I'm a procrastinator. It is well known across all the land. Famously, most recently, was the EZpass registration I didn't complete back in June. I went to register it online and it told me that I couldn't. Calling customer service, they said I could go to the RMV or come see them in person. Seeing as we need it next week, well. I needed to unprocrastinate my life.
We opted to go in person to one of the EZpass offices in Baltimore, and then make a day of it. And, of course stop at a brewery in or out of town. Baltimore has a lot to offer, and we were looking forward to food and drink! We did our errand and I was relieved to get the EZpass all set up (whew!) heading to Federal Hill and Mount Vernon in B'more for a walk after the deed. Normally we'd probably head to Max's Taphouse in Fells Point because the beer selection there is outrageously good, and the food is too. But we wanted to hit up somewhere we had not been before.
The plan was to visit The Brewer's Art for a winning combo of lunch and tasty brews, but found they don't serve lunch until 4pm on Saturday (basically nothing in the area was open until 4pm either!). No lunch for us! We will have to go back one night for dinner! We'll see you soon, Brewer's Art!
Thinking of our pivot as we walked back to the car after grabbing a quick bite at a beerless restaurant, Doug said had been wanting to visit Sapwood Cellars, and told me that one of the founders/brewers had written the book "literally" on sour beer. We had to basically drive past there (sort of) anyway to get home, so off we went.
There's a lot to read here, a great "About" section where you can learn all about the brewers' philosophies and their beer styles.
Michael Tonsmeire runs his own blog called the Mad Fermentationist, and Scott Janish has his own blog too. I tend not to dive in too much before going to a place we haven't been yet (which I didn't have time to do anyway because we made a spur of the moment decision to head there) because I don't want to go in with preconceived notions put out by the marketing team. Gotta say though, I had a great time reading through the site, brew/beer descriptions, and the blogs with a take-home can by my side.
Their main site and both blogs have a beer science vibe, videos, and lots to learn about the process that makes the flavor. Knowledge of beer science and the visual proof that they know what they are talking about meant that we were in for a treat.
Another brewery located in an office park (seems to be a thing here in Maryland) they did have a sign out on the street letting us know the tasting room was there so there was no getting lost. We had grabbed lunch in Baltimore sans beer as I mentioned, so we didn't get to check out the food truck, sadly. It looked pretty great so I'll give them a shout out here - DM Sliders. This is their Facebook page and it turns out yesterday was their last gig of the year until next March at current fave True Respite! We'll make a note of it.
Doug and I usually like to sit at the bar so we can chat with the bartender, but it was full (happy for them to have a ton of visitors!) so the table would do just nicely.
I started with Pillowfort (pictured above), and Doug went with Threat Level Morning (pictured left).
Pillowfort is a delicious hazy DIPA, and at 8.5% ABV I'd be building me a pillowfort if I had too many of them. It has a really strong aroma coming up to the face, and a fantastic flavor.
Threat Level Morning is a coffee version of their Threat Level Midnight stout. We probably should have ordered one of each for the compare contrast. Suffice to say, the coffee notes in this "Morning" version were notable. Very flavorful and a fantastic aroma. Note to self to try the Threat Level Midnight next time round!
I had a friend once ask me if people actually drink beer for breakfast, noting that there are so many coffee or breakfast themed stouts. I personally don't but hey - if you do, you do you! Coffee, or oatmeal to carry on the breakfast theme, are flavors just like any citrus or banana or anything else you'd expect in a beer. So many breweries go with the breakfasty "theme" for those products.
Next we headed towards the sour offerings. I had the Plush Pop, and Doug went with their Sekund: Cab Franc Wit. They look somewhat similar, but the flavors and experience of each are for sure different.
Plush Pop (below, right) was almost like a raspberry lime pie, or soda. Amazing flavor, tart and juicy. Sekund indeed had the wine flavor from the second-use grapes, as described on their menu. Embodying more of a strawberry flavor, it had a totally different feel and flavor to it than Plush Pop.
They both were unique and flavorful, really a joy if you like this kind of thing. I'm a fan of sour beers but usually if I'm out, I can't have more than one. Sometimes sour beers are too tart, or taste like the Spree candies of my childhood, with sort of a tasty candy beginning and then a sour stab of a tang that hurts your tongue the longer you suck on those solid little discs (if you are not familiar with Spree, I feel for you, friend. Read here from Wikipedia!)
Figuring we still needed to get home it was time to pick our last hurrah. We opted to split a bottle of Opulence 2021, served in these beautiful stem glasses and a lovely pouring basket. This made me think of great opportunities for picnics out in the wild in the spring (which I'm already looking forward to) with lovely blankets, dappled sunlight through the trees as the new leaves emerge, and interesting sandwiches. It would be a really sweet little thing to impress my friends with to pour out of this basket for them!
I think I could have done better for taking a photo, but the light was weird behind my head and I didn't want my hand and camera in the shadow.
The beer was delightful. Again, a lovely fruity and flavorful brew. I'll copy right off their incredibly helpful website and share their own description here:
With each step of the brewing process our goal was to saturate Opulence with rich dark fruit flavors. We began with a base of toasted and caramelized European malts to deliver fig and plum. Fermentation with a red wine strain enhanced the jamminess of the early dose of dried sour cherries. Aging in Bourbon and red wine barrels creates oaky depth. A final infusion of fresh local sweet and sour cherries from Milburn Orchard (Elkton, MD) instills a bright cherry pie aroma.
No lie. No joke. Jamminess. Sour Cherries, aged in Bourbon barrels (which I didn't take any flavor of and that's good because I'm not a fan of beers from Bourbon barrels). The bright cherry pie aroma is there, and lingers long after a sip.
Damn fine finish to our visit!
Realizing we've barely scratched the surface here if you go look at their full beer list, we'll have to come back through. Looking forward to that like I'm looking forward to picnics in the spring.
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