Howard County Maryland's First Craft Brewery: Frisco Tap House & Push Brewery

There are a number of breweries that have opened in the Columbia, Maryland area recently with the first being Frisco Tap House & Push Brewery. Known for providing a comprehensive craft beer menu (56 taps), the restaurant added brewing capabilities last year. On my recent visit to watch a Redskins game, they were pouring four of their Push Brewery brews: Push Meyer Lemon IPA, Push Midnight Mistress Dark Pumpkin, Push/Boulevard Mark Of The Beast, and the Push/Terrapin Dankenstein Rye IPA.

Obviously I started with the rye that is a collaboration with Terrapin Beer Company. Apparently it was inspired by Phish's two night stand at nearby Merriweather Post Pavillion. The beer starts with pine and citrus, then continues with a spicy bold flavor, and finishes with four pound of hops: Columbus, Chinook, Summit, and Simcoe. The Lemon IPA was very refreshing made from Meyer Lemon juice and finished with El Dorado hops. The Push/Boulevard Mark Of The Beast is a Pumpkin Saison in collaboration with Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing Company using Boulevard's proprietary Belgian yeast strains. Fall spices dominate, the pumpkin is subtle, the finish - long. On the other hand, the Push Midnight Mistress Dark Pumpkin is a different beast, over 100 lbs of local roasted butternut squash and 60 lbs of house-made pumpkin purée were used in this mash. This is a bigger beer with even more spices and even lactose to give a milk stout feel. Pretty interesting. Cheers to Maryland beer.