Baltimore Brewing

Matt George, a park ranger from Westminster, stood outside the Baltimore Brewing Co. and had a smoke. It was 6:30 p.m., Wednesday. He remembered the first Wednesday in February, when eight people showed up to consider, among other pressing questions, who is Howard Dean? That's not the question anymore. The country is learning about the former Vermont governor and the Internet's inaugural presidential candidate. Cast as an anti-war populist, Dean raised more than $800,000 in one day on the Web and last month won the first online presidential primary - which, if nothing else, will make a spiffy political footnote.

There has been a lot of talk about beer in The Sun recently - news of bar openings, microbreweries setting up shop, even an article about how the owner of National Bohemian helped bring the Orioles to town ("Beer, baseball and Baltimore," May 16). But what about National Bohemian, that iconic hometown beer whose mascot dots our city's skyline and which sells for less than $3 a bottle, or on draft now, throughout this city? This locally-loved beer hasn't been brewed locally in years, and yet we continue to celebrate it as if it were still produced on Brewers Hill.

AT THE TABLES in DeGroen's Grill on Albemarle Street, the place where the Baltimore Brewing Co. dwells, the members of the Mug Club sit at the dear old copper bar they know so well and raise their glasses high, draining the brewery's last kegs. After 15 years of brewing German-style beers that made men weep for joy, that helped transform scholarly librarians into high-fiving football fans, that encouraged city building inspectors to rub shoulders with professors, doctors and museum docents, the Baltimore Brewing Co. is brewing no more.

If you've stayed away from the Internet or Baltimore bars in the past two weeks, you might not have heard that National Bohemian is back on tap. Owner Pabst Brewing Co. made the announcement in late January and has sold kegs of the historic Baltimore brew to at least 80 locations in Maryland. Some eight bars were selected to host official keg-tapping parties, and while most of them have happened already, there are two — White Marsh's Della Rose's and Columbia's Frisco Tap and Brew House — that will take place next week.

A Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott will open in a former brewery in Jonestown near Little Italy, one of a raft of new hotels either under way or planned for downtown Baltimore. The developers expect to start demolition next month to clear the way for the 154-room hotel, which will front on President Street. It is the former site of Baltimore Brewing Co., which brewed DeGroen's German-style beer in its restaurant there for 15 years before closing in 2005. The hotel will be developed and owned by Raleigh, N.C.-based Summit Associates LLC, a hotel developer; Baltimore-based A&R Development, which will oversee construction; and Bethesda-based Hospitality Partners Hotel Management, which will operate the hotel.

When you hop on a bus loaded with beer drinkers you may not know your exact destination, but you usually have a pretty good idea of where you will end up. Namely, at a spigot dispensing freshly brewed beer. That is what happened to me recently when I joined about 40 other thirsty pilgrims aboard a chartered bus traveling from downtown Baltimore to Victory Brewing Co., a new brewery and restaurant in Downingtown, Pa.I took the trip to improve my understanding of local geography, and to drink a little beer.

Their beer will be born again. That is what Baltimore Brewing Company stalwarts, who had been savoring what they thought were the final kegs of their favorite local craft brew, learned yesterday. Theo DeGroen, owner of the troubled Baltimore Brewing Co., said he had struck a deal with Fordham Brewing Co. to brew his Pils, Marzen and Weizen beers. DeGroen, who after a series of production and transportation problems that threatened the brewery's future, said his beers will be brewed at Fordham's Southern Beverage Inc. facility in Dover, Del., and should be available in bottles and kegs locally by the end of next month.

ITALIAN VISITORThe Italian aircraft-carrying cruiser Giuseppi Garibaldi is in port and will be open to visitors this weekend -- an opportunity to see a modern naval ship different from those that more regularly are open for tours around the Inner Harbor.The cruiser is docked at Pier 5, North Locust Point, off Fort Avenue in South Baltimore, virtually a neighbor of Fort McHenry.The Garibaldi, named for an Italian patriot, is not quite two football fields long (591 feet, to be precise) and came with a crew of 770 officers, petty officers and enlisted men. Construction of the ship began in 1981, with launching two years later, and commissioning in 1987.

When it came time to return the keg of beer, I couldn't do it. There was still beer left in it. Lots of beer.It was tough to tell exactly how much was left over, but using the old-knock-on-the-side-of-the-barrel routine, my guess was that the keg was half full. This was embarrassing to me, for several reasons.First of all it meant that I had bought too much beer for the gathering of about 60 co-workers held at a colleague's lovely -- at least before we descended upon it -- Mount Washington home.

THINK OF Norm and Cliff without Cheers, their watering hole and guiding light. That is the parallel I drew as I heard some longtime customers of the Baltimore Brewing Company describe how they coped with the recent two-week period when they were adrift because their favorite bar was closed. Two weeks is not a very long span, of course. But when the joint shut down Dec. 30, patrons were not sure when, or if, the beer taps would flow again. Since it sprang to life in 1989, the Albermarle Street operation, which has a brewery on one side and a restaurant and bar on the other, has attracted a loyal following.

