Its Dry January, and you’ve made it to day three. Are you already craving an IPA? Any kind of beer? Even a driplet, a drop, a single hop flavored droplet of beer? Well then, Flying Dog’s DeepFake might just be the answer for you.

Flying Dog’s DeepFake Non-Alcoholic IPA is going to be right up your alley if you are looking for a kick ass hazy IPA but without the alcohol. (Now of course, even non-alcoholic beers do have some level of alcohol – in this case its less than 0.5% ABV, as is most non-alcoholic beers.)

You are also getting a low calorie beer with DeepFake as well – coming in at only 39 calories “per can”. (In this case the cans are 12 oz cans.) Thats certainly a lot lower than most beers on the market, especially the heavy beers like stouts, porters, barleywines, Belgians, etc. And even some of the hazier and adjunct heavy milkshake IPAs as well.

All of this makes this a no brainer for Dry January, oh what, we didn’t even get to the taste yet? Oh well, why didn’t you ask already!

What on the surface might smell and taste like an IPA, is in fact a masterful forgery engineered to trick the senses – a smooth drinking non-alcoholic brew bursting with delicious hop flavor. Only 39 calories per can!

Flying Dog – Deep Fake

Brewed with Mosaic, Citra, and Simcoe hops, makes this a perfect “IPA Imposter”. Honestly, it takes a double take and a double sip to realize your not drinking a real Hazy IPA and instead drinking a non-alcoholic beer.

So during Dry January – or any time you’re reaching for a non-alcoholic beer – grab DeepFake and give it a try. You will certainly be surprised that its not a real IPA!

Flying Dog Brewing Company

Recently Flying Dog Brewing Company has been in the news with their being purchased by FX Matt (Saranac Brewing). (FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery) Which has completely changed the landscape of craft beer in the East Coast area. Read the linked article to learn how the buy out changes Flying Dog’s production and corporate make up.

Flying Dog Brewery Articles

If you are looking for more articles on Flying Dog Brewery, please check out our articles below:

• FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery
• Unleashing the History of Flying Dog Brewery: From Fearless Beginnings to Craft Beer Excellence
• Beer Review: Gonzo (Flying Dog Brewery)
• Flying Dog and Giant Pair Up for Giant Slice Apple Pie-Pa

For More Information on Flying Dog Brewery

The following comes from their Untappd bio. They are a subsidary of Saranac Brewery (F.X. Matt Brewing Co.), and are a regional brewery (now out of Utica, New York rather than Frederick, Maryland). They have 96 unique beers, and have over 2 Million ratings with a global average rating of 3.62 (as of 1.5.24). Their Untappd description reads: We are craft beer crusaders who stand tall and never eat shit.

You can find them on the following social media platforms:

• Flying Dog Brewery – Official Website
• Flying Dog Brewery – Facebook
• Flying Dog Brewery – Twitter
• Flying Dog Brewery – Instagram
• Flying Dog Brewery – Untappd

Some Non-Alcoholic Beer Related Articles

• I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)
• Beer Review: Free Wave Hazy IPA (Non – Alcoholic Beer) (Athletic Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Run Wild IPA (Non – Alcoholic Beer) (Athletic Brewing Company)
• The Rise of Non-Alcoholic Beer: A Guide to the Best Non Alcoholic Brews
• Brewery Review: Otto’s Pub and Brewery
• How Does Beer Affect Studying? Understanding the Impact of Alcohol on Academic Performance
• Breaking Down the Buzz: The Health Benefits of Craft Beer
• Best Non-Alcoholic Beers For 2021
• Surly Releasing Outlook Good Hoppy Non-Alcoholic

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Ok, my Pennsylvania Dutch is about to come out a little bit.  Pork and Sauerkraut on New Year’s Day is a tradition in my family.  Served with mashed potatoes of course!  I know, I know, sometimes the sauerkraut isn’t so pleasant.  My mom perfected the recipe to take out quite a bit of the tartness and sourness.  We always cut up an apple to put in the sauerkraut, to give it a little sweetness.  Also sautéing some onions and searing the pork in the sautéed onions.  Mix those sautéed onions in with the sauerkraut.

