Carroll Creek Park, Frederick, MD May 12, 2018
On a sunny and hot Saturday, my friends and I spent the afternoon tasting Maryland-made craft beer in Frederick. The Maryland Craft Beer Festival is a showcase event for the Brewers Association of Maryland (BAM).
We chose to pass on the VIP option this year. That means we received smaller glasses, the venue had more people and longer lines, as well as later access to the park and beer. We figured 3.5 hours of drinking beer was plenty and smaller glasses actually allowed us to taste more varieties. As the day went on, I found myself asking for smaller samples. We missed out on the bus transportation, so we arranged our own rides. Mrs. dBear drove us to Frederick, Mrs. Adventures brought us back home. Thanks so much! We love you guys!!
Over 50 Maryland breweries offered samples of their beer. We planned to hit the new ones or breweries we had not visited before. We made a beeline to Sapwood Cellars (our soon to open Columbia brewer) for their Funky Dark Saison, tasting deliciously of tart raisins and caramel. Brewer/owner Mike mentioned they hope to open in 2 months. Can’t wait!
Last year’s big hit at the event was Steinhardt Brewing. Jim Steinhardt makes fantastic beer near Frederick out of his garage. I tasted his Imperial Tupelo Stout and Black Abbey just to make sure they were still delicious. They are!
An owner of Checkerspot (opening soon near the Baltimore stadiums) reported they will begin brewing in 2 weeks. Their Freestate Farmhouse was quite good. The Ashville of Maryland, Frederick, introduced 2 new breweries: Brewery Fire and Rockwell which both offered top rated IPAs: Executor and the Regulator. We stopped and chatted with Earl of the Crooked Crab and enjoyed one of their NE IPAs, the Juice Master Flex.
A surprising favorite of mine was 7 Locks Brewery’s Snakeden Saison. Untappd listed the top 3 rated beers of the festival (in order) as Harmonious from Cushwa, Blood Orange Blonde from Mully’s and Keyboard Cowboy from Manor Hill.
Kevin Atticks, President of the BAM, mentioned that 3200 tickets were sold for the event. We both seemed to think around 3,000 people attended the event. Some lines were long, but there is so much good beer here, we just found a tent with a shorter line. If you like craft beer, this is a wonderful event for you. Put it on your calendar for next year!
Cheers!
Warren