The vacant Frisco Taproom on Dobbin Road in Columbia has a new tenant – Cushwa & Rad Pies Taproom. If you like quiet conversations and a wide range of very good beer, Cushwa is for you. If you want a sports bar to catch the game, you’re out of luck; Cushwa has no TVs in the main dining area.

After years of the Pint Night crew meeting at the very loud and busy Frisco Taproom on Wednesday nights, our recent get-together at Cushwa was a very different experience.

The old Frisco Taproom was our Wednesday night hangout. Frisco featured 40-some taps of top notch brews. They even made their own beer right on the premises as well as next door. On Wednesdays, a brewery was featured. Drink a beer from the guest brewery and you could take home a pint glass. Over time, if you drank 100 unique beers, you received a T-shirt and could drink out of mugs instead of pint glasses, for the same price. It was fun but loud. So loud, in fact, that we sat in the back room to find shelter from the noise and TVs.

Then COVID hit and we stopped coming. Under the veil of the pandemic, Frisco moved around the corner, renaming their establishment to Reckless Shepherd and Frisco Tap House.

So, it is nice to get back to our old haunt. But there have been some changes. They cleaned the place up and removed the pilot brewery in the front. The quietness could be explained by the small crowd, lack of TVs and music, but it appears that some sound deadening has been installed. The good pub food has been replaced by Rad Pies’ pizzas, a tasty solution. Some of the very knowledgeable servers are back, including Howard County’s premier beer expert – Keith.

Cushwa brews their ales in Williamsport, MD along the Potomac River and the C&O Canal, apparently very successfully. Deepbeer.com reports the top 15 breweries in Maryland from Untappd, ranking Cushwa #3 – not too shabby! Interestingly, Sapwood Cellars is Maryland’s #1 brewer according to Untappd.

I agree with Untappd’s ratings. Below are my Untappd entries for my two beers:

• Operator Error: 3.75 stars; Sweet and creamy (dark) Porter, nose of molasses and hints of dark chocolate taste. Love the nitro.
• Fog At Daybreak: 4.00 stars; Great NE IPA hazy and the hops really pops!

Columbia is lucky to have yet another fine beer establishment. I highly recommend stopping by Cushwa & Rad Pies for a beer and pizza.

Cushwa & Rad Pies Taproom

6695 Dobbin Road, Suite G, Columbia, MD
+1 240-597-9899
cushwacolumbia@gmail.com

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving

Warren