Previous Meetings

Month Location Notes/Beer Served
December, 2009 Holiday Party,
Pratt Street Ale House, Baltimore		 A special thank you to our new holiday party hosts, Justin and Steve. We enjoyed 3 firkins: Olivers ESB, Best Bitter and a hoppy Blond.
November, 2009 Brewer's Art, Baltimore Thanks to Volker and Steve for hosting us. Elections were held.
October, 2009

6th Annual Chesapeake Real Ale Festival ,
Pratt Street Ale House @ Camden Yards

 Over 600 attendees. What a crazy day! Photos from Paul Milligan
September, 2009 Crab Feast,
NASA Goddard		 We combined with the Free State Homebrewers Club Guild and the Zymurnauts again for a huge crabfeast of over 150 folks. 5 commercial casks of real ale. eer from Oliver's, Clipper City, Whitemarsh, Lancaster and Victory.
August, 2009 Bus Trip to PA We visited Stoudt's, Victory and Sly Fox breweries.
July, 2009

Grand Cru , Baltimore

 
June, 2009 John Stevens
Wharf Rat
Bertha's
Max's on Broadway
Fells Point (Baltimore)		 The Fells Point Pub Crawl.
May, 2009 Mahafey's
Canton (Baltimore)		  
April, 2009 Johansson's Dining House , Westminster This Saturday gathering at Johansson's. We had 2 casks: Whistle Stop Amber Ale and The Alpha Bomb Double IPA.
March, 2009

Metropolitan Coffeehouse and Bar, Federal Hill

  
February, 2009

Red Brick Station
Whitemarsh, MD

Thank you Mike and Bill for having us. You always treat us well!
January, 2009 Max's on Broadway
Fells Point (Baltimore)		 Thanks to Casey and Max'sstaff for kicking off the new year.

Four firkins were tapped:
Thornbridge Jaipur-English IPA
Thornbridge Ashford- English New World Brown Ale
Williams Bros Midnight Sun-Scottish Dark Porter
Williams Bros Black- Scottish Dark Ale

December, 2008 Holiday Party,
Wharf Rat, Fells Point		 A special thank you to Bill Oliver and his staff for hosting our holiday party. They put out an incredible spread of food and the holiday cask was kicked inside of a couple hours.
November, 2008 Metropolitan Coffeehouse and Bar, Federal Hill Thanks to Bruce and his staff for a wonderful evening.
October, 2008

5th Annual Chesapeake Real Ale Festival ,
Wharf Rat @ Camden Yards
September, 2008 Crab Feast,
NASA Goddard		 We combined with the Free State Homebrewers Club Guild and the Zymurnauts and had a huge crabfeast of over 150 folks. 6 commercial casks of real ale. Beer from Duclaw, Oliver's, Clipper City, Whitemarsh, Lancaster and Victory.
August, 2008 Bus Trip to Philadelphia Visited Yards, Standard Tap, Memphis Taproom, Triumph and Eulogy.
July, 2008

Brewer's Art, Baltimore

 

 Thank you Brewer's Art. We were supposed to meet at Metropolitan Grill in Federal Hill but they had a fire the week before our meeting. Brewer's Art was gracious enough to welcome us with little notice.
June, 2008 John Stevens
Wharf Rat
Max's on Broadway
Fells Point (Baltimore)		 The Fells Point Pub Crawl. Oliver's beers at Wharf Rat, Clipper City Loose Cannon and Organic Amber at John Stevens. Max's had a variety of casks plus the largest beer selection in Baltimore!
May, 2008 Mahafey's
Canton (Baltimore)		  
April, 2008 District Chophouse , DC This Saturday gathering at the District Chophouse with brewer Barrett Lauer. He had casks of Smoked Porter and Spring Bock.
March, 2008

Red Brick Station
Whitemarsh, MD

 This was a very special meeting as we sampled Mike's 1000th Batch Barley Wine. Also we had Charlottes Ale and DPM Lager. We also unveiled our new flag in honor of our 10th anniversary.
February, 2008

Wild Goose Brewery
Brewer's Alley

Frederick, MD

This was a Saturday trip, starting at noon at Wild Goose for a tour and tasting, then on to Brewer's Alley for lunch and more tasting.

Thank you to both locations for your hospitality.
January, 2008 Max's on Broadway
Fells Point (Baltimore)		 Max's was another cool event even under the crazy weather conditions that stopped some members from venturing out to partake in the festivities.

