ALVARIUM CRUNCHY ROLL RICE LAGER
On tap at Ambulance, crushable Japanese rice lager brings 'delicate cracker maltiness and flaked brown rice' to lemongrass-spruced Sorachi Ace hops. Limey white grape esters provide mild souring.
FOREIGN OBJECTS NANSENSU JAPANESE RICE LAGER
On tap at Ambulance, modest pale yellowed Japanese lager retains rice-wined Sake earthiness and wispy lemon-soured ginger spicing over salted cracker base.
KEUKA 607 LAGER
Easygoing pale lager merges spritzy dried orange musk and bittersweet apple skin tannins with dank floral-tinged earthen hop herbage over neutralized sweet breaded crystal-Vienna malting.
JACK’S ABBY RED TAPE AMBER LAGER
On tap at Ambulance, understated Bavarian dark lager scours cereal grained barley roast with lightly spiced plum-prune conflux and mild leafy hop astringency for soft-toned dunkel-styled moderation.
TWO GOATS HECTOR LOGGER LAGER
Smooth soft- watered golden clear lager lets salty raw-grained minerality seep into peppery lemon spot and wispy spiced orange tingle for less discriminating light-to-moderate bodied imbibers.
HUDSON VALLEY FEEL NO WAY PILSNER
On tap at Ambulance, lemony white-wined Hallertau Blanc-hopped German pils tosses puckered lime peel bittering at cilantro-spiced peppercorn and chrysanthemum atop hay-dried pilsner malting.
BLACK FLAG BREWING COMPANY
COLUMBIA, MARYLAND
Established in 2015 with a second location now in nearby Marriotsville, BLACK FLAG BREWING COMPANY's flagship at Columbia gave founder Brian Gaylor his footprint in the Maryland brew scene. Despite borrowing its moniker from anarchic punk band, Black Flag, the sterling wood-ensconced pub features a 'warm color palette' leading to the 'boulevard of brewtanks' in the rear.
Inside a tan stone professional building with gleaming cement lacquered floor, Black Flag's 12-seat, 15-draught oak top bar services several pristine metal-seated community tables. Exposed pipes at the black ceiling offer dramatic contrast to the yellow wooded splendor.
My wife and I grabbed a few core brews and one-offs, some slightly beyond the 'established norm,' on our February '24 Baltimore-Columbia excursion.
Toffee-sugared banana, cherry and fig guided creamily caramelized Dubbel Doug, a sweet spiced Belgian styler.
Waxy tropical fruiting gained vanilla-creamed oated wheat density for Stupid Sexy Wizard NEIPA, coalescing mild lemon-limed grapefruit bittering with yogurt-like pineapple tartness and tangy mandarin orange sweetness.
Terpene-infused hop oiling lent dank cannabis gunk to the salted mango, lemon meringue and buttery Chardonnay influences of Maui Waui, a hazy NEIPA with a boozy gin flourish.
Yet another tropical NEIPA, Sun Run, let softly billowing oated wheat creaming froth its lightly pined Citra-Mosaic hop fruitiness as yellow grapefruit, white peach, navel orange, mandarin orange and pineapple tanginess glimmers.
White peach and Bosc pear combined for Crumble: Peach & Pear, a cinnamon-spiced fruited sour.
Mild chocolate nuttiness reached oats-sugared malts for Suede Shoes Brown Ale, using English ale yeast to invite wispy fruity esters.
Black chocolate and mild coffee roast merged for Dark Arts Imperial Stout, picking up latent hop charred nuttiness.
Blending Dark Arts with Fuzzy Whitaker Raspberry Wheat Sour created Dark & Fuzzy, a delightful combo securing its tart raspberry souring with lemony white grape tannins to contrast ascendingly sweet Black Forest caking.
Then came two exquisite barleywines for dessert. First, 'unaged' Uncut Diamonds retained smooth caramelized toffee spicing, buttery whiskey serenity and dried fruited plum-fig conflux as well as heady 11.3% ABV.
An even more complex nightcap, luxurious barleywine, Sunken Diamonds, sank fruitful cuvee-like Madeira wining into lovely bourbon, rum and brandy aged whiskey caramelization, garnering tertiary medicinal cherry, bruised orange and sherry illusions. CUSHWA BREWING COMPANY – COLUMBIA
COLUMBIA, MARYLAND
Gaining high acclaim amongst the entire Maryland brewing community, CUSHWA BREWING COMPANY's second location inside a maroon-edged white brick building at Columbia opened in 2023 and serves "Rad Pies" as well as Mocktails to complement their sturdy array of home brews. Cushwa's original Williamsport brewhouse along the Potomac River also continues to thrive since 2016.
A half-mile from Reckless Shepherd, Cushwa features 40-plus taps, multiple community tables, an art deco black ceiling and windowed frontage. An illuminating white Cushwa sign overlooking the white-tiled bar captures attention.
I visited Cushwa February '24 to quaff nine beers on site and another two canned afterwards (reviewed in Beer Index).
Year-round light bodied fave, Pura Pils, let fizzy lemon spritz prickle floral-daubed grassy hop astringency over musty pilsner-malted bread crusting.
