MD Brewery Challenge #45

Mt. Airy, MD

Adam Frey is a frustrated man. He has not brewed a beer for quite a while. Most of his energy has been directed towards running his 126-acre farm and haggling with Frederick County officials. Adam has been trying to convert his barn into a tasting room since January of 2017. Now, in November, Frederick County is still erecting bureaucratic roadblocks to building his tasting room. 

Adam’s Facebook post expresses it best:

“Frederick County & Md’s Health Dept have heavily affected our Tasting Room’s opening, with excessive amounts of red tape, politics, and even changing the rules. It’s been six years since we first started trying to get a Tasting Room open on our farm.” 

Click his Facebook post to see his entire complaint. He has even grown a “protest beard” to express his feelings.

Adam is a 43-year old, Air Force veteran, who bought this farm 22 years ago. Frey’s is the first farm brewery in Frederick County. Their first beer was served in February of 2013. He also built his own lauter tun and brew kettle from repurposed dairy tanks – pretty cool. He is the owner and brewer of Frey’s Brewing.

After Adam gave a tour of his barn and milk house, we stood in his barn surveying his land, watching cattle graze and geese fly south overhead. His friendly calico cat chased birds and mice.

I see lots of potential for business success on Adam’s farm brewery. The quiet beauty of his farm is alluring. It is very close to Milkhouse and Red Shed Man breweries. This summer, my friends and I toured Milkhouse and Red Shed Man. On that beautiful Saturday afternoon, we saw several people making the same journey. I could easily see Frey’s Brewing joining in the farm brewery tour circuit.

No beer was sampled on my 45th brewery of the MD Brewery Challenge. Next time I journey to Mount Airy and Frey’s Brewing, I look forward to finally sampling one of his beers in his new tasting room.

Cheers!

Warren