Appreciating Albert Sisson

Albert Sisson died early this morning.

In 1979, Sisson opened the Sisson's Pub in Baltimore, Maryland, in the Federal Hill district, then known as Southeast Baltimore. Sisson's venture was a gamble; it was a neighborhood on the decline.

The pub thrived however and soon became part of the area's revitalization. It became a destination spot throughout the greater Baltimore area, especially prized for for its Creole cuisine.

He bought the former Sticky Fingers bar on East Cross Street in 1978. Working with a nephew, he gutted and renovated the former taproom and christened it Sisson's Restaurant and Pub.

"I always thought he had an ulterior motive - he wanted to get me and my cousin to learn a business," said his son, Hugh Sisson, [now] the owner of Clipper City Brewing in Halethorpe [Maryland]."The day he got the place ready, he threw me the keys and said, 'Don't foul up.' "

Albert F. Sisson
Founder of popular brew pub saw the potential of Baltimore redevelopment and helped change state law
Baltimore Sun
8 June 2009

Hugh Sisson added brewing equipment in 1989, making Sisson's the first post-Prohibition brewpub in Maryland (Virginia and DC, for that matter).

If a measure of a man's wealth is the measure of his friends, Albert Sisson was an incalculably wealthy man. Many a bar patron became a friend, after Albert, wearing his trademark large suspenders, had served him a pint and swapped a tall tale.

The family will hold a public memorial service on June 27 at 11 am at the Church of the Redeemer on N Charles Street in Baltimore.

The family sold the pub in 2000.