I will be in Baltimore April 1st-4th staying at the Hilton on the Inner Harbor for a conference. Looking for: Beer Bars and Breweries Liquor Store that will have a good selction Seafood Restaurant with a good selection Big plus for places that also (or alternatively) have good liquor selection, especially micro-distilleries not available in the midwest. I do plan on checking bags and would be interested in an in person trade. Probably won't be able to get Surly, but maybe...
Beer Bars/Brewpubs 1. Max's Taphouse 2. Alewife 3. Mahaffey's 4. Brewer's Art (Brews own beer) 5. Pratt Street Ale House (Brews own beer) Local Beers Heavy Seas Stillwater DuClaw
I'd also recommend the Metropolitan as far as beer bars. There's a new Heavy Seas brewpub. Wine Source for your shopping needs
The new Heavy Seas Alehouse is actually not a brewpub (they do not have an on-site brewery there). However, they do offer a very nice selection of Clipper City/Heavy Seas, including several beers on cask, and I agree it's a good place to go if you're at all interested in trying some CC/HS stuff. For the life of me I can't think of a good seafood restaurant with a decent beer selection.
I've heard the new Phillips actually has a very nice beer menu. Read reviews that the food was good too, but I personally can't vouch. As for watering holes, everything mentioned is worth checking out. Aside from Max's, I would certainly put Pratt St. and Brewer's Art on the MUST list. If you want more neighborhood pub feel with great beer, Mahaffey's should not be missed either.
Beer/Liquor Store: About 20 minutes south of Baltimore is The Perfect Pour. They have thousands of single bottles. Many harder to find ones as well. If it is available in MD you can probably get it there. When I lived there, I visited The Perfect Pour at least once a week.
Bars: Mahaffey's, Golden West Cafe, Brewer's Art, Max's, Oliver's, Ale Mary's Beer Stores: Wine Source, The Perfect Pour I never really go to seafood restaurants so I can't really help you there. Phillips is a classic though. What are you looking for in terms of food? Golden West has very good food. Tapas Teatro is good and so is The Brewer's Art. Ale Mary's has good pub food and a little place called Gecko's in Canton has good food, good beer (for cheap) and an impressive tequilla list.
"Ale Mary's has good pub food" If the OP is into tater tots and similar types of food, then yeah, Ale Mary had good food. Otherwise...
When I stayed in Annapolis it felt as if the entire local craft beer market was mostly Heavy Seas and very limited in nature... we really enjoyed finding some A+ seafood and pairing it with whatever we could find
The burger night is the night to go. I really enjoyed the veggie burger; it wasn't a lame boca burger on a pun and actually took effort to construct. And who can resist a heaping pile of bangers and tots?
I recommend checking out The Wine Source. It is a very short drive from Downtown. I stopped there last week and picked up bottles from breweries like Allagash, The Bruery, Mikkeller, Brew Dog, Elysian, Stillwater, New Belgium etc... http://www.the-wine-source.com
John Steven, Ltd. has great food and a decent beer selection. (It's also a minute walk from Wharf Rat.)
Thanks for suggestions, all. Keep 'em coming. And if people here of specific events going on at that time please post as well.
No. Unless you have access to a car, the PP is really not a viable option. Also, the Wine Source is closer and has nearly as good a selection, plus their prices are much better than the PP as well (the PP has notoriously high prices, though I agree, they do have an excellent selection of craft beer).