Then roast the pork in the sauerkraut to cook it through in the oven.

I’m at a bit of a cross roads when it comes to pairing a beer with this yearly meal.  I think a very malty and sweet hefeweizen will pair nicely with the palate cleansing of the sauerkraut.  I’d reach for a Level Up Hefeweizen by Idiom Brewing Company.  Level Up comes in at a 3.79 overall rating on untapped.  It has a 5.6% ABV, just like a good Hefeweizen should!  It is described on Untapped as “Brewed with 60% malted white wheat and a touch of honey malt, then fermented to provide a balanced profile that sits squarely between clove and banana.  Super smooth, super creamy with a bready finish and light bitterness”

When you are enjoying that pork and sauerkraut dinner pair it with a hefeweizen if you are still afraid of the sour or tartness of the sauerkraut. Then when I go for seconds I will pair it with a good sturdy stout.  A strong stout is usually what you would reach for to compliment a nice pork dinner.  I’d grab a Wookies and Cream Oatmeal stout from Tall Tails Brewing Company.

Wookies and Cream comes in on Untapped with a 3.77 overall rating.  It has a 6.11% ABV and is given a rather.  This stout is so smooth it is dangerous.  It will go down even smoother with a delicious pork dinner.  

• Happy New Year!
• Drink More Beer!
• Amy

Amy’s Column Series

Since getting back to writing for the blog after a short hiatus, Amy has started up a weekly column style writing for the blog. You can find these articles here:

• Brewfests with Anxiety (Amy’s original weekly column start)
• I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)
• Beer and Pretzel Review: Legends and Lore (St. Boniface Brewing Company) and Garlic Parm Pretzels (Pretzels.com)
• Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and YAH Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
• Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots
• Amy’s Day Off
• It Was All A Dream (A Visit to YAH Brewing)
• Just Another Weekend (A Hike at Saint Pete’s Trail and Hares Hill Brewing)
• I’m Pretty Darn Lucky (Happy Mother’s Day)
• Ready to Kick of the Summer
• Beer Review: Beer Devil IPA (Niagara Brewing Company)
• World MS Day
• Have you ever picked a beer based on the can art?
• Happy Father’s Day
• What is Your Summer Time Go To Beer?
• Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles
• Baby’s First Ffej
• We Can’t Always Be a Glutton Right? – Perfect Portions and Allusion Brewing Company
• Beer Review: Pocono Punch (Barley Creek Brewing Company)
• Getting Sworn In: A Sneak Preview of Sworn Brewing
• Beer Review: Tropical Stout (Troegs Independent Brewing and Windy Bridges Brewing LLC)
• RAR Brewing Brings the Nostalgia with Muppets Out of Order Series
• Happy Birthday to Ben
• Brewery Review: Cold Spring Inn and Brewery
• Hummelstown Doesn’t Deserve Maritza
• Enchilada Stuffed Peppers and Sunshine Pilsner
• Master of Pumpkins, Cupcakes, Cookies, and Bacon Cheeseburgers
• A Beer Review by Grandma SueAnn (Beer Review: Braaaiins! by Spring House Brewing Company)
• Grandma SueAnn and More Beer: Beer Reviews of: Zoktoberfest (KCBC – Kings County Brewers Collective) and Devious Imperial Pumpkin (Fegley Brew Works)
• Oh Ever Grain: 7 Years, 7 Beers
• Pumpkin Beer Review with Grandma SueAnn – Abomination Brewing: Forbidden Pumpkin, Greater Good Brewing: Giant Pumpkin, and Pizza Boy Brewing: Sunny Side Up Double Coffee Pumpkin
• Grandma SueAnn Helps Review More Pumpkin Beers: 2 out of 3 Ain’t So Bad
• Halloween Candy and Beer Pairings
• Brewery Review: Otto’s Pub and Brewery
• Munching on some Thanksgiving leftovers?
• The Holidays Always Bring On Waves of Nostalgia For Me
• YAH Brew and Desserts Pairing
• Christmas Cookies and Beer Styles Pairing (Pairing Christmas Cookies with Beer)
• New Years Day
• You can find all of Amy’s articles here: Amy’s Archive of Articles.

