Naptown Pintcast

Welcome to the first episode of season three of the Naptown Pintcast. This podcast was recorded on a late chilly afternoon in mid-February — snuggled up in the VIP booth at Waverly Brewing Company in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore. …under the menacing gaze of Snowball and Binky. My guests on this “roundtable” episode are Brendan O’Leary (cofounder of True Respite Brewing Company and the Treasurer of the Supporters of Maryland Brewing PAC), Avery Strachan (of Waverly Brewing Company,...

Get Your Tickets to Make It Funky 2018 After years of being thrwarted, I finally had a chance to sit down with Jeff Ramirez, co-owner and head brewer of Denizens Brewing Co. in Silver Spring. We talk about his story, lessons learned as a brewery owner, the upcoming Make It Funky Fest, and more.

"True Respite Brewing Company is the culmination of an ever-growing love for the craft beer moment. Creating these moments of true respite, where great beer and a relaxed environment turn strangers into friends, is our primary mission. In the end, we just want to see you all happy."

Revive! pairs Maryland’s award-winning beer with medal-worthy restaurants and chefs from the Free State. Taste the gold medal beers from the 2017 Maryland Craft Beer Competition and hear the announcement of the 2018 competition winners. It will be held on Saturday, August 25th at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, a spectacular late-Italian Renaissance building situated on 310 acres of rolling hills and woodlands located in the heart of the Baltimore Washington area. In an effort...

Today at 3 p.m. -- in about 30 minutes -- Guinness Open Gate Brewery & Barrel House will open its doors in Relay, Maryland, which is located in Baltimore County. Though their “test taproom” has been open since October — and already boasts a devoted following of local regulars, in addition to tourists — it pales in comparison to the expansive, three-level brewery experience that also resides on the same property, which is owned by Guinness’ parent company, Diageo. Ten days ago, I sat down...

On July 28, Jon Zerivitz, Adam Benesch, and Kevin Blodger, will celebrate six years of Union Craft Brewing in their new Union Collective Space on 41st Street in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore. While it’s exciting to see this well-deserved expansion come to life for Union Craft Brewing, this next chapter for them is about so much more than just the brewery itself. “When we initially realized that we were at capacity and needed to expand, we were just thinking about expansion,” fellow...

Happy Friday! To help you get your weekend started, here is a Flashback Friday conversation with Hollie Stephenson, the head brewer of Guinness Open Gate Brewery & Barrel House in Relay, Maryland. Since we're mere weeks away from the full opening of the brewery, I hope you enjoy this Flashback Friday conversation with Hollie about her story and her looking ahead to what 2018 will have to offer.

If a beer blinds you, is that a good thing or a bad thing? How has Mully's changed since they first opened their doors? What's next for Maryland breweries following this year's General Assembly session? I get the answers to these questions and more in this interview with Cindy Mullikin of Mully's, and beer historian and author Maureen O'Prey.

In honor of the 25th anniversary of the Schooner Woodwind (based in Annapolis), Captain Jen collaborated with Hysteria to brew a commemorative beer -- the Seas the Bay IPA. FYI, it's delicious. In this episode, we talk about the origin of the beer, how Ty got the nickname Taco Ty, the importance of local partnerships, the history of the Schooner Woodwind, and much, much more.

It's rare that a brewery gets a second chance to give a first impression -- or to reimagine a drastically different on-premises strategy than they might have imagined years ago when they first got started. But that's exactly what Diamondback Brewing was able to do. Learn more about the Naptown Pintcast.

Sunday, March 25, 2018 was Maryland Day, when the first European settlers landed in the province of Maryland on that date in 1634. To celebrate, I headed back to Odenton to see the guys at Crooked Crab Brewing. If you're a long-time listener, first-time caller of the Naptown Pintcast, you'll probably recall that I hung out with the Crooked Crab crew. Leaving aside the fact that I clearly didn't know much about podcasting when we first recorded -- "Dude, the wind won't ruin the audio," I...

On an unseasonably warm Tuesday this past winter, I spent the afternoon with Old Man Kurt Krol, Brian Delaney and young whippersnapper Chris Broome at Howard County's first farm brewery, Manor Hill Brewing. We ate hot dogs. Lots of 'em. Then we drank beer. And then, through a very long conversation, in the back of their brewhouse, the guys confirmed a long-standing suspicion of mine. There's more than meets the eye when it comes to the team behind the beer at Manor Hill -- especially in...

Alec Ross is the Democratic candidate for Maryland governor. Recently, he invited me to sit down with him at Diamondback Brewery in Baltimore to chat about what's happening politically with Maryland beer.

Surprise! A bonus episode for you today! If you're into Maryland beer, and you haven't heard of Julie Verratti and Emily Bruno of Denizens Brewing, can you tell me about the rock you've been living under? Does it have a walk-in closet? How's the square footage? Are utilities included? Okay, that was a bit rude, and I'm sorry. For those unfamiliar, Julie and Emily are married. And along with Emily's brother (and now brewmaster) Jeff Ramirez, founded Denizens Brewing in Silver Spring three...

It's no secret that Frederick has one of the best beer scenes in the state -- maybe that's why husband and wife Brian and Carley Ogden's California dream of opening a brewery became a Maryland reality with Attaboy Beer, located on Sagner Avenue. Granted, the story of how this local, hop-forward Frederick favorite came to be wasn't without its hurdles. A bad blind date (that thankfully turned into a good one), a batch of early homebrew dumped into sanitizer, a lost real estate opportunity in...

Meet Al and Roy of Waverly Brewing in Baltimore, right off of I-83 in Hampden. “We want teachers to be able to come here and hang out. And on any given Saturday or Sunday, you’ll see folks — they come down with their strollers, and they’re hanging out with their kids, and there are dogs running around. That’s cool to us. These are our friends. We know these folks.”

Franchise law. Local agriculture. The "circle of beer life." What makes the Maryland beer community great. Roosters. You name it, my interview with Judy, Rob and Stephen of Checkerspot Brewing (coming soon to Baltimore) covers it all... For more information about this episode and to see photos from the recording session at Marsh Farm in Pasadena, visit naptownpint.com.

Have you heard of Union Craft Brewing in Baltimore? Then you probably fall into one of two categories: or (There's probably a third category of not liking their beer, and thus not caring about who Kevin Blodger is... but if that sounds like you, we may not be able to be friends, so let's just move on.) Kevin Blodger, Union Craft Brewing head brewer, all-around badass One sunny Friday morning not too long ago, I made my way to Baltimore to sit down with Kevin in Union's taproom. During...

Welcome to Flashback Friday! This week’s episode is actually a throwback to the very first episode I ever recorded of the Naptown Pintcast with Crooked Crab Brewery, which I’m obviously serving up to you a little out of order. In this episode, I talk to Alex and Andrew of Crooked Crab about their experience as a brewery attempting to be the first to open in Anne Arundel County, breweries as community spaces, Andrew's "man crush" on Comptroller Peter Franchot, and their message to local...

“We don’t consider time. We don’t consider expense. It’s all about what’s going to make the best beer. We do everything for the love of the beer.” “How does [what happened with House Bill 1283] build faith for people who want to open businesses in Maryland?” “The American adjunct lager is the bastard child of Prohibition.” A funny, unapologetic interview with Tim and Rahul of Goonda Beersmiths in Baltimore.