We enjoyed the sweet scent of malt, hops, and yeast as Gina led 25 of us through the Jailbreak Brewery. This sparkling clean 20-barrel brewery is scrubbed from top to bottom every Friday and is classified as Kosher.

The brewery just celebrated their 3rd year of operation! This fast growing brewery is running at full capacity; all their vessels are constantly in use. Gina tells us they expect to grow beyond the Maryland barrel limit for their brewery category, so they are planning to start-up a restaurant in order to continue making more beer.

We learned the name “Jailbreak” is not about escaping from Jessup prison or unlocking your mobile phone from a carrier. Instead, “Jailbreak” refers to escaping from work. A few years back, co-owners Kasey Turner and Justin Bonner found themselves disenchanted with their work and planned a “jailbreak” from their jobs. Naturally, they started up a brewery. They hope that a visit to Jailbreak gives their patrons an escape from their day-to-day grind.

Ryan & Clay are their head and lead brewers who both came from Dogfish Head Brewery. Clay was busy at the brewery during our tour. A few months ago, I met him at Max’s sour festival, where Clay helped me select my sour ales.

Just as an aside, according to Beer Geek Nation, the Wicked Weed former head of sour production, Richard Kilcullen, has joined Brewdog in response to the AB InBev sellout of Wicked Weed. How I got here? Beer Geek Nation originally said he went to Dogfish Head.

The quality of Jailbreak’s beer is not an accident. Besides the experienced brewers, Kosher status and the cleanliness, they only use natural ingredients, no extracts. For instance, Dew Right is made with real honeydew. Although they are not certified as gluten-free, they even make a gluten-reduced beer, Redaction. It is quite good.

Gina is overseeing the construction of Jailbreak’s restaurant which she hopes will open in September. She says a restaurant was always in the plans, but since they are reaching barrel capacity, Maryland requires serving food in order to serve more beer. She guided us through the intended restaurant space. It is a storage area, currently full of cans and adjacent to the taphouse.

We even spent some time cooling off in the keg refrigerator.

Jailbreak does not distribute bottles, only cans, and kegs. Cans (mini kegs) keep the light out, preventing the hops from tasting skunky. Also, cans are much harder to break, so they are great for camping. Most of our Maryland parks allow cans but not bottles.

Gina talked about their barrel program. She’s a big fan of their barrel-aged Dusk Till Dawn and so am I.

We all sampled each other’s flights after the tour. Here are just a few;

• This Is 50 – Mango IPA: Wow! Great tribute to Columbia’s 50th birthday. Nice subtle Mango and hop combo.
• Dew Right – Honeydew Blonde Ale: Real honeydew taste. Fresh sweet brew. A definite summer ale.
• Smokehouse 54 – Red Amber: Sweet orange taste. Despite the name, not smoky. Just a nice orange amber.
• My Ruca – Pale Ale – English (Rye Malt): I’m not normally a rye fan, but this spicy English version was pretty good.
• Czech the Technique – Pilsner, Czech: a toasty Pilsner
• Feed The Monkey – Hefeweizen: an orange-flavored, German-style Hefe.
• De Garde De Faith –  Bière de Garde (all French ingredients): Very sweet all-French ale with an odd, dry aftertaste.

Say Cheese!

Jailbreak does not have a restaurant yet but relies on food trucks for their food. Say Cheese! was the food truck of the evening.  I had a bite of their mouthwatering grilled cheese sandwich. You can choose the type of bread and two kinds of cheese; Laura chose Havarti and mozzarella. I did not try the Smore sandwich but heard it was delicious.

Cheers!

Warren