(And please take a moment to fill out Amy’s survey on her ‘Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles‘ column.)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

• MAPS OF BREWERIES

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

Have you ever picked a beer based on the can art?

Have you ever picked a beer based on the can art?  I’ll admit it, I did it.  And it was an excellent choice!

It was during the Frederick trip for World MS Day that I wanted to grab a 4 pack when we headed out and I needed to make a quick decision.  If you know me, you could have guessed the sunflower can art got my attention.

(See our Trip to Frederick MD.)

Anxiety

I’ve shared in another article I live with depression and anxiety (see Amy’s article from last year – Brewfests with Anxiety)  I got this awesome sunflower tattoo as a symbol to always fight for my happiness despite the depression and anxiety.  So, naturally I grabbed a 4 pack of the Full bloom. 

To my delight it felt like the stars….I should say it felt like the sunflowers aligned and it was the perfect beer over a cookout this past weekend.  Full Bloom comes in with a sneaky 11% ABV.  This Triple New England IPA is delicious and smooth, maybe a little too smooth.  It paired perfectly with the chicken, spinach and feta sausages I drank it with.  It has an average rating on Untapped at 4.02, which is a bit low in my opinion.  There is one review on untapped that says “May just be my new favorite” according to Meredith S., so I know I am in good company.

Full Bloom

Beer: Full Bloom
Brewery: Idiom Brewing Co.
Style: IPA – Triple New England / Hazy
ABV: 11%
IBU: N / A
Untappd Description: Full bodied and deceivingly smooth, this Triple was brewed with a mix of toasted golden naked oats and flaked oats. On top of this lush base, we threw Lotus and Citra Incognito hops into a low-temp whirlpool and then double dry-hopped with Ella, Lotus and Vic Secret. Juicy, creamy and full of a mix of nuanced flavors, like candied grape, orange, vanilla, tropical fruits and a touch of star anise.
Global Average Untappd Rating: 4.02

That first sip is light and tantalizing at the same time.  This Triple IPA is the smoothest TIPA that has ever danced across my tongue. You get a few more swigs in you and you can feel that 11% tickling you.  According to Scott on Untapped It is “Great balance.  Sneaky 11% for sure!” The only thing I know for sure is I’m gonna try to hustle down there again soon to grab another 4 pack.  Because I have one left and I’m already looking at it like “My precious”

-Drink More Beer!

• Amy

Weekly Column

Amy is back with her weekly column; just eight (8) days behind. Last week was a bit of a hectic week for Amy and Ben. Friday through Monday – Ben was with Drew in Atlantic City. Monday and Tuesday Amy was very busy with her tremendous work with the Alzheimer’s Association; so she took the week off from her weekly column. (Its ok Amy, we’ll forgive you this one time.)

Last night was Ben’s father’s 69th birthday. (Happy Birthday Paw Paw.) Between the festivities and Amy doing a dogsit she decided to wait until tonight (Monday, June 12th, 2023) for her weekly column.

But we certainly weren’t slacking here at The Beer Thrillers. You can read about our trip to Frederick last Tuesday – (May 30th, 2023), to go to Idiom Brewing (as well as Brewer’s Alley, and Monocacy Brewing Company) to recognize World MS Day.

To read about that trip click here: Our Trip to Frederick MD.

Ben was also busy in the convening days, with his Atlantic City trip with Drew, as well as the Renaissance Faire brewfest two days ago (June 10th, 2023).

Amy’s Column Series

Since getting back to writing for the blog after a short hiatus, Amy has started up a weekly column style writing for the blog. You can find these articles here:

• Brewfests with Anxiety (Amy’s original weekly column start)
• I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)
• Beer and Pretzel Review: Legends and Lore (St. Boniface Brewing Company) and Garlic Parm Pretzels (Pretzels.com)
• Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and YAH Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
• Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots
• Amy’s Day Off
• It Was All A Dream (A Visit to YAH Brewing)
• Just Another Weekend (A Hike at Saint Pete’s Trail and Hares Hill Brewing)
• I’m Pretty Darn Lucky (Happy Mother’s Day)
• Ready to Kick of the Summer
• Beer Review: Beer Devil IPA (Niagara Brewing Company)
• World MS Day
• Have you ever picked a beer based on the can art?
• You can find all of Amy’s articles here: Amy’s Archive of Articles.