Designed to pair with pepperoni pizza, pithy red and orange fruiting and light caramel spicing reached sugary cereal grained pale malting for Rad Beer Lager.
Tidy straw gold kolsch, Kolschwa, brought semi-sharp IPA-like citrus perfuming and Hallertau Blanc white wine esters to the fore as buttery Easter bread flouring sweetened the dry pale malt base.
Dryer than most hefeweizens, Never Say Hefe maintained politer banana-clove sweetness and blanched honeyed wheat bottom, letting herbal whims skim the surface.
Valentine's Day fruited wheat, Cupid's Boldt, let its subtle strawberry adjunct pick up tart rhubarb tanginess and blood orange snips above raw-honeyed wheat.
Lighter than a Belgian pale ale, pilsner-malted patersbier, Father Time Enkel, let fungi Abbey yeast infiltrate delicate champagne bubbling, subtle banana sweetness and white peppered herbal spicing.
Easygoing New England IPA flagship, Cush NEIPA, plied lemony grapefruit and orange tanginess to dry hemp-oiled pine resin and mellow floral daubs.
Dry West Coast-styled Imperial IPA, Like A Million Elephants, merged piney citrus glitz with mild herbage, dainty florality and pale crystal malt sugaring in an unassuming 8% ABV whirl.
Resounding Mexican coffee stout, Seven Caves, coalesced dark-roast coffee, dry espresso and vanilla-creamed cinnamon spicing. RECKLESS SHEPHERD BREWING COMPANY
COLUMBIA, MARYLAND
In tandem with Frisco Taphouse restaurant, RECKLESS SHEPHERD BREWING COMPANY became Howard County's first full-time craft brewery during 2017. A large multi-purpose gray brick venue hosting live entertainment at its high ceilinged art space, Reckless Shepherd's pristine modern industrial setting captures an upscale sportsbar atmosphere.
Founding owner Adam Carton began brewing in 2004 and by 2012 developed Push Brewing's 7-barrel system inside Frisco Taphouse. Renamed Reckless Shepherd in 2017, the 20-barrel Columbia, Maryland taphouse continues to gain attention with their eccentric blend of elixirs (plus Frisco's extensive pub menu).
The 20-seat bark top main bar at Reckless Shepherd fronts several wood tables and the glass enclosed brew tanks stand impressively tall in the rear. There are multiple TV's and a large entertainment space leading to a theatre screen. The right side restaurant has an oak-topped bar with 30-plus tile-walled draughts, several wood seats and a community table.
On my February '24 Columbia brew trek, discovered five diverse draughts.
'Steadfast classic ale,' Loyally Blonde, escorted sour citrus musk, white peach stipend and dry Noble hop herbage to its mild rye wheat base.
Hopheads rejoiced the dry floral perfumed citrus sharpness and pungent bark-dried pine lacquering given extremely bitter nickel-cleared IPA, Chico & The Man Celebration, raising juniper-licked navel orange, yellow grapefruit rind and salted pineapple illusions atop sugary pale malted cookie dough base.
Cinnamon-sticked vanilla sweetness elevated the powdered sugar cannoli pastry creaming and wintry nutmeg-ginger spicing contrasting the astringent hop phenols of Santa's Little Helper Christmas Blonde, letting its lemony orange fizz prickle the nose in between.
A medium roast coffee overture invited debittered dark chocolate and tart cocoa powdering to Black patent malts for full-bodied porter, Working Class Hero, leaving walnut-charred burnt wood tones on the backend.
Creamy dark chocolate syruping coated milk-sugared coffee countering tarry hop char of full-bodied nightcap, Mr. Gorbachev '24 Russian Imperial Stout. JAILBREAK BREWING COMPANY
HYSTERIA BREWING COMPANY
CHECKERSPOT BREWING COMPANY
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
Beginning operations September 1, 2019 at the Pigtown site now occupied by M8, CHECKERSPOT BREWING COMPANY moved westward down the street to an eye-catching black cinder-blocked warehouse with yellow butterfly trim and white company lettering.
Entrepreneurial brewing spouses Rob and Judy Neff renovated their new Checkerspot digs in 2023 at a former industrial printing plant they now own. Its community-tabled first floor includes a wood lacquer-topped 20-seat bar with 20-plus driftwood draught handles and two TV's. The lounge-chaired balcony area contains a few pinball games. A subaquatic theme runs thru the wall art and windowed tanks contain the copious liquid suds on hand.
Adding a kitchen for worthy pub fare to complement the mostly 'lighter malt-forward beers' as well as 'hop-lover' ales and non-alcoholic selections, Checkerspot's grown to be one of Baltimore's most successful brewpub ventures.
My wife and I settled in on a Friday at noon, February '24, to try a traditional British ale and honeyed kolsch. We left with about a dozen canned brews reviewed in Beer Index.
Conventional English pub ale, Average Joe, suited the everyday light-bodied pilsner-lager fan with its mossy brown tea-like dewiness, dry pale ale malting and cocoa-dried wattleseed nuttiness given a dainty lemon spritz.
Raw-honeyed buckwheat saddled Bird Is The Word, snatching a honey-wined mead theme teased by oniony chive, butternut squash and pecan illusions over buttermilk breading.