Independent Brewing Co.

Located off of one of the major streets. Bar and attached taproom, multiple patios. Pretty lively for early afternoon on a Monday. Bar is a bit more boisterous than the attached taproom. Pretty lengthy tap list. Great service too. Beers were OK overall

Finally made it in to visit this brewpub. Lots of room, decent vibe and loads of brews on tap - younger crowd in my observation. Food is available from a food truck outside. Beers are decent overall, not necessarily brewed to style, but still tasty. Many are canned, others available in crowlers, but you can't make mixed 4 or 6 pack of the cans, which to me is a drawback as I like to try a variety of brews. Fan shop on premises.

2nd trip in 3 months so I can form an opinion. Pretty large facility-quite spread out between the beer garden and tent. Food truck in place as well. Everything i have had was pretty good. Many of their beers are hit with an enzyme to remove the gluten. Not sure if this effects the body or overall beer but my first trip I felt like something was lacking. Had a pils, helles, breakfast stout and a delicious lime gose. Service was very good. Really good selection certainly something for everybody. Not IPA heavy. the only thing in the area that is open 7 days a week too for that matter-bonus points.

Independent Brewing has expanded its space tremendously since it first opened in 2015. It now includes several indoor & outdoor spaces that are accommodating to many different generations and interests. There’s a band space and patio on one side of the main building that had groups, couples and families; a small ‘funk house’ that served as an alternative place to get a draft and /or to grab a seat a little further away from the outdoor band; a huge multi-tented area that appeared to attract the younger element in the crowd (although the band playing mostly 60’s & 70’s rock covers might have had something to do with why they gravitated to the distant out posts); the original /main indoor serving area (with patio seating out front); and a grassy, fence enclosed area with picnic tables and plenty of open space. You really couldn’t ask for much more in terms of how the place is laid out. The expanded property is family, friends, kid, dog, group and date friendly.

With the addition of the funk house, previous issues when ordering a beer at the main bar appear to have been solved, although they still don’t place much emphasis on pouring you a proper pint. I sat with the mostly older crowd by the band after grabbing a short-poured pint of the Second Glass Citizen ‘Czech style Pilsner’. The moderate amount of lemony flavor and spicy notes let you know that this beer is not your traditional Czech Pilsner. It was also odd that I had a hard time picking up much of anything at all in the beer’s aroma. It was easy drinking, but not what I had expected when ordering a Pilsner, and that is right in line with most of the beers I’ve had from Independent. Good or bad, most IBCo beers are a unique take on traditional styles that tend to be hit or miss. For me, this version of a Pils is a miss that is just not dialed-in yet on the hops. On the plus side, there were several other options to choose from to include a number of IPAs, fruited sours, a Marzen, Wit, Kolsch, Stout, cider and seltzers.

For many age groups and for many reasons, this might be the place to go on a Sat. night in Bel Air, MD. On weekday evenings it’d also be a good local’s choice for an after work gathering of coworkers. On this particularly nice Saturday night in late August, the crowd is mainly comprised of the predominantly white, upper middle class suburbanites that you will typically find living in the Bel Air area.

If beer alone is your primary reason for going, and your beer tastes tend toward the more traditional vs. experimental, you might be better off trying one of the smaller breweries in the immediate area (such as Alecraft or Double Groove).

 

I stopped here while traveling in MD on business. Located in beautiful BelAir, this turned out to be a cool place to stop and try new craft beers. Open air and roomy inside with an inviting large front porch. Went there at happy hour and there was a good lively crowd. They had around 20 beers on tap and I drank a couple of flights. I liked every beer I tried- very impressive. Friendly neighborhood atmosphere made a good impression- when I bought two signature beer glasses from them, they wrapped them in tissue paper and gave me a monogrammed bag to boot. They pay attention to detail here and the beer is really good.

Good selection of in-house brews. Frequent food trucks for food. Friendly service.

Beer itself is solid without significant flaws, but they definitely lean toward hoppy offerings, and have some stylistic interpretations that I find curious. Not a bad spot to visit in town.

 

 

 

 

 

A beer focused, per friendly establishment serving only 23 of their own brews. Only 2 tv's which are rarely on promoting socialization. No kitchen, only a rotating line up of food trucks out back - place your order and they bring the food to you. Occasional live music. Indoor and outdoor seating. Great line up of beers and comfortable vibe.

20 Gluten free beers

 

 

Visited around 4:30 on a Friday afternoon and the place was already pretty well full. Fifteen taps were being utilized with a nice representation of styles. Beers were quite good - it's one of the those places where you know right away that the owner's know beer and are focused on producing beers to please beer geeks. Friendly and noisy (but not obnoxious) crowd, service was good considering how busy they were. This was a great stop!

In town visiting and friend recommended we go. Good choice for sure only been open for 5 weeks and the beer is excellent. They have 22 taps buy only 6 are currently used. The Brewer does have a few taps with "private reserves " and I was lucky enough to get a nice special pint on a slower night. There are about 30 bar stools 2 long tables with about 10 chairs each. Also several 4 seat bar top tables.
They only have Bar snacks and nut and home made Jerkey for sale as food. However every day they have a local food truck show up from 5-8 or so. And the 2x I was there it was good food. With Brick Oven Pizza the 2nd time.
If you are in the area or even a short 30 min drive or so away it is well worth the trip.

Independent Brewing is finding its place after about the eighth week in operation. The brewer Phil has upped his staff with table service and/or three people behind the bars on busy days. This has immensely helped service. The vibe is all you could ask for with incredible woodwork at the bar and tables, great community atmosphere, and still family friendly. It is just a cool place to be and something Bel Air really needed. The brews have been solid and 10 were offered as of this visit, along with two guest beers from a neighboring farm brewery. Phil has done a fantastic job of putting Independent together and it continues to improve each week; both the beer and the atmosphere. The future looks strong with a crowler machine on the bar as of 12-26-15! It is definitely worth visiting.