For More Info About Idiom Brewing Company

The following information comes from Untappd. Idiom Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Frederick, MD. They have 339 unique beers and over 75,800 ratings with a global average rating of 3.91 (as of 6.12.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Idiom Brewing Co. has a simple goal in mind – To bring people from all walks of life together, to enjoy themselves and each other. Whether you’re a hop head looking for explosively juicy IPAs; are one of the adventurous few looking to try boozy, sour or complex flavors; or you’re just looking to enjoy classic styles and seasonal favorites, we’ll have a little something here for you!”

You can follow them on their social media pages:

• Idiom Brewing Company – Facebook
• Idiom Brewing Company – Twitter
• Idiom Brewing Company – Instagram
• Idiom Brewing Company – Official Website
• Idiom Brewing Company – Untappd

Articles About Idiom Brewing Company

• Beer Review: Level Up (Idiom Brewing Company)
• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)
• Our Trip to Frederick MD

Thank You For Reading

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

World MS Day

World MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Day is tomorrow May 30^th (it is recognized every year on the May 30^th).  A day to celebrate global solidarity and hope for the future; according to World MS Day Org.

Tomorrow The Beer Thrillers will recognize and support World MS Day (Event) in Frederick Maryland at Idiom Brewery Idiom Brewing Company is awesome enough to support the cause by donating a portion of the proceeds to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  Every year we are working BUT this year we are both were able to take some time to escape and support such a worthy cause.

We will definitely be trying to the special brew for the day in honor of World MS Day. An Orange Creamsicle Smoothie Sour. Orange is the Multiple Sclerosis awareness color and it’s just so fitting.   Last time The Beer Thrillers visited Idiom Brewing it was after an awesome hike at Annapolis Rocks and we visited 3 other breweries all along Carroll Creek.

One of the best parts of the brewery community is the unwavering willingness to support such worthy causes and also, we’ve witnessed the brewery community’s support of other breweries too!  When we start to think about which breweries we want to go check out on any given day with free time, a brewery with this amount of thoughtfulness for a worth charity will always pop up first on our list.

Research, treatment and disease modifying therapies (DMTs) for Multiple Sclerosis have come a long way in the past 10 years.  What is MS?  According to the National Multiple Sclerosis website: Multiple sclerosis is an immune-mediated disease. This means that an abnormal response of the body’s immune system causes the disease. In this case, the immune system attacks the central nervous system (CNS) by mistake. The CNS is made up of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.

Multiple Sclerosis is a relentless disease that when a patient is finally diagnosed it impacts entire families.  There is currently no cure or way to repair the damage MS has already done by the time a DMT is given to the patient.  The multiple sclerosis community will always have support from The Beer Thrillers.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us to connect on any future non – profit fundraising events at breweries.

Multiple Sclerosis / MS Articles

We have previously covered the Brewfest for MS, which you can read more about here:

• Brewfest for MS

Articles About Idiom Brewing Company

• Beer Review: Level Up (Idiom Brewing Company)
• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

For More Info About Idiom Brewing Company

The following information comes from Untappd. Idiom Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Frederick, MD. They have 339 unique beers and over 75,800 ratings with a global average rating of 3.9 (as of 5.29.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Idiom Brewing Co. has a simple goal in mind – To bring people from all walks of life together, to enjoy themselves and each other. Whether you’re a hop head looking for explosively juicy IPAs; are one of the adventurous few looking to try boozy, sour or complex flavors; or you’re just looking to enjoy classic styles and seasonal favorites, we’ll have a little something here for you!”

You can follow them on their social media pages:

• Idiom Brewing Company – Facebook
• Idiom Brewing Company – Twitter
• Idiom Brewing Company – Instagram
• Idiom Brewing Company – Official Website
• Idiom Brewing Company – Untappd

Thanks From Amy

Thank you all for reading. This was a fun busy three day weekend involving Zoo America, two Memorial Day picnics (one at our house), and much more. Scarlet is beat, and so am I. But we got a fun busy day tomorrow! Can’t wait!

Drink More Beer!

