In case you spent an ideal day ingesting within the Appeal Metropolis, what wouldn’t it appear to be? Would you go to bars, breweries, or eating places? All three? What would you order? What are one of the best locations to drink in Baltimore, Maryland?
Hop Tradition Founder Kenny Gould is about to indicate you.
Introducing the subsequent episode of Subsequent Exit, the place Gould faucets the experience of famend brewery tour firm Metropolis Brew Excursions to indicate him the unimaginable beer scene in Baltimore.
(Trace: it’s filled with harbor views, blow-your-mind barbecue, and unpretentious, however scrumptious beer).
Remind Me, What Is Subsequent Exit?
Subsequent Exit is Untappd’s new journey present that showcases one of the best bars, breweries, and eating places in cities internationally.
Premiering final November without spending a dime on YouTube, the inaugural episode took viewers on a visit to the hidden-gem foods and drinks locations in Gould’s hometown: Pittsburgh, PA.
“For years, all the most fascinating meals and beverage reveals have centered on meals,” says Gould. “In creating Subsequent Exit, we explicitly wished to discover ingesting tradition.”
Now Gould is again, greater, higher, and beerier (we’re making {that a} phrase) than ever with 4 new episodes showcasing Baltimore, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati, respectively.
Episodes will probably be launched every Tuesday beginning on September 13, 2022, and will probably be out there to observe without spending a dime on the Untappd YouTube channel.
At this time, we take the subsequent exit into Baltimore as Gould jaunts to what some folks could not know is likely one of the most historic ingesting cities within the nation.
WATCH NEXT EXIT: BALTIMORE NOW
Kenny and Metropolis Brew Excursions Deliver the ‘Appeal’ to Appeal Metropolis
Gould begins the season in Baltimore with the steerage of our associates at Metropolis Brew Excursions, North America’s finest and oldest brewery tour firm providing excursions in sixteen completely different places throughout america and Canada.
“We wish to craft an unforgettable expertise,” says Metropolis Brew Excursions information Isaac Bell, who joined Gould in Baltimore to indicate him the hidden-gem barbecue spots and breweries placing the “char” and “appeal” in Appeal Metropolis. “I inform everybody once you take a Metropolis Brew tour you don’t must suppose, we’ll do all of the give you the results you want. We’ll take you out, provide you with a meal, take you to completely different locations, and select all of the beer.”
Accordingly, Bell gave Gould the backstage tour at Heavy Seas with a well-made lager in hand. And unlocked the secrets and techniques of barbecue and beer pairings courtesy of a pit cease at Chaps Pit Beef and Mobtown Brewing Firm, the primary brewery to provide beer within the Brewers Hill neighborhood of Baltimore in forty-one years.
“Isaac is like that bouncer who slips you in behind the scenes at your favourite reveals,” says Gould.
And it’s for that very purpose that we requested Bell to take us even farther than what we noticed within the episode, sharing extra of his favourite breweries and bars in Baltimore.
WATCH NEXT EXIT: BALTIMORE NOW
Polling the Consultants: The Finest Breweries and Bars in Baltimore
For the final six years, Bell has been guiding and educating folks about beer. In any case, as a tour information for Metropolis Brew Excursions, that’s his precise job.
“There isn’t a higher feeling than getting somebody on the market with their important different or out on a tour for a birthday or bachelor social gathering they usually say, ‘I don’t actually like beer,’ and by the tip they’re saying that each single beer I gave them is completely wonderful,” says Bell.
He recollects taking out a bunch of fifty interns at an enormous accounting agency. All had been over twenty-one, however extra prone to seize a Bud Mild Lime than a saison from an area brewery. By the tip of the tour, Bell says he had “transformed fifty folks all of sudden.”
It’s an ethos that rings true for Bell, who has “by no means been a fan of chasing unique bottle types or hype beer whereas tenting out and ready for a bottle launch,” says Bell. “I consider that beer must be native and accessible.”
And that’s form of what you’ll discover in Baltimore: harbor views, blow-your-mind barbecue, and an unpretentious beer scene. One which, based on Bell, was really brewing nice craft beer even thirty years in the past, making Baltimore a vacation spot. “Within the early ‘90s there was no place you can go…folks had been going to Baltimore completely to hop round and take a look at locations,” says Bell
At this time, Baltimore is a metropolis the place you might be simply as prone to discover a mixed-culture wild ale or milkshake IPA on the shelf subsequent to Natty Boh.
“I get it’s not 100% craft, however it’s Baltimore,” says Bell, who at all times has a thirty rack of Natty Boh in his fridge and might let you know the precise price of a case at his native bottle store ($22.87, by the best way). “Natty Boh is the folks’s beer of Baltimore.”
