On May 22, 2012, then Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed Senate Bill 579, which established a Class 8 Farm Brewing license for the Free State. Class 8 license holders had to use some combination of Maryland-grown ingredients (grains, hops or fruit) in their beers but then they would get similar privileges as the state's wineries. Tom Barse was very active in getting Maryland’s Farm Brewery law enacted and a year later opened a tasting room at
Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm.
Five years early Tom and Carolann McConaughy purchased their Mount Airy farm and soon planted Cascade and Chinook hops and raised Leicester Long Wool sheep. Milkhouse Brewery opened by specializing in classic styles of beer "improved with Maryland hops" and later augmented these offerings with "Stillpoint Reserve" beers made from locally sourced ingredients, including hops, grains, fruits, herbs, honey, and other Maryland agricultural products. And finally, the brewery offers "All Maryland Beer" products made with only Maryland grown and malted barley, wheat, and rye, as well as Maryland grown hops.
During a recent visit, we focused on three of these All Maryland Beers, the
Green Farmer Wet Pale Ale No. 12,
Homestate Hefeweisen, and
Dollyhyde Farmhouse Ale. The latter was my favorite of the entire portfolio with spices and Carroll County wildflower honey providing depth and flavor. The Hefe Weisen provides banana notes and the Pale Ale a funky pine flavor. Also try the
Goldie’s Best Bitter.
Milkhouse also provides a serious sour program as tart Fieldhand or Biere de Garde. The
Fieldhand Tart Table Beer is a delicious tart and slightly sour post bike ride beer. For more flavor, try the
Peach Fieldhand - my second favorite of the day. On this day they were also pouring a
Nectarine Biere de Garde and
Red Plum Biere de Garde which are interesting and fun.
And as always you can visit Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm using
theCompass Craft Beverage Finder. Cheers.
River Outpost Brewing may be the most entertaining family venture brewery in the U.S. This New York brewery features about a dozen craft beers, a kitchen, an adventure park with a rock-climbing wall and rope course, and a full-throttled gaming area including virtual reality stations. There's also plenty of live music and big-screen televisions - making this as much an adult escape. As for the beer, the Beast-Club Porter is delicious. Its development is reminiscent of the stories where porters would grab a quick beer by combining a portion from each tap. In this case, the porter is a 50/50 blend of their Basic Beast and Dub-Cub, the former a stout brewed with pumpkin, spices, vanilla, coffee, and milk sugar and the later a rather interesting English Brown Ale on its own. The Toad Alley ESB is an extra special bitter that also nails the English pub-style - and goes down quite smoothly. Finally, the Haze BAE is a New England styled IPA that is brewed with NY grown oats - and with lots of citrus and pineapple and not over the top with hop characters. Cheers.