-Amy

Amy’s Column Series

This is a two – fer article weekend for Amy’s column. This article about World MS Day, as well as the Beer Devil IPA beer review.

Since getting back to writing for the blog after a short hiatus, Amy has started up a weekly column style writing for the blog. You can find these articles here:

• I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)
• Beer and Pretzel Review: Legends and Lore (St. Boniface Brewing Company) and Garlic Parm Pretzels (Pretzels.com)
• Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and YAH Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
• Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots
• Amy’s Day Off
• It Was All A Dream (A Visit to YAH Brewing)
• Just Another Weekend (A Hike at Saint Pete’s Trail and Hares Hill Brewing)
• I’m Pretty Darn Lucky (Happy Mother’s Day)
• Ready to Kick of the Summer
• Beer Review: Beer Devil IPA (Niagara Brewing Company)
• World MS Day
• You can find all of Amy’s articles here: Amy’s Archive of Articles.

Thank You For Reading

Ben jumping on real quick. Been a busy few days. Friday, Drew and I went to YAH Brew, and then did some filming back at Knights of Nostalgia studios, Saturday we took Scarlet to Zoo America at Hershey, Sunday (yesterday) we had a Lunch and Dinner picnic at my sister’s (we were also supposed to go to Cox Brewing Company for a homebrewing meet up, but timing didn’t allow it), and today, we had a parade in Hummelstown (which Scarlet slept through, including the firetrucks, Civil War re-enactment gun blasts, Lower Dauphin band, and more), and then had a picnic at our house (was also supposed to go to Drew’s for a Knights of Nostalgia filming with Josh from MasterMind X Studios, and streaming session, but once again, timing didn’t quite work out). So its certainly been a busy weekend!

Thanks for reading everyone!

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

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You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

Flying Dog Brewing

Flying Dog Brewery, nestled in Frederick, Maryland, has become an iconic name in the craft beer industry. Renowned for its bold flavors, provocative artwork, and irreverent spirit, Flying Dog has etched its place in the hearts of beer enthusiasts around the globe. In this article, we take a journey through the captivating history of Flying Dog Brewery, tracing its humble origins to its remarkable rise as a pioneering force in the craft beer scene.

A Fearless Beginning

Flying Dog Brewery traces its roots back to 1990 when George Stranahan, a doctor and beer aficionado, co-founded the brewery in Aspen, Colorado. Inspired by the works of his close friend, the acclaimed artist Ralph Steadman, Stranahan named the brewery after Steadman’s book, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” which featured the infamous “flying dog” illustration. This partnership between art and beer set the stage for Flying Dog’s distinct brand identity and visual aesthetic.

An Eastward Flight

In 1994, Flying Dog Brewery spread its wings and relocated to Frederick, Maryland, seeking a larger brewing facility and expanded market opportunities. This move marked a pivotal moment in the brewery’s history, as it embraced the vibrant Mid-Atlantic region and forged a deep connection with the local community.

Brewing Excellence

Flying Dog Brewery quickly gained recognition for its uncompromising commitment to brewing excellence. Led by visionary brewmaster Matt Brophy, the brewery pushed boundaries, experimenting with innovative ingredients, and crafting beers that challenged conventional styles. From the flagship “Doggie Style” Classic Pale Ale to the award-winning “Raging Bitch” Belgian-Style IPA, Flying Dog’s beers captured the attention and taste buds of craft beer enthusiasts worldwide.

Artistic Rebellion

Flying Dog’s unique artistic rebellion became an integral part of its identity. The brewery continued its collaboration with Ralph Steadman, renowned for his iconic illustrations in the works of Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman’s provocative and distinctive artwork adorned Flying Dog’s labels, capturing the brewery’s unapologetic and unconventional spirit. This marriage of art and beer gave Flying Dog a visual identity that stood out in a crowded craft beer landscape.

Raging Bitch is the biggest example of their ‘artistic rebellion’. Refusing to change the name, logo, or beer packaging had found them removing themselves from the Brewer’s Association claiming that they didn’t want to be censored.

