chocolate-spiced Imperial Blonde Ale, White Sexual Chocolate, allowed vanilla-creamed cocoa nibs to caress light whiskey tones over dry honeyed pale malts.
Caramel espresso latte knockoff, American Darkness Oat Stout, let molasses maple oats sweeten its ancillary cocoa nibs, toffee and vanilla daubs against tarry black patent-malted bittering as distant bruised black cherry notions and mild anise spicing surfaced.
Confectionery chocolate-candied Imperial Milk Stout, Milky Way, proved exceptionally luscious as caramel, vanilla, toasted coconut, marshmallow and molasses cookie undertones kept the sweetness going strong. The fudgy Milky Way knockoff also revealed latent cocoa-dried espresso serenity, bruised cherry tartness and hazelnut pasting.
Tucked into a quiet residential neighborhood within walking distance of downtown Frederick, OLDE MOTHER BREWING COMPANY originated a few blocks away and opened its doors, Halloween ’15. Now with a larger production facility and tasting room since 2018, Olde Mother occupies a spacious red brick building (with green awning and insignia-stenciled windows). Its cement-floored, steel-beamed expanse features a rustic bench-laden front bar and rear 10-barrel brewhouse stationed behind the auxiliary community-tabled back bar.
Offering a ‘few twists’ on many traditional styles and a tad bolder than the norm, Olde Mother’s refined sour ales and India Pale Ales led a menu including a hefewiezen, lager and English Brown (the only dark ale available).
While sitting in the alleyway patio I quaffed three beers during my sweltering June ’20 noon sojourn.
Lemony banana-clove stead stays subtle alongside sweet vanilla creaming for moderate-bodied hefeweizen, Tempest, utilizing open fermentation to expose delicately dank floral herbage.
Dry champagne-tingedrosé wining silkily lather Aurora Rose, a spritzy sedation with floral hibiscus wisps teasing its grape-leafed wine must.
Bold flagship IPA, Impressionist, maintained a mildly embittered grapefruit-orange-pineapple influx, tangy tangerine run-up and perky mango salting enjoined by dry pine resin over softly creamed crystal malting.
Located at Olde Mother Brewing’s former space, JUG BRIDGE BREWERY began crafting ‘good righteous beer’ with briskly gleaming flavor profiles June 1, 2019 (closing 2023). Sporting a three-barrel brewing system with four tables, three TV’s below the black-tiled low ceiling and a second tap room in the rear, this independent nanobrewery sprouted from a small home brewing hobby.
Happily dispatching small-batch beers from the outskirts of brew-friendly Frederick, Jug Bridge proprietor, Mathew Townsend, has carved out his own small niche.
I sunk a few suds at the patio during June ’20.
Crisply clean summertime moderation, Schifferstadt Kolsch, let lemon-dried tartness and grassy hop astringency sway lightly creamed crystal-malted sourdough breading.
Surprisingly heady for a hefeweizen, Midsummer Harvest, retained plantain-dried banana and clove resonance frequented by sour lemondrop tartness and tempered lemongrass-sage herbage.
Lemony raspberry puree tartness overlaid hay-like barnyard acridity for Wedding Grisette -Raspberry, a rustic farmhouse ale with vinous green grape, jellied guava and sour cranberry reinforcing its acidulated raspberry jamming.
Milk chocolate sweetness picked up light vanilla-creamed coffee tones for delightful Milk Dud-like Sagner Avenue Oatmeal Stout, a confectionery candy bar placing cedar-burnt hop resin upon its trusty fig-hazelnut-pecan conflux and maple-sugared oats bottom.
Velvety Anniversary Stout aged on Mc Clintock Bourbon proved to be a perfect nightcap! Lovely bourbon vanilla sweetness draped molasses-sapped brown chocolate sugaring while paprika-nipped chili heat increases alongside cinnamon coffee tones.
Inside a cavernous maroon barnhouse with river rock stone base along Kings Highway, Lewes-based BIG OYSTER BREWERY is only a few miles northeast of the original Rehoboth Beach joint. Its wood-floored interior features a Cathedral ceiling, Industrial metal-wood dining area, a few TV’s and tall glass-encased brew tanks behind the eight-seat bar. At the entrance, a smiling moose head, antique Coca-Cola machine, upside down canoe and several wall-hung items greet patrons.
During June ’20 dinnertime trip after soaking up sun at beautiful Cape Henlopen beach, sat at metal-furnished grass field just past the six-tabled back covered deck. Grabbed some raw clams and oysters as well as nachos to go with four India Pale Ales, a pilsner, witbier, tripel, and stout.
Retried brisk flagship, Hammerhead IPA, a sharply citric moderate body with mild piney resin and astringent Citra-Mosaic hop bittering guiding its floral lemon-seeded grapefruit and orange rind musk.
Creamily lactic-sugared India Pale Ale, Double Delaware Dreamsicle, let zesty orange tanginess obtain bittersweet Madagascar vanilla beaning in a cold-conditioned kettle hop setting.
For a pleasingly sunshiny Dreamsicle offshoot, vanilla-creamed orange juicing enhanced the pureed mango tang of dry-hoppedDouble Mango Dreamsicle, leaving cotton-candied sweetness upon the candied tropical fruited finish.
Richly frothed Cascadian Dark Ale, Hello Darkness Double IPA, retained mild coffee-roasted dark chocolate bitterness that overrode piney citrus hop char.
Maize-dried straw wheat, pasty sourdough and herbal Saaz hops informed German-styled moderation, Public Pils.
Zesty orange peel sweetness and mild coriander spicing picked up bitter lemon rind, candied peach, salted mango, tart peach and sweet banana bubblegum illusions for Solar Power, a delectable witbier with a honey-dripped pale malt wheat base.
Sweet-tart blueberry steeped in black tea bittering mildly affected politely spelt-malted tripel, Noir Et Bleu.
Caramelized coffee vanilla stout, On Point, retained creamy lactic mocha resilience and sweet toffee splendor for a durable dessert treat.
On tap at Growler & Gill, richly rewarding pastry stout spreads fudgy peanut-buttered milk chocolate creaming all over lightly curdled lactic sourness. Tongue-coating mocha richness gains medium-roast coffee tone as well as toasted coconut-marshmallow remnant and anise-licked black cherry/ raspberry rasp.
On tap at Ambulance, dry coffee roast subsumes lactic dark chocolate-soured Black Patent malting and Baker’s chocolate bittering contrasting less profound oats-sugared cookie dough sweetness. Mild vanilla bean, marshmallow and earthen dew illusions settle below.
On tap at Seven Lakes Station, nitrogenated version of English Oatmeal Stout contrasts coffee-burnt dark chocolate roast with cacao walnut brownie fudging and milk-sugared maple oats above mustily earthen bottom. Mellow Arabica black coffee roast lingers above nutty respite at the finish.
Creamily resilient English-style brown ale presents dark chocolatey Cubano espresso deliverance to lactic vanilla milking. A precise Cuban coffee knockoff, its pervasive lactose cacao nibs continuance soothes the soul as molasses-sapped burnt caramel and tertiary cola-pecan-hazelnut-walnut illusions add further luster to frothy espresso seduction.
On tap at Ambulance, dry Northwest-Styled IPA blends woody Simcoe hop astringency with floral citrus-spiced Cascade hop brightener. Spritzy lemon sunshine gleams alongside orange-candied grapefruit, pineapple and peach tang in ‘standard’ moderate-to-medium-bodied manner.
