Baltimore area breweries

This will probably be one of the last times I respond to this sort of question, as I just think my information and experience are getting a bit dated.

As you probably noticed 2blackdogs, the responses to your question are all over the place, probably because no one can tell what it is you're hoping to find during your visit. If you're just interested in a good brewery tour, then Heavy Seas is probably your best bet. Quality-wise, I think the best breweries in the city are Brewer's Art, Heavy Seas and Stillwater, but I would agree that Pratt Street (Oliver brewing) alehouse and Union Craft do a nice job as well. Pratt Street and Brewer's Art both have a pub you can visit, if that floats your boat, though their beers are also available at various better beer bars as well. Stillwater has something of a tied house in OLAR (Of Love and Regret pub), and OLAR typically has a very nice selection of Stillwater beers. However, places like Max's and Alewife also generally have a solid selection of Stillwater beers as well. Heavy Seas has a tasting room (check the website for hours and tour information), and then there's also the Heavy Seas Alehouse. While not associated with the Heavy Seas ownership (supposedly), the alehouse usually has roughly a dozen different HS beers available, including several cask conditioned offerings. Union Craft has a tasting room, but their beers are also generally well represented around town as well.

If you're just trying to find a great beer bar in town, but one that happens to also have a number of local selections, then I would argue that Max's and Alewife are your best bets. Max's has a particularly large tap and bottle selection, and on the tap menu, they usually list local offering in bold lettering. Both they and Alewife are very supportive of the local craft scene, which is something I always appreciated when I lived in the area. There are plenty of other great beer bars in town as well (Mahaffey's, Hudson St. Stackhouse, etc.), but I think Max's and Alewife are probably the two best in town. Which is better? I think it depends on what you're looking for. I tended to spend most of my time and money at Max's because I felt their tap selection and bottle list are unbeatable. They literally get beer there that you will see virtually no place else in the area (Churchkey in DC is probably their only real competition when it comes to finding the most rare and/or limted beers in the area). That being said, mikeburd and jjboesen are right about the clientele you can sometimes enconter there. If you're over at Max's late on a Friday or Saturday night, then yeah... expect to encounter a boisterous and well lubricated crowd. As for Alewife, the place is great, but I always found the vibe and atmosphere there to be bit sterile and austere. The vibe is much more upscale, even a bit formal, and seems more like a fairly nice restaurant that just happens to have a great beer selection. That being said, the food menu at Alewife is decidedly superior to Max's, though in fairness, I think Max's has upped their game of late when it comes to food. Also, I confess I've never been a huge fan of that part of downtown Baltmore where alewife is located (right by the Lexington market). Parking is generally more difficult to find than what you'll encounter even around Fells Point, unless you want to put your car in one of the downtown, expensive parking lots (and walk a bit). Maybe it's just me, but I never felt uncomfortable about my safety around Fells Point and Max's, but frankly, I would think twice about walking too far anywhere around Alewife after dark.

Shrug. Lot of different options and places to go during your stay. I'm sure you'll have a great time. Have fun!