No matter what you wish to drink, you definitely gained’t lack for choices. Based on Bell, Baltimore’s craft beer scene is “completely booming!”
WATCH NEXT EXIT: BALTIMORE NOW
The 6 Finest Breweries in Baltimore
Listed here are Bell’s six favourite breweries in Baltimore
Heavy Seas Beer
4615 Hollins Ferry Rd, Halethorpe, MD 21227 | (410) 247-7822
If we’re speaking about craft beer in Baltimore, Heavy Seas Beer comes prime of thoughts. “After I consider Baltimore beer, Heavy Seas is iconic by way of being there for thus lengthy,” says Bell. “Their historical past is so wealthy. They paved the best way for lots of the craft beer we’ve now.”
Even Bell has a historical past with the brewery. “One in every of my first craft beers was Heavy Seas,” recollects Bell. “I used to be like that is completely scrumptious. Oh, they brew it right here in Baltimore; that is wonderful!”
Bell likes to contemplate Heavy Seas the gateway into Baltimore craft beer as a result of it represents quintessential Appeal Metropolis. “Baltimore folks and Marylanders are salt-of-the-earth folks,” says Bell. “As quickly as you get throughout the state line, there’s a completely different vibe.” Which you’ll find nicely and alive at Heavy Seas. “For individuals who don’t know something about craft beer and are leaping into it, they’re inviting, welcoming, and have a hella cool motif with barrels, seas, and pirates,” says Bell.
Oh and the beer is fairly good too.
As an example, the flagship Free Cannon American IPA, a 2021 Brewers Affiliation of Maryland Champion, full of Simcoe, Palisade, and Centennial.
Or something from the Impending Doom Sequence, an “ongoing sequence of charming, daring IPAs impressed by our timeless sense of exploration and our by no means ending quest to brew essentially the most flavorful and well-balanced IPAs on land or sea,” because the brewery writes on its web site.
Mobtown Brewing Firm
4015 Foster Ave #400, Baltimore, MD 21224 | (667) 309-3653
Mobtown additionally performs a bit of bit into the historical past of Baltimore, however with a contemporary and trendy twist. The primary brewery to open within the historic Brewers Hill neighborhood in forty-one years, Mobtown is “not afraid to fiddle with completely different types, however can even brew a pleasant, clear conventional lager,” says Bell. “They’re driving that lager pattern proper now, which is my favourite pattern in America for the previous decade.
The transfer right here, based on Bell?
On the best way, seize a bag of pit beef (a basic Baltimore dish of roast beef ready over a charcoal fireplace) from Chaps Pit Beef after which sit down at Mobtown with a flight of beers to search out one of the best pairing.
“Not solely can we train you the grain to glass expertise [at City Brew Tours], however we additionally train you ways beer and meals pair collectively,” says Bell. “And there’s no higher pairing than barbecue and beer!”
For his cash, Bell likes pairing Punch Like A Poet, an Irish dry stout, that he calls “the profitable combo.” As a result of “it’s stunning; it’s a kind of don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover issues,” says Bell.
Regardless, you may’t go fallacious with any of the lagers at Mobtown subsequent to a bag of barbecue.
Oliver Brewing Co.
4216 Shannon Dr, Baltimore, MD 21213
Oliver Brewing Co. initially caught Bell’s consideration for its deal with British-style ales. “That was a renaissance for me in beer ingesting to exit and get a good looking brown ale,” says Bell.
At this time, Bell says Oliver Brewing has expanded to crafting exceptionally well-balanced IPAs and enjoyable issues like milkshake IPAs and pastry-inspired stouts.
For instance, BMORE Breakfast, a nitro oatmeal stout that Bell crushed on for a very long time. “It was a milkshake and I might drink numerous them,” says Bell. “I’d have them for breakfast and rocked all of it summer time.”
Go to Oliver Brewing if you happen to’re in search of all kinds of boundary-pushing types.
Union Craft Brewing
1700 W forty first St #420, Baltimore, MD 21211 | (410) 467-0290
One other brewery that led a beer renaissance for Bell, Union Craft Brewing makes one in every of what Bell calls one of the best goses in Baltimore. “It’s good,” says Bell. “Not a fruited gose or an over-the-top imperial gose, [Old Pro] is simply what a gose is supposed to be—completely good.”
Based on Bell, Union Craft’s Outdated Professional put goses on the map within the DC Metro, Maryland, and Virginia space (DMV).
“I name goses the gatorade of beer since you’re getting electrolytes from the salt, however not sufficient alcohol to do a lot harm,” jokes Bell, making Union a surefire decide for Bell, particularly throughout the hotter summer time months.
