Beer

U-S-A! U-S-A! Mr. Flip will lead those cheers for the American team in the World Baseball Classic, not just because he's a patriotic fan, but also because he doesn't want to be damned for all eternity. Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, speaking at a media event from the observation deck of the Empire State Building last week, said this about Team USA: "We cannot allow those clubs to beat us. It's our game," Lasorda said, according to the Associated Press. "Remember one thing: In your hearts, you better pull for the USA or you may not get into heaven."

When Sisson's became Baltimore's first brewpub in the late 1980s, beer lovers embraced the Federal Hill bar's high-quality, finely hopped ales. Within months, more than 90 percent of the beer it sold was brewed there. But two decades later, with a new owner and a new name, Ryleigh's Brew Pub, demand for the home brew had all but dried up, and the metal vats unceremoniously made way for an oyster bar. Once urban mainstays, bars that brew their own beer in-house are becoming increasingly rare in cities along the East Coast.

What holds it all when the beer starts to flow? If form holds, Super Bowl weekend will be beery. Sales of beer traditionally surge about 15 percent nationally in the two weeks leading up to kickoff, and the television commercials for beers are often more entertaining than the action on the field. As the nation's beer drinkers got ready to watch Sunday's contest between the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, I turned my attention to the vessels the imbibers are likely to be holding.

The owner of a Columbia burrito restaurant was fined $500 for allowing a 19-year old police "volunteer" to be served beer. Howard County police Detective Martin Johnson sent a police cadet and a volunteer into Frisco Burritos, in the 8865 Stanford Blvd., on Nov. 9. The volunteer was served a beer without any request for identification. While speaking with licensee Adam Carton, Johnson told the county Alcoholic Beverage Hearing Board, he also saw a man repeatedly walk outside the restaurant carrying a beer -- another rule infraction -- and found a 20-year old woman patron with an alcoholic drink.

Quigley's Half Irish Pub has been a long time coming. Owner James Quigley bought the building on Portland Street five years ago and started rehabbing. Running a restaurant was always his goal, and he's still working on that. But the pub, which opened in March, is well on its way to becoming an elegant addition to Ridgely's Delight. At first, Quigley's looked like it was trying to be another pregame watering hole. Quigley wrapped tacky beer-sponsored banners around the building and hung dozens of small Red Stripe signs inside.

Friends can be either a launching pad or rip cord for a night out in Fells Point. If it's early, you can go there to have a couple of beers and warm up for the bigger, crazier bars like Max's Taphouse, Leadbetter's or downstairs at the Waterfront Hotel. Or, if you're exhausted from a night of loud noise and big crowds, you can head to Friends to cool down. Though decent-sized, Friends is an intimate place with a friendly, interesting crowd. It's refreshing to find a bar just off Broadway where the Friday-night focus is conversation and good beer.

Beer, bourbon and BBQ fest The lowdown -- Lovers of hops, whiskey and meat will converge on the Maryland State Fairgrounds this weekend for the Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Fest. The event includes barbecue competitions, a tasting room and a heated cigar tent. The Kelly Bell Band and classic rock cover band Mister Wilson will perform. If you go -- The festival runs noon-8 p.m. in the 4-H building at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road in Timonium. Admission is $18-$20 and includes a souvenir glass, two bourbon tickets and four beer tokens.

Rodney Tibbs and good friend Marvin Hill had reached the point where they could no longer take hearing about the devilment that is the Preakness infield. Wanting to see if reality would match the hype, the two drove from Calvert County at dawn yesterday, stopping briefly to buy a $150 camera. By midafternoon, Tibbs, 37, turned to Hill, 38, and posed, in essence, a rhetorical question. "Man, is it always like this?" he asked. In a word, yep. As Tibbs and Hill learned, the rules of etiquette, and in some cases laws, are suspended for the 90,000 people who make up the infield.

OKTOBERFEST IS kaput in Germany, but here in Baltimore we don't care. We are going to continue our autumnal ritual of drinking the seasonal beer.That is the attitude that fueled our panel of tasters as we sampled 18 different brands of bottled Oktoberfest brew and picked our favorites. We knew that the German version of the shindig -- a 16-day Munich festival that traces its roots back to the celebration of the 1810 marriage of Bavaria's Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen -- had ended early in October.

I FIND MYSELF going to too doggone many of these," Chuck Thompson said the other day. He meant the funerals of those once anticipated to live forever. He sat in the big sanctuary at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, and he meant Cal Ripken Sr., thought to be too tough to give in to death, and he meant Mark Belanger, born to turn the treacherous ground ball into the inning-ending double play forever, and now it was Jerry Hoffberger who had gotten away.Thompson, the voice of the Orioles for four decades, the voice of the Colts for three decades, was Hoffberger's employee for much of that time because it was Hoffberger's beer, National Boh, that sponsored so many of the broadcasts."