Four firkins were tapped:
Heavy Seas Winter Storm from Clipper City and Froach Heather, all the way from Scotland, were the 2 fan favorites. But the Scottish were not done, Williams Bros Joker and Red were raring to go down, smooth I might add, into the bellies of the 30-40ish member crowd.

Obviously weather was a factor as we usually kick off Max's with 100+ beer lovers. Regardless of how crappy the weather was, Max's went all out as usual with what seemed to be an endless amount of giveaways and a great price on 20 ounces of liquid courage.

December, 2007 Holiday Party,
Wharf Rat, Fells Point		 A special thank you to Bill Oliver and his staff for hosting our holiday party. They put out an incredible spread of food and the holiday cask was kicked inside of a couple hours.
November, 2007 Franklin's, Hyattsville Thanks to Charles for the cask of Cherry Triple. Coming in close to 10%, this was quite tasty and deceptive.
October, 2007

4th Annual Chesapeake Real Ale Festival ,
Wharf Rat @ Camden Yards
Photos

Close to 400 people attended this event - a record crowd!. The rain cleared by 11am for a beautiful day. 23 breweries supplied us with quite a variety of flavors in 29 casks. We even had 2 English casks - George Gales Prize old Ale and Moorhouse Black Cat Mild.
September, 2007 Crab Feast,
NASA Goddard		 We combined with the Free State Homebrewers Club Guild and the Zymurnauts and had a huge crabfeast of over 180 folks. 7 commercial and 1 homebrewed cask of real ale. We were visited by 4 SPBW members from England.
August, 2007 Brewer's Art, Baltimore Brewer's Art unveiled their new Kolsch in cask for us.
July, 2007

Bus Trip to Virginia

 

 Thanks to everyone who attended the "BUS TRIP". We started at Dorsey Station P&R, made a quick stop at Forest Glen to pick up some DC members, then visited Vintage 50 in Leesburg, Sweetwater Tavern in Sterling, Rock Bottom Arlington and finished at the Reef in Adam's Morgan.
June, 2007 John Stevens
Bertha's
Wharf Rat
Max's on Broadway
Fells Point (Baltimore)		 The Fells Point Pub Crawl even started earlier than normal (6pm) with our group dividing up alphabetically into 3 groups and meeting at 3 of Fells Point's finest pubs. After rotating around to all 3 places, we finished the evening at Max's where Casey had 4 firkins on tap. On the beer engine was Heavy Seas Loose Cannon and Stoudt's Scarlett Lady ESB. Thank you to all 4 pubs for making this a memorable event!
May, 2007 Mahafey's
Canton (Baltimore)		 One of our favorite spots, Wayne Mahaffey and his crew pulled out all the stops with three firkins including Troeg's Hopback Amber and a peppered Cerberus from Brewer's Art.
April, 2007 Rock Bottom, Bethesda This Saturday gathering at the award winning Rock Bottom Brewery with brewer Geoff Lively was worth the extra drive. Geoff served us 3 great firkins including an 80 Schilling Scottish and an IPA.
March, 2007

Red Brick Station
Whitemarsh, MD

 This was a very special meeting as we sampled Mike's 1000th Batch Barley Wine aged in Oak. Also we had Charlottes Ale and DPM Lager. We also unveiled our new flag in honor of our 10th anniversary.
February, 2007 Capital City, Inner Harbor Thanks to everyone who made it to Capitol City for our 10th Anniversary Meeting. Cap City brewer, Kevin Blodger, offered us a Hoppy amber ale and strong Weizenbock.
January, 2007 Max's on Broadway
Fells Point (Baltimore)		 We'd like to send our most sincere thanks to Casey Hard at Maxs, as well as Bob, Jason, Rob, Ron & Gail Furman and the rest of the staff for the March meeting. We had a record crowd - over 100 people - go through nearly 5 firkins!!!
December, 2006 Holiday Party,
Wharf Rat, Fells Point		 A special thank you to Bill Oliver and his staff for hosting our holiday party.
November, 2006 Brewer's Art, Baltimore Thanks to everyone who made it to The Brewers Art. As always, the beer and food was superb. Elections for 2007 Officers were held. Thank you to Volker, Tom and staff for your hospitality and great beer.
October, 2006

Chesapeake Real Ale Festival ,
Wharf Rat @ Camden Yards
Photos

Over 300 people attended this event - a record crowd!. We couldn't have asked for better weather. 16 breweries supplied us with quite a variety of flavors in 21 casks.
September, 2006 Crab Feast,
Patapsco State Park
Photos 		 
August, 2006 Grand Cru , Baltimore This place is one of Baltimore's best kept secrets. Grand Cru offer a dizzying selection of top shelf beers and wines, plus expertly crafted drinks and small plates. Owner, Nelson Carey, offered us a choice of Heavy Seas Peg Leg on firkin or Troeg's Hopback Amber on the beer engine. The open market attached offered eclectic food shopping and eateries. Thank you to Grand Cru and the Belvadere Square for having us.
July, 2006

