Frederick, MD December 14th, 2018

When I learned Mrs. Adventures was headed to Frederick, I pounced on the chance to the visit “the brewery capital” of Maryland. I set my sights on the much talked about brewery, Attaboy Beer. 

400 Sagner Ave #400, Frederick, MD into your GPS to easily find this fun brewery. There’s lots of parking and usually, a food truck sits near the brewery. Their hours are Tuesday – Thursday 4-10PM; Friday – Sunday 12-10PM.

A funny thing happened after my trip to Attaboy. Before heading home, we stopped at the Columbia Apple Store to have our iPhone batteries replaced. We dropped off our phones and wandered around the mall for about an hour. I had carefully backed up my phone the day before. However, the unexpected happened. When we returned, my phone was not successfully upgraded. The good news: I received a brand new phone. The bad news: I would have to restore all my data from the cloud. This process did not go smoothly and I actually had to go back to the store the next morning. BTW, a visit to the Apple Store on the second Saturday before Christmas was, to say the least, a madhouse. 

For about 10 hours, I was without a working phone. My brief time unconnected from the world was a surprisingly painful experience. I guess I’m an iPhone junky. Besides confirming my addiction, I received some more bad news; the pictures I had taken at Attaboy were lost. However, there was some good news; my friend Missy somehow had copies of some of the pictures. Thanks, Missy!

• 

I ordered a flight of 3 from Emily who was behind the bar. With her help, I chose:

• Guava No Guava – Attaboy’s best and most popular beer. It’s a New England IPA, juicy with tropical fruit flavors. Yum!
• Dinkel Pop – a honey sweet Saison, with toasty flavors and mild yeast funk. 
• Ruud-er – Almost a triple, I like this yummy Belgian Strong Golden Ale with honey flavors.

Also sampled were:

• Fredhead Red – a rich, piney red with roasted malt flavors. Nice red color, delicious, complicated IPA red.
• Idea Man – I had this double NEIPA after sampling the Guava No Guava and thought it paled in comparison. It’s good but I’ll stick with the more flavorful and less alcoholic option.

Early on a Friday afternoon, people slowly were trickling into the cozy tasting room. I learned that Emily has an impressive craft beer resume, having worked previously for Flying Dog giving brewery tours and special events. She loves her new Attaboy family and says weekends are very busy.  And there’s more to her than just being a craft beer guru – she is also a blacksmith and woodworker – SoulTribeCreations.

I was lucky to meet the owner/brewer of Attaboy, Brian Ogden. He learned his trade in California and came to Maryland with his wife and business partner, Carly. I have met Carly a few times. She is an advocate for Maryland breweries and was a member of Peter Franchot’s Reform on Tap Task Force. Brian and Carly have two kids, one 2-year old and another 6-months. Carly was pushing the baby through the tap room and the brewery while I sat at the bar. This is truly a family business!

You will find not a porter or stout on Attaboy’s beer list. Carly and Brian are not fans and vow to never brew that style at their brewery. 

Brian says the brewery is going well. I witnessed this as more people steadily streamed in. Starting a new business with a growing family is stressful but he seems happy with the progress of the brewery. After tasting several of his amazing creations, I’d say all his long hours at Attaboy are paying off.

Cheers!
Warren