Relocating to the Baltimore, MD area

Breweries
-Diamondback
-Union
-Monument
-Peabody/Goonda (they share the same space with a few other breweries)
-RAR (about a 90 minute drive from Baltimore)
-Burley Oak (again, a bit of a hike- 2 1/2 hours?- but worth the drive, especially if you make a day trip of it and hit up the beach)
There are others of course but those are my personal favorites. And you're definitely closer now to Tired Hands, Aslin, etc.

Bars
-Max's, the best by far in terms of selection and "rarity". The have special events every so often- just had CBS on draft last week.
-Brewer's Art
-Mahaffey's
-Wet City
Again, just a list of my go to spots

Stores
-Wine Source
-Lighthouse Liqours
-Canton Crossing
-Shawan (Baltimore County)

 

Topease pretty much hit everything. Max's will allow take out of bottles but you will be paying a little bit of a premium and the stores he listed above also do growler fills, and Lighthouse and Wine Source do crowlers. You also mentioned laws, and the annoying one is if you're in Baltimore County, stores are closed on Sundays.

 

In Maryland it's county by county for buying beer places, but everything in the greater Baltimore area is limited to liquor stores. When you get on the eastern shore you can find some beer in 7-11's, etc.

 

While you are in Towson, I would check out Wells, Shawan (mentioned above), and Hunt Valley Liqours. Fed Hill and Canton is where you would be going to Lighthouse, Canton Crossing, and Wine Source

 

I've never attempted it, but heard good things about this place:

https://www.nepenthehomebrew.com/

They are actually opening a brewery close to their current location next Spring.

 

Best part about Nepenthe is it's across the street from Waverly and the block down from Union. A friend of mine goes to Alecraft (https://www.alecraftbrewing.com) in Bel Air. It's also right down the street from Independent Brewing Company.

 

Kind of surprised that no one has mentioned State Line in Elkton, MD yet. Yeah, it's a bit of a haul from Baltimore itself but it's tough to beat the selection. Sign up online and you'll get a discount on single bottle purchases. IF they were closer to me, I'd be spending even more money on beer.

 

I live in Timonium, right next to Towson.

Pinehurst Wine Shoppe is another good store to check out. Nice tap takeovers on Saturdays.

For local homebrewers: http://www.brewthervillelabs.com/

 

All good suggestions above about breweries and liquor stores to get beer. For your homebrew questions check out the Free State Home Brewers Guild it lists all 13 clubs in the state you should be able to find one near you to join with other homebrewers.
http://www.mdhomebrewers.com/

 

Not beer related, but Chaps Pit Beef
You're welcome

 

Total Wine has a store in Laurel, MD. Forgot the name, but it's set up like a Total.

 

I actually moved to bmore from the same area. diamondback and rar are awesome (along with burley but burley is really far imo). as far as bottle shops compare to southern va. limited stuff is a lot easier to find but you will be paying about 20% more or so.

 

Hey Mike- I own Diamondback in Baltimore. If you swing in ask for Tom and I’ll show you around. Plenty of good beer in Maryland too!

 

I’m staying at the Renaissance inner harbor in a few weeks - how safe is it for me to walk solo to Diamondback, Max’s, Brewers Art, OLAR? I don’t mind walking a lot and grew up in NYC in a tough era so I know my way around but don’t want to get myself in trouble out of ignorance. Probably wouldn’t be super late but likely after dark (early evenings).

 

Brewer's Art you'll be fine since you're only a couple blocks away. Max's is walkable from there, Diamondback is a little further so you'll probably want to Uber, i personally wouldn't walk it. OLAR would be a short uber away, but i wouldn't walk it.