Maryland Beer

Baltimore is a fairly small town and surprisingly walkable. Depending on where you're staying you should be able to walk or take the water taxi and then walk to a fair amount of places.

Central: The Brewer's Art (a little bit of a hill to climb!) and the Owl Bar, Alewife
Fell's Point: Max's, Cat's Eye Pub, The Wharf Rat, Ale Mary's
Federal Hill: Ropewalk, Pub Dog Pizza, Abbey Burger Bistro
Canton: Mahaffey's

I don't have any suggestions for particular beers or places, sorry, but I would recommend you check out both Fell's Point and Federal Hill just to visit; and I have enjoyed a few dinners at the Brewer's Art quite a bit.

 

Got to hit Max's in Fells Pt listed above, best beer bar by far.
Lighthouse liquours in Canton is probably best bottle shop.
Definitely get some Union Double Duckpin and pretty much anything from RAR, though their best stuff is not distributed you may find it on tap.

 

For local beers you can't go wrong with things from Oliver, Evolution, RAR, Manor Hill, Brewers Art, and Heavy Seas.
Best beer selection in a bar will be Max's in Fells Point. You can get to the Fell's Point neighborhood on foot or use the water taxi. Best beer selection with great food (in my opinion) Alewife or Metropolitan. Both of these are walkable from the Inner Harbor, one is North and one is South.
The breweries above are owned by or tied to these restaurants:
Oliver- Pratt Street Alehouse and The Wharf Rat
Evolution- Birroteca
Brewers Art- The Brewers Art
Heavy Seas- Heavy Seas Alehouse
Can't think of any bottle shops walking distance from the Inner Harbor. There are a couple in the Canton neighborhood which isn't too far.
Never heard of Azumi so I can't help you there but The Baltimore Sun newspaper gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars and loved it.

 

Max's is definitely a can't miss stop, this weekend is their German Festival with all German beers and food so keep that in mind. Orioles are in town this weekend so downtown area could be crowded. I would recommend Mahaffey's, Hudson Street Stackhouse, and Smaltimore. All are in Canton within blocks of each other, have decent food, and will have plenty of local beer available. Azumi and Max's are between downtown and Canton so you could stop at them coming or going. Enjoy your visit.

 

I noticed you said likely not to have access to a car, but if you do have a car and you're driving down on 95, you might want to stop at State Line Liquors in Maryland on your way. It is about an hour north of Baltimore. Well worth the visit, it is easy to get on and off 95 there. Probably better off stopping on the way home so you don't have to cart your beer around. Max's is great, have fun

 

Wanted to get some help on this.
Possibly doing a Baltimore trip one weekend. Down early Saturday morning and out early sunday.

we will have a car.

any breweries that are recommended to stop by?
Already planning on Heavy Seas

any other recommendations?

we will be coming down i95 from NJ

 

Union is probably the most notable but they close at 5 on Saturday so plan accordingly. Jailbreak is only 20 minutes south of Heavy Seas and easy to get to from 95.
Haven't been to Manor Hill yet but the beer is excellent... it's in Ellicott City. you have to make reservations on their website

 

I would skip jailbreak. IMO they don't make a single beer worth going out of your way for.

 

Coming down 95 get off at rte 24 and head north into the town of Bel Air. There you will find Independent Brewing. 22 beers on tap all brewed there. No tours just good beer. Growler fills and crowlers food trucks there so you can eat well too. Open at 11 weekends.
Skip Jailbreak. I hear Heavy Seas does a nice tour if you want a tour.

 

Hate to harp on jailbreak too much cause the guys seem cool but God damn their beer sucks.

 

Not a Jailbreak fan, and not a fan of Independent either.

Hit Union. That should be #1 on your list!

 

I agree with the statement about Union should be #1 on your list. Unless you really want to go to the tour, you can get most of the beers from Heavy Seas at their Alehouse on the border of Harbor East/Fells.

I also usually recommend Of Love and Regret if you're in a fan of Stillwater's beers. They usually have a pretty good selection of hard to come by sours as well. You can sporadically find Jester King bottles in their shop.

 

I've been to the brewery a few times and it's beautiful, but man have I been disappointed in most of their beers. They always sound good, but usually end up tasting off, infected, or like a bad home brew. I'll keep trying their stuff and hope things get better.

 

OLaR is fantastic. Great food, in addition to the tap list. Must stop if you love sours

 

Agree 100%. Having had Taylor's Row and Citra Splendor recently (and fresh), their beer is just bad. Both had this harsh medicinal quality and were difficult to finish.