Beer is to Baltimore as crabs are to Maryland. And it seems it?s always been that way.
Since pre-Colonial days when Great Britain?s Queen Anne chose Benjamin Fordham to be a brewer in the new colony, beer has played a major role in sustaining life along the shores of the Chesapeake.
It wasn?t long before German immigrants settling in Baltimore brought their mastery of brewing to the marketplace, and the city emerged as a major competitor in the burgeoning industry.
Names such as National Bohemian, American, Arrow and Gunther are just few of the more than 100 brewers that called Baltimore home before the days of Prohibition ? 1920 until 1933, the dry time in U.S. history when alcohol beverages in all forms were illegal.
Beer is a staple of Baltimore. Remember the jingle during the commercials of the old Colts? or Orioles? games where a Bay creature such as a lobster or pelican sang:
“National Beer, National Beer,
You?ll like the taste of National Beer.
And while we?re at it, we?re proud to say,
It?s brewed on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay.”
Or how about the classic expression that became a trademark of a true Baltimorean who could be heard saying, “It?s Saturday night and I?m going to have a bushel of crabs and six-pack of Natty Boh.”
Those days are gone, and so are Arrow, American, Gunther and even National Bohemian, aka Natty Boh. Baltimore?s National Bohemian left the city in 1978 and merged with Carling. It is now brewed in North Carolina after Carling sold to Stroh Brewery Co. and ultimately to Pabst Brewing Co., which distributes ?Natty Boh? for current brand owner Miller Brewing. The “Big Three” ? Miller, Coors and Budweiser ? control the beer market today.
“There was a period in the late ?70s when nobody wanted to drink their father?s beer,” longtime beer industry pro Bob Wilson said.
Today, the region?s rich tradition of beer-making rests in the hands of a few craftsmen who are working to bring the market to a head, slowly but steadily.
Fordham, the original brewery of the Maryland colony, is back. Names such as Clipper City Brewing Co., Baltimore-Washington Beer Works and a handful of others are taking their place among beer makers offering hand-crafted brews to beer enthusiasts throughout the Baltimore region and beyond.
Wilson, president of Fordham Brewing Co., has seen the change occur firsthand. As vice president of sales for National Bohemian while it was still in “The Land of Pleasant Living,” as its advertising campaign called Maryland, Wilson witnessed market tastes swing from strong regional brands to national premium labels, and now, hopefully, back to loyalty for local offerings.
“We got away from domestic [beers] and into imports and craft beers,” he said. “And the world became more transient in the 1960s.”
Instead of having access only to regional beer brands, easy travel gave beer drinkers more variety and exposure to emerging national brands.
“Those were irreverent times in the ?70s and early ?80s,” Wilson said, noting the Baltimoreans didn?t seem to care as scores of people lost their jobs when the breweries closed.
“When Carling and Natty Boh merged, both had declining sales,” he said. “We were supposed to be saved, but neither of us had an image.”
And that was the end.
All that was left on Baltimore?s famed Brewers Hill, where breweries thrived in their heyday, was a collection of empty buildings.
Today, Brewers Hill is seeing a revival, but not of breweries.
The buildings are being renovated into apartment homes, office space and retail outlets. It?s much like the emergence of hand-crafted beers. The outside may be similar, but the inside is decidedly different.
Fordham?s brewery in Annapolis brews six brands and seasonal offerings for sale at Ram?s Head Tavern, which has locations in Baltimore, Annapolis, Savage, Crownsville, Stevensville and Rehoboth, Del. A second brewery in Alexandria, Va., supplies beers for clients in the mid-Atlantic region.
“Fordham is a taste of history,” Wilson said. “We think we have something going and people will come back to it.”
Clipping away at the market
Clipper City Brewing Co. LP is another Baltimore brewer staking a claim in the nation?s hand-crafted beer market.
“I think the future of craft beer is pretty strong, but not necessarily in the local market,” said Hugh Sisson, managing partner at Clipper City.
Unlike beer drinkers in Vermont and New Hampshire, who embrace their locally made brews, Baltimore beer drinkers, he said, seem captivated by Budweiser, Miller and Coors.
“If I could have made a living selling beer in Maryland, I would have done that,” said Sisson, who previously owned a brew pub that bore his name in Federal Hill.
Clipper City, he said, is served in 15 states.
“In this market I don?t see that great drive to support the local brands,” he said. “There is tremendous, huge, support for ?The Big Three? in this market, and I don?t know if that?s combatable.”
But local brew pubs have a battleplan to break the stranglehold that national brands have on the market.
Slowly, dozens of the pubs are expanding the palate of Baltimore?s beer drinker, offering specialty beers using recipes from around the globe.
Capital City Brewing, Barley and Hops Grill and Microbrewery, Brewer?s Alley, Brewer?s Art, DuClaw Brewing Co., Ellicott Mills Brewing Co., Growler?s, Olivers-Wharf Rat, Rock Bottom Bethesda, Wild Goose Brewery and Red Brick Station are but a few of the names familiar to local beer-drinking connoisseurs.
Wayne Mahaffey, owner of Mahaffey?s Pub on Dillon Street in Baltimore, serves 110 different brands of draft and bottled beer, many crafted by Maryland brewers. He said the driving force behind the popularity of hand-crafted beers is simply “economics.”
“More young adults in this generation have the wherewithal,” he said. “These are not blue-collar workers drinking Forties [slang for 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor] out of a paper bags. And there are more [brands] available than ever before.”
That fact is supported by the Washington, D.C.-based Beer Institute, which says there are about 2,000 breweries nationwide, a number that is 1,700 higher than in the mid 1980s, said Jeff Becker, president of the national organization.
But while the number of breweries has sky-rocketed in the past two decades, the number of beer drinkers has gone flat.
“What we?ve seen in the past several years is a slight decrease in consumption,” Becker said. “We see that trend turning around, largely because of demographics. More people are turning 21 today than before. Our future looks brighter than our immediate past.”
Beer of choice
» “I?m very finicky. In the summer I like Corona Light with lime, contrary to the man law thing that?s on TV. In the winter, I like Michelob Ultra, without the fruit.”
? Ed Hale Sr., chairman and chief executive officer of 1st Mariner Bank, owner of the Baltimore Blast indoor soccer team
» “Coors Light, because they sponsor my radio show.”
? Tom Matte, former Baltimore Colt
» “When I was a kid growing up in Baltimore, the beer of choice was National Premium. It tasted much better than water.” Unitas Jr. said his famous father?s beer of choice was Michelob or Budweiser.
? Johnny Unitas Jr.
» “It?s either Miller Lite or Bud Lite. It?s the only thing I serve in my house.” The senator has two friends in the district who are beer distributors, one for Miller and the other for Bud. The Miller exception is when Cardinal Theodore McCarrick visits, he then stocks Killian?s Irish Red.
? Maryland Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr.
» “I like Smithwick?s, an Irish lager, that has genetic appeal to one whose mother?s maiden name is Peggy Sullivan. Domestic brew? Sam Adams seasonals, named for a Revolutionary War rebel and patriot, with interesting variety and full flavor. And Natty Boh, of course!”
? Michael Phelps, chief executive officer, Baltimore-Washington Publishing Group and publisher, Washington Examiner
» “I like Guinness because of how rich and smooth it is.”
? Michael Beatty, publisher, Baltimore Examiner
» This week he is touring Mexico probably trying to find a 12-ounce can of Schlitz.
? Artie Donovan, Baltimore Colt Hall of Famer
“No comment.” Too busy drinking milk.
? Cal Ripken Jr. Oriole great
? David Carey and Ron Cassie
