Columbia, MD Monday, May 28, 2018
They came out in droves to show support for recovery of historic Ellicott City from yet another horrible flood. Hysteria Brewing promised to give half of their ale sales towards EC flood relief. On this overcast Memorial Day, it was a perfect time to ride a bike across town to visit one of my favorite watering holes and contribute towards EC’s recovery. With such short notice, I assumed the crowd would be small. Boy was I wrong. Hysteria patrons filled multiple overflow parking lots with cars. Bicycle parking was pretty easy – there were only 2 bikes parked out front.
While ordering a low ABV UnKonventional Kölsch, I ran into the other bike rider, Cory. Cory does not own a car and rides his bike everywhere. I learned a lot from this graduate of the Howard County Watershed Stewards Academy. Our discussion turned to Ellicott City and how to prevent future flooding when James Howard spoke up, “If you really want to know what should be done about Ellicott City, you should read The Socioeconomic Effects of the National Flood Insurance Program.” In our lengthy conversation, he said that we can expect EC to flood more frequently and with growing intensity. He also mentioned estimates to prevent future flooding in EC are about $4 billion. We all agreed, Howard County really needs to have a soul-searching discussion about the future of Ellicott City.
It turns out, James Howard is running for Delegate of Maryland District 12. Also, James Howard is the author of The Socioeconomic Effects of the National Flood Insurance Program which you can download for free here.
Back to the ales. Hysteria’s event planner, Gina, recommended Seas the Bay, a ginger IPA that was very good. I’m a real ginger hound and told brewer, Jordan, that it could use more ginger but that is my feeling about all ginger beers and dishes.
Also in attendance was Frisco manager and all around beer superstar, Keith. dbear, Cory, and I stopped and chatted with him, his wife and son on our way to the back room. Did you know Hysteria has a back room now?
Mrs. dBear joined us and we discovered she works with Cory. The conversation turned to the Howard County rain barrel “give away” at Alpha Ridge (here’s the schedule).
I rode back home for our street’s Memorial Day picnic. We shared stories about flooding on our steep, long street. Also, the path that runs near our pond was severely silted.
Cheers!
Warren