"Breakfast, Bagels & Beer" Bus Trip

Photos

 Thanks to everyone who attended the "BUS TRIP". We had a great kick-off with Breakfast and tour at Clipper City. Thank you Hugh for hosting and allowing us to use your parking lot. The dry hopped Clipper City Gold was a huge hit. A huge thanks to the folks at Iron Hill, Lancaster Brewing, and Bube's for handling such a large crowd.
June, 2006

Duclaw,
Baltimore

Brewers, Jim Wagner and Bo Lenck cooked up a double dry
hopped version of the Venom Pale Ale to go along with the rest of their
stellar selections. Thank you Duclaw for a memorable meeting.
May, 2006 Mahafey's
Canton (Baltimore)		 We met in the newly opened upstairs bar. Check it out if you haven't already. Thank You's to Mahaffeys for the incredible event in May.
April, 2006 District ChopHouse
Washington, DC		 Thank you to Barrett Lauer and the wonderful bar staff at the ChopHouse for providing us excellant service and delicious brews.
March, 2006 Max's on Broadway
Fells Point (Baltimore)		 We'd like to send our most sincere thanks to Casey Hard at Maxs, as well as Bob, Jamie, Frank, Ron & Gail Furman and the rest of the staff for the March meeting. We had a record of 93 people go through nearly 5 firkins!!! Giveaways and "spirited" behavior were plentiful and only hint at what dedicated real ale drinkers can do when they put their effort into it.
February, 2006 Ellicott Mills Brewing
Ellicott City, MD		 We had a huge crowd, close to 70 in attendance. It wasn't our typical meeting standing around the bar. Since we've outgrown the basement bar, we had 3 long tables packed with people. Thank you Mike and Tim for having us!
January, 2006

Red Brick Station
Whitemarsh, MD
Photos

We can’t thank Billy, Mike and the crew at Red Brick enough for the fantastic DPM Lager and Highlander Heavy casks.
December, 2005 Holiday Party,
Wharf Rat, Fells Point		 A special thank you to Bill Oliver and his staff for hosting our holiday party.
November, 2005

Mahaffey's Pub and Max's
Baltimore

A mini pub crawl between 2 of our favorite locations. Annual Election of officers was held at Max's.
October, 2005 Chesapeake Real Ale Festival ,
Wharf Rat @ Camden Yards		 Over 225 people attended this event despite the dreary weather. Tents were set up outside and the festival used the entire first floor of Wharf Rat plus the outside patios.
September, 2005 Crab Feast,
Bill and Pat Blanchard's House		  
August, 2005 Brewer's Art, Baltimore Thanks to everyone who made it to The Brewers Art on the 11th . As always, the beer and food was superb. We had a cask of a new beer, Pecor, a saison style containing pepper corns and mint. Our huge turnout of 68 people killed the firkin in just under 2 hours. Not a record but still quite impressive. Thank you to Volker, Tom and staff for your hospitality and great beer.
July, 2005 Pennsylvania Bus Trip Thanks to everyone who attended the "BUS TRIP". These types of events take a lot of effort by a lot of people and I think we all need to give some props to Ron Degrange for collecting all the money and keeping us all in check and also Ed James for getting those e-mails out. The folks at Troegs, Appalachian, Selins Grove and Kclingers would love a little note or e-mail from attendees as to how graciously they handled 50 of us. Just as an update, our humble little club has grown to 130 members or so and is probably the preeminent organized real ale group in the United States. As most of you would agree though, it's the quality of the members that makes us great, not the quantity.