Nepenthe Brewing Co.
3626 Falls Rd, Baltimore, MD 21211 | (443) 438-4846
One other brewery that toes the road between conventional and modern, Nepenthe Brewing Co. brews out of a reasonably small system down within the basement. However what’s arising from the depths of the brewery is utter perfection, impressing Bell together with many others.
“You may get a milkshake IPA loaded with lactose and double dry hopped, but additionally have a helles lager which is clear as fuck and such a straightforward drinker,” says Bell.
However what takes Nepenthe Brewing excessive is its extraordinary culinary creations. On the taproom you’ll discover a huge number of finger-friendly ingesting meals.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the meals program,” says Bell. “It’s completely unbelievable.” It’s like bar meals elevated into the stratosphere.
As an example, the Grown Up Grilled Cheese with provolone, havarti, and cheddar grilled crispy on Cunningham’s sauerkraut rye bread. Or the Baltimore Sizzling Hen Sandwich with Frank’s buttermilk-brined crispy fried hen breast, Outdated Bay napa slaw, Outdated Bay aioli, and home pickles on a griddled potato roll.
It’s no shock that Baltimore Journal named Nepenthe Brewing Baltimore’s Finest Brewery Meals. And it’s no shock that Bell picked Nepenthe as one in every of his prime breweries to go to for it’s ales, lagers, and wonderful eats.
Waverly Brewing Firm
1625 Union Ave Suite C, Baltimore, MD 21211 | (443) 438-5765
At Waverly Brewing it’s all in regards to the vibe for Bell. “They’re making good beer, however I don’t even know describe it; it’s like strolling right into a cabin in upstate New York, Minnesota, or Canada.”
Inside you’ll discover wild decor alongside a small 3BBL system within the again, outside ingesting, and generally apparently somebody with a full leg of prosciutto simply slicing away and making sandwiches (at the very least that’s what Bell discovered the final time he wandered in there).
“That’s the place I run into different folks seeking to have a great time,” says Bell. “It’s simply relaxed, an amazing place to have a beer, sit down, and unwind.”
WATCH NEXT EXIT: BALTIMORE NOW
The Finest Bar + Meadery in Baltimore
Your finest associates from school are visiting from out of city. You’re happening a date or taking out your important different. What’s the one spot you go to? Otherwise you’re simply in search of that hidden-gem spot from the locals.
Bell recommends these two locations.
Max’s Taphouse
733 S Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21231 | (410) 675-6297
Once we requested Bell to call his primary hidden-gem spot, he didn’t hesitate. “I’m going to Max’s Taphouse,” says Bell.
Positioned on the sq. within the historic Fells Level, Max’s Taphouse has over 100 beers on draft and 4 hand-cask traces. To not point out the 1600 beer bottles and cans record.
“It’s such a various vary which you can get something and the whole lot that you simply love,” says Bell.
Appeal Metropolis Meadworks
400 E Biddle St, Baltimore, MD 21202 | (443) 961-1072
Whereas Bell mentions each Diamondback Brewing Firm and Monument Metropolis Brewing Firm as potential nice locations to take a date or important different for a day trip in town, in the end he raved about Appeal Metropolis Meadworks.
“For me they put mead on the map,” says Bell, who notes that to him mead at all times meant that “thick, heavy 13% ABV syrup-y, get-wasted-in-the-hot-sun-at-a-renaissance-festival-and-feel-terrible-for-the-rest-of-the-week mead.”
However at Appeal Metropolis, you’ll discover sessionable mead between 5-7% ABV. And whereas they’ve the upper alcohol meads too, they’re undoubtedly elevated.
Plus, they’ve an amazing vibe. “It’s a cool little spot to go play board video games, have mead, calm down, and never fear about having an excessive amount of,” says Bell. “They’ve made mead accessible and altered my thoughts on what I give it some thought.”
Honorable Point out: 3 Finest Breweries Simply Exterior of Baltimore
Whereas our information focuses completely on breweries in Baltimore, Bell says if you happen to’re within the space you need to undoubtedly enterprise simply exterior the town limits.
“There are a ton of breweries simply exterior of Baltimore popping up and doing an amazing job,” says Bell.
As an example, Sapwood Cellars Brewery, owned by Scott Janisch and Mike Tonsmeire, who actually wrote the e-book on American bitter beers known as American Sours. Moreover, “they’re pioneering numerous New England hazy IPAs,” says Bell. “What a profitable mixture: Two dudes making wonderful sours and wonderful IPAs open up a brewery collectively.”
Others that Bell mentions are value visiting: Black Flag Brewing Co. and Jailbreak Brewing Firm.
