Yours for Good Fermentables ™: Big, Beautiful, Week of Baltimore Beer Begins Tonight

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Big, Beautiful, Week of Baltimore Beer Begins Tonight

Baltimore Beer Week —a celebration of beer in Maryland's largest city— begins tonight at the Baltimore Museum of Industry at 6pm with a ceremonial

tapping of the First Firkin —Loose Cannon Hop3 IPA— provided by the flagship sponsor, Heavy Seas Brewing, brewed to the same recipe which won silver at the 2010 Great British Beer Festival. [Celebrity master of Ceremonies] Duff Goldman of Ace of Cakes will swing the festival mallet —the Star Spangled Banger— to tap this first cask of beer.

The eleven day week (shades of Ringo Starr!) concludes on Sunday, 17 October, at the first annual Baltimore Beer Festival, that is slated to feature over 25 local, regional, and international breweries. In between, there will be well more than 300 other events, including two more festivals:

Maryland Oktoberfest —organized by the Brewers Association of Maryland (BAM)— on Saturday, 9 October

the 7th annual Chesapeake Real Ale Festival —organized by the Society for the Preservation of Beer from the Wood (SPBW)— on Saturday, 16 October

On a personal note, I'll be participating in a beer luncheon panel discussion on the History of Baltimore Brew, Monday, 11 October at Bertha's Mussels.

Guest panelists Rob Kasper- long time Baltimore Sun columnist, Tom Cizauskas- Yours For Good Fermentables blogger (and former brewer at Oxford Brewing Company), Brad Klipner- award winning blogger at BeerInBaltimore.com and Sam Sessa – Baltimore Sun’s Midnight Sun columnist [will discuss] the malty past and hoppy future of brewing in "The Land of Pleasant Living." The luncheon menu will be served family style and includes 4 beer samplings: Bertha’s Best Bitter (on hand pump) and Victory Hop Devil IPA. The program is a three part series:
Part One -The Malty Past: Starting with Baltimore's first brewery in 1748.

Part Two -The emergence of craft brewers: Quick recounting of the creations of Craig Stuart Paul, Hugh Sisson, Bill Oliver, Theo DeGroen, Volker Stewart, Mike McDonald, and noting that Sisson's has morphed into Heavy Seas, and Flying Dog has taken over what once was Frederick Brewing.

Part Three -The latest suds:. Brian Strumke is one local lad who has made the leap from home brewing to bottling. Will there be m re in the future?

For more details on this event and to purchase tickets: here.

This is only the second year for Baltimore Beer Week. It was organized in 2009 by long-time Baltmore beer maven Joe Gold, columnist Rob Kasper, Maryland homebrew guru Les White, Mid-Atlantic Brewing News columnist Alexander Mitchell, past SPBW president Dominic Catalupo, and others.