Beer

When it opened a few years ago, the Abbey Burger Bistro was the first restaurant in Federal Hill to offer upscale burgers with odd meats. (Wild boar, anyone?) But it quickly became a neighborhood favorite of Ravens fans and the post-college set. The restaurant and bar is down a short alley off East Cross Street. On your first visit, you might walk right past it without realizing it. There are two floors - if the downstairs bar is slammed, you might have better luck upstairs. And because it's within walking distance of M&T Bank Stadium, you're in the heart of Ravens territory.

Full Tilt Brewing, Baltimore's newest craft beer producer, will release its flagship beer, Baltimore Pale Ale, on Saturday at the Americana in Canton. The release party will be held from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., and the first pint of Baltimore Pale Ale will be poured at 8 p.m. Baltimore Pale Ale pints will be sold for $2 all night. The founders and co-owners of Full Tilt Brewing are cousins Nick Fertig and Dan Baumiller. Full Tilt will also be launching its community support program at the release party.

Of Love and Regret , the Canton bar and restaurant from Stillwater Ales' Brian Strumke, will open its upstairs bar on Friday. It's called the Jaded Lounge, and it will feature 11 drinks on tap (four Stillwater beers and seven specialty liqueurs/cocktails -- more on that in a bit). Following through on Strumke's vision from the beginning, the Jaded Lounge will also double as a boutique bottle shop, selling an assortment of beer, wine and spirits. Customers will be able to enjoy them in-house or for takeaway.

Heavy Seas Alehouse is throwing one of those stag shopping nights. You know, men hate to shop. But if you ply them with manly things like specialty bourbons, Heavy Seas beer and steak appetizers, they'll fold like tents. Heavy Seas Alehouse is presenting its Stag Night with Smyth Jewelers and Parfections Handmade Gourmet Chocolates. Read: Looking for every sale, retailers inject testosterone into holiday shopping Stag Night starts at 6 p.m. on Dec. 4 at Heavy Seas Alehouse , 1300 Bank St. Tickets are $49 and include bourbon tasting, two beers, a cigar, steak appetizers and a glass growler to take home.

Even before the lights began blinking Saturday night on West 34th Street in Hampden, there was a clear audience favorite among this year's over-the-top neighborhood Christmas display. Clusters of people were stopping well before dusk to admire an oversized can of National Bohemian beer made of plywood, positioned to pour strings of lights representing the sparkling fizz of the brew that has been embraced by Baltimore into a giant pint glass. Both the red can and the amber glass are mounted to the second-story of a rowhouse.

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, let us reflect on the things for which we are grateful. Let us give thanks . . . That Superstorm Sandy didn't do much damage in Maryland - and that we have a federal government to respond to the less fortunate areas where it did. That utility crews work in ice, rain and mud to fix power lines while we moan about how uncomfortable we are. That postal carriers got our mail delivered even as Sandy slammed into...

Tony DellaRose and Ray Lewis are very different people. The former owns a White Marsh bar and restaurant with his brother, while Lewis gets paid to aggressively stop opposing offenses. But on the day of a Ravens game, both become motivational speakers, giving booming talks in front of excited crowds, all united by the desire to see a Ravens victory. While every football fan knows Lewis' reputation as an orator, DellaRose is much lesser known but almost as entertaining. Search YouTube for "DellaRose's Ravens" and you'll find a clip from 2009 of the restaurant's co-owner standing on the bar with a microphone in one hand and a beer in the other.

Before its 15 minutes of fame, J.A. Murphy's was a fun, occasionally rowdy but unremarkable Fells Point bar. It was the type of place you stopped by for a quick beer during a pub crawl, but usually left before a second round. In August, J.A. Murphy's made it to cable TV for all of the wrong reasons. It was the subject of "Bar Rescue," a makeover reality show on Spike TV hosted by industry expert Jon Taffer. The show painted the owners - old fraternity brothers Keith Murphy and Joel Gallant - as clueless managers who allowed their bar to erode.

Damascus is about to get wet. The Montgomery County town, which had banned the sale of alcoholic beverages for as long as anyone can remember, voted Tuesday to permit local restaurants to sell wine and beer. Four times in the previous 35 years, residents of the unincorporated town of just over 15,000 had voted to keep the place dry. In 1996, the ban was upheld by a few hundred votes. But this year, the vote wasn't close, as 66 percent said yes to alcohol. Retail sales of alcohol will not be permitted.

You have to be in pretty good shape to make it up the myriad stairs leading to the main dining room at the Ellicott Mills Brewing Company. But once there - above the din of the street level bar - you'll be glad you made the effort. The spacious 120-seat area is nicely laid out. That, and the menu, promise the opportunity to enjoy good food and conversation with your companions. This historical building at 8308 Main Street is all brick and stone and hard wood, bespeaking the solid foundations upon which this 19th century mill and railroad town were built.