June, 2005 District ChopHouse
Washington, DC		 Thank you to Barrett Lauer and the wonderful bar staff at the ChopHouse for providing us excellant service and delicious brews. Barrett prepared a Chipotle Porter - the name sounded scary but the heat level was so subtle adding a pleasant surprise to this tasty porter ale. We then trekked over to Gordon Biersch for a pint, RFD, then Capital City for a nightcap.
May, 2005 Mahafey's
Canton (Baltimore)		 Whew! I have to catch my breath. Our meetings are getting BIG!! Not that this is a bad thing. The evidence is in that so many folks love the taste of Real Ale in our region. We go out of our way to find places that produce, support or influence real ale in our region and our meetings provide the proof that we rock when it comes to cask conditioned beer.There can't be enough Thank You's to Mahaffeys for the incredible event in May.Thanks Wayne, Freddy, Nicole and Rebecca
April, 2005 Brewer's Alley
Frederick, MD		 First, I'd like to thank Tom Flores and the staff at Brewers Alley for the April meeting. We had nearly 40 people make the drive and it was well worth it. The IPA & Stout cask brews were great as were the other selections and food. (Lobsters!!!)
March, 2005 Max's on Broadway
Fells Point (Baltimore)		 It may be hard to top this meeting. An absolutely phenomenal turnout of 90 people made it our largest non festival crowd by far. It may be just my opinion, but the beers were fantastic. It goes without saying that Casey Hard, Bob Simko and Ron Furman worked their butts off to pull this off with nary a hitch. Thank you Maxs!!!!
February, 2005 Red Brick Station
Whitemarsh, MD		 We can’t thank Billy, Mike and the crew at Red Brick enough for the fantastic brews and food they put out for us. They would love to see more of us more often, so stop in for their great happy hour deals and good food and beer.
January, 2005 Sean Bolan's
Federal Hill (Baltimore)		 We certainly had a great time at Sean Bolans last month and we want to thank Ken and his crew once again.
December, 2004 Holiday Party,
Wharf Rat, Fells Point		 A special thank you to Bill Oliver and his staff for hosting our holiday party.
November, 2004

Duclaw,
Baltimore

 
October, 2004 Chesapeake Real Ale Festival ,
Wharf Rat @ Camden Yards		 “When it comes to beer, we keep it real.” That was the slogan for the Chesapeake Real Ale Festival and if you were there, we were very real. Over 170 people took part on a beautiful day.
September, 2004 Crab Feast,
Lancaster Brewing Company		 Photos
August, 2004 Brewer's Art, Baltimore Thanks to everyone who made it to The Brewers Art on the 12th . As always, the beer and food was superb. Ressurection with a hint of blackberries was on cask and our thirsty crowd of around 40 people had a great time. Thank you to Volker and staff for your hospitality and great beer.
July, 2004

Philadelphia Bus Trip

Photos

 Thanks to everyone who attended the Philadelphia trip. We made all of stops on time and really got a good taste of Philly. The whole Yards staff was incredibly gracious and we sampled all of their brews and toured the facility. Monks had a nice selection of Belgian brews and great mussels. We then headed to the Reading Terminal and had some awesome cheese steaks and hoagies. From there, we stopped at Independance Brewery and Pub, which was housed in a very attractive building. Our last stop was at Standard Tap, which also had great local beers and fantastic food. We all made it back safe and thoroughly satisfied.
June, 2004 Capital City, Inner Harbor Thanks to everyone who made it to Capitol City. Although things were a little disorganized at Cap City at first, we still had a great time. They had some really tasty beers on tap and the view was great.
May, 2004 Mahafey's
Canton (Baltimore)		 Urige Sticke, an alt from Germany and White Marsh Avenue Ale on hand pump.
April, 2004 Franklins
Hyattsville, MD		 This month we are trying a new place that I’m sure you’ll love. Franklins is a beautiful and cavernous brew pub with quite a selection of hand-crafted brews. They’ll have something tasty for us, as well as the rest of their lineup. Try to get there a little earlier to check out the general store connected to them and to have a bite to eat.
March, 2004 Max's on Broadway
Fells Point (Baltimore)		 Wow!!!! Things are a shaking in the SPBW. Our gatherings have been tremendous so far this year and we’re just getting warmed up. I do want to take a moment to thank Casey Hard, Ron and Gail Furman and the rest of the crew at Max’s for an incredible offering of Beer, Food and Freebies. With their hospitality and dedication to great beer, is it any wonder that they remain at the pinnacle of beer bars on the East Coast?
February, 2004 Red Brick Station
Whitemarsh, MD		 The weather is breaking and the beer is blooming! We'd like to thank the whole crew at Red Brick Station for showing their utmost support and hospitality at last months gathering. We had another stellar turnout and quickly depleted their real ale reserves (52 minutes for the firkin!!!)
January, 2004 Sean Bolan's
Federal Hill (Baltimore)

What a great time to be a beer drinker! We are truly blessed to live in an area with so many great beer venues and this month’s meeting is no exception. I’d like to thank all of you who attended last month at Sean Bolans. I think we had a record for most people ever (54) at a normal meeting. The beers were exceptional and we almost killed three firkins in less than three hours!!!