What Bavarian city, Germany's third largest, is home to the Oktoberfest beer festival? ANSWER: Munich

Ever since the Charles Village club The Ottobar started hosting '80s dance parties several years ago, co-owner Michael Bowen has wanted to surprise his customers with an 1880s dance party. It would be much like a 1980s dance party - just without the electricity, he would joke to his friends. On Friday, Bowen will make his uber-retro dance party a reality. Starting at 11:30 p.m., BGE is turning off the lights at The Ottobar for routine maintenance. Instead of shutting down, Bowen decided to put together an "authentic" 1880s dance party on the club's second level.

Jed Weeks follows the rhythms of the beer calendar. The 24-year-old who lives in Mount Vernon knows that as the seasons change, so do the offerings of craft brewers. These days brewers are rolling out their Oktoberfest beers, traditionally Marzen lagers, slightly sweet and nutty. Its annual autumnal release has been the inspiration of Oktoberfest celebrations from Germany, which started reveling in Munich on Saturday, to the Oct. 10 gathering of Maryland brewers at the Timonium Fairgrounds.

FRIDAY SMOKE RINGS OPENING RECEPTION: The latest exhibit at Gallery Imperato, 921 E. Fort Ave., features Rob Tarbell's works on paper depicting smoke-smeared circus animals. The opening reception takes place from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The show runs through Oct. 31. Go to galleryimperato.com. GERMAN BEER FEST: Max's Taphouse, 737 S. Broadway, celebrates with more than 75 authentic German bottled beers and a German-inspired menu. The event takes place Friday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. There is no entrance fee for this event.

The Baltimore ordinance seems clear. Drinking an alcoholic beverage "in open container" on a "street, etc., or in vehicle" is illegal, and violators are subject to fines of up to $500. A judge can throw you in jail for up to a month. That rarely happens, of course. But if you ask people who live near M&T Bank Stadium, it never happens on a day the Ravens play at home. They complain that many laws, particularly the one governing where revelers can drink beer and throw their empty cans, seems to get lost in the revelry of the spirited tailgate.

MUNICH, Germany - The last thing I expected as I slid my fingers through the handle of my first tankard of beer in Munich was 10,000 voices erupting in a ragged rendition of "Hang On Sloopy." There was no mistaking it, even when sung with a German accent. I was in a cavernous beer tent at Oktoberfest, Munich's salute to its favorite liquid, and like everyone around me, I was determined to squeeze the last drop of fun from the world's biggest kegfest. But "Hang On Sloopy"? Why not "Danke Schoen"?

It's Miller time in Vietnam, by way of the streets of Baltimore. When SABMiller, a large London-based brewing company, decided to launch the Miller High Life brand into the Southeast Asian nation this year, it turned to a Baltimore company to design the advertising. Trahan, Burden & Charles created a commercial with fast-paced scenes of young, chic people having a good time, interspersed with nighttime clips of Baltimore's Fells Point and some iconic images of New York City. SABMiller "wanted to do something very American," said Allan Charles, chairman and creative director for TBC. The commercial is "all very American.

When Brian Frueh and his wife, Lynda, traveled to Ocean City this summer for a week of vacation they brought their taste for craft beer with them. And so on a recent Friday afternoon the couple was lunching at Island Oasis, a small restaurant on Route 611 just west of Ocean City. Choosing from 12 beers on tap, Frueh sampled a Pale Ale from Evolution, a new craft brewery in Delmar, Del., just north of Salisbury. After lunch he enjoyed a glass of Peg Leg Stout, made in Baltimore by Clipper City Brewing.

When Michael Johnson says he is "over-the-top passionate about beer," he is undeniably understating the case. And when the Ellicott City pub owner and home brewer says he can talk for hours about his beverage of choice, that estimate is on the low side. A plethora of beer trivia pours out of Johnson as effortlessly as his priciest brew glides down a customer's parched throat. He reminds a listener of what a computer search engine might sound like if it were able to read all of its facts aloud.

This Father's Day, think about serving Dad a beer at breakfast, or as a lunch entree, or maybe during dessert. I am not proposing you get dear old Dad soused this Sunday. Rather, I am suggesting you feed him dishes made with beer. Why is this a good idea? First, dads like to eat. Secondly, most dads like beer. Thirdly, it is usually difficult to figure out what to get the guy for Father's Day. He doesn't give his relatives many gift clues. What he really values, of course, is recognition, some acknowledgment of his paternal role, some effort that says, "Thanks, man."