It's been 15 years since National Bohemian left Maryland, but Patrick McCusker remembers it almost as bitterly as the day Robert Irsay took the Colts out of Baltimore. He grew up with the beer. In the 1970s, everyone's basement bar sported pictures of three icons: the Colts, the Orioles and the dapper, mustachioed Mr. Boh. This week, McCusker and other fans of the popular beer got some small satisfaction. Owner Pabst Blue Ribbon announced that Natty Boh would return to the state, on tap. "It's not as big a deal as the Colts coming back to Baltimore, but it's pretty close," said McCusker, who owns Canton's Nacho Mama's, the bar and restaurant that will tap the first keg of Natty on Feb. 3. Until now Boh was only available canned or by the bottle.

A Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott will open in a former brewery in Jonestown near Little Italy, one of a raft of new hotels either under way or planned for downtown Baltimore. The developers expect to start demolition next month to clear the way for the 154-room hotel, which will front on President Street. It is the former site of Baltimore Brewing Co., which brewed DeGroen's German-style beer in its restaurant there for 15 years before closing in 2005. The hotel will be developed and owned by Raleigh, N.C.-based Summit Associates LLC, a hotel developer; Baltimore-based A&R Development, which will oversee construction; and Bethesda-based Hospitality Partners Hotel Management, which will operate the hotel.

Their beer will be born again. That is what Baltimore Brewing Company stalwarts, who had been savoring what they thought were the final kegs of their favorite local craft brew, learned yesterday. Theo DeGroen, owner of the troubled Baltimore Brewing Co., said he had struck a deal with Fordham Brewing Co. to brew his Pils, Marzen and Weizen beers. DeGroen, who after a series of production and transportation problems that threatened the brewery's future, said his beers will be brewed at Fordham's Southern Beverage Inc. facility in Dover, Del., and should be available in bottles and kegs locally by the end of next month.

AT THE TABLES in DeGroen's Grill on Albemarle Street, the place where the Baltimore Brewing Co. dwells, the members of the Mug Club sit at the dear old copper bar they know so well and raise their glasses high, draining the brewery's last kegs. After 15 years of brewing German-style beers that made men weep for joy, that helped transform scholarly librarians into high-fiving football fans, that encouraged city building inspectors to rub shoulders with professors, doctors and museum docents, the Baltimore Brewing Co. is brewing no more.

Matt George, a park ranger from Westminster, stood outside the Baltimore Brewing Co. and had a smoke. It was 6:30 p.m., Wednesday. He remembered the first Wednesday in February, when eight people showed up to consider, among other pressing questions, who is Howard Dean? That's not the question anymore. The country is learning about the former Vermont governor and the Internet's inaugural presidential candidate. Cast as an anti-war populist, Dean raised more than $800,000 in one day on the Web and last month won the first online presidential primary - which, if nothing else, will make a spiffy political footnote.

WHEN I THINK of party-hearty types, the Germans don't automatically come to mind. Yet during this stretch of September and October, not only do Germans loosen up their lederhosen, they lead the world in a celebration of suds known as Oktoberfest. The official Oktoberfest shindig runs from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6 in the beer halls of Munich. The party got started back in October of 1810 as a bash marking the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. Also figuring in the festivities was the old-time practice of drinking up the Marzen, the lager that had been stashed in March (Marzen)

Who put the "growl" in my growler? I wanted to know.A "growler" is the name of the half-gallon jug I use to carry my fresh draft beer home from pubs that make their own beer.I have two such containers, one from Sisson's restaurant in South Baltimore, which makes its own ales. And one from the Baltimore Brewing Company near Little Italy, an establishment that makes its own lagers.Since I finally got a handle on the distinction between ales and lagers -- ales use yeasts that rise to the top of a kettle of beer and take about 7-10 days to come to fruition; lagers' yeasts fall to the bottom of the kettle and can take 4 weeks before they are served -- I was ready to take on the origin of "growler."

Squeeze out ketchup artThree lucky kids will win $5,000 scholarships and will see their winning designs grace millions of ketchup bottles in ArtSTART: Heinz Ketchup Creative Design Awards. Youngsters can submit any design on a Heinz keystone-shaped label blank, which can be obtained through schools, in Parade and USA Weekend magazines (Sept. 15), from Disney Adventures Magazine (October issue) or by writing Art-START at P.O. Box 3447, Young America, Minn. 55558-3447. It's part of the Heinz celebration of -- the 100th birthday of the condiment; it's also donating $450,000 to the National Endowment for the Arts to help save childrens' art programs.

Seems summer is the time to freshen up menus around town, even if you're the new kid on the block. Like George's on Mount Vernon Square, which opened the end of April on the Monument Street level of the Clarion Peabody Court Hotel (note the new name there). The hotel's food and beverage director, Jason Franke, describes the restaurant as "fine dining done casually." In a couple of days, patrons will get their first crack at the restaurant's new menu, which includes items such as tomato and basil bruschetta ($5.50)

THINK OF Norm and Cliff without Cheers, their watering hole and guiding light. That is the parallel I drew as I heard some longtime customers of the Baltimore Brewing Company describe how they coped with the recent two-week period when they were adrift because their favorite bar was closed. Two weeks is not a very long span, of course. But when the joint shut down Dec. 30, patrons were not sure when, or if, the beer taps would flow again. Since it sprang to life in 1989, the Albermarle Street operation, which has a brewery on one side and a restaurant and bar on the other, has attracted a loyal following.