The following comes from our article FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery:

(From the heading “Censorship and Controversy):

Flying Dog Brewery has had a bit of a history of ‘controversy’. They’ve always partnered with local (and national) groups, organizations, and fundraisers about free speech, censorship, and anti – book banning. With beer names like “Raging Bitch” it is easy to see how they drew the ire of different groups over the years.

Flying Dog Brewery has also used a few sexually explicit, or sexually suggestive names over the years as well. With beer names like Pearl Necklace Chesapeakee Stout, and Doggy Style Pale Ale, amongst a few others.

They have been partnered with Ralph Steadman for artwork on their beer cans and beer bottles for quite a while now. Ralph Steadman also did the artwork for Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Lothing in Las Vegas, as well as other books (he also recently did the artwork for a new edition of Animal Farm by George Orwell).

FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery – The Beer Thrillers

Advocacy and Activism

Beyond brewing exceptional beer, Flying Dog Brewery has been a vocal advocate for freedom of expression and First Amendment rights. The brewery has stood firmly against censorship, fighting legal battles to defend its artistic labels and ensure creative freedom within the craft beer industry. Flying Dog’s commitment to pushing boundaries extends beyond its beer, making it a symbol of artistic and social rebellion.

Community Engagement and Philanthropy

Flying Dog Brewery takes pride in being an active member of the local community and giving back through philanthropic endeavors. The brewery collaborates with various nonprofits and charitable organizations, supporting causes that align with its values. From fundraisers to partnerships with environmental initiatives, Flying Dog demonstrates a commitment to making a positive impact beyond the realm of brewing. This community-centric approach has further solidified the brewery’s reputation as a responsible and socially conscious industry leader.

Crafting a Legacy

Today, Flying Dog Brewery continues to soar to new heights in the craft beer world. It remains dedicated to its core values of brewing uncompromising, boundary-pushing beers while embracing the artistry and freedom of expression that have defined its brand. With a state-of-the-art brewing facility, a talented team, and a loyal following, Flying Dog remains a beacon of innovation and integrity within the craft beer community.

A Legacy of Excellence

Flying Dog Brewery’s impact extends well beyond its remarkable beers. It has played a significant role in shaping the craft beer landscape by embodying the spirit of artistic freedom, advocating for the industry’s rights, and inspiring countless breweries to embrace creativity and individuality. Its unwavering commitment to brewing excellence, coupled with its rebellious nature and dedication to community engagement, has cemented Flying Dog as an influential and respected name in the craft beer world. As it continues to innovate, collaborate, and challenge the status quo, Flying Dog Brewery’s legacy of fearlessness and uncompromising quality is sure to endure for years to come.

Expanding Horizons

Flying Dog Brewery’s success and growing popularity allowed it to expand its reach beyond the United States. In 2008, Flying Dog entered into a partnership with the prominent European brewery, BrewDog, which shares a similar rebellious and innovative approach to brewing. This collaboration led to the creation of international brews, opening new doors for Flying Dog to showcase its beers to a global audience. The partnership also enabled the brewery to gain valuable insights from the European craft beer scene and further refine its brewing techniques.

Innovation and Experimentation

At the core of Flying Dog Brewery’s success lies its relentless pursuit of innovation and experimentation. The brewery’s Brewhouse Rarities series showcases its creativity by introducing limited-edition, small-batch beers that push boundaries and explore new flavor profiles. These experimental brews allow the brewery to continuously evolve and surprise beer enthusiasts with unique and exciting offerings. Flying Dog’s commitment to pushing the envelope has earned it a dedicated following of adventurous beer drinkers who eagerly anticipate the next groundbreaking release.

Embracing Beer Tourism

Flying Dog Brewery has embraced the concept of beer tourism, inviting enthusiasts to visit its Frederick location for immersive experiences. The brewery offers guided tours that take visitors behind the scenes to witness the brewing process firsthand. Guests can witness the artistry of brewing, sample a wide range of Flying Dog’s beers, and engage with knowledgeable staff members who are passionate about their craft. The brewery also hosts events, including festivals, live music performances, and beer pairing dinners, creating a dynamic and engaging atmosphere for beer lovers to enjoy.

(It is to be noted that their brewery in Frederick Maryland has had its taproom closed since the beginning of the COVID – 19 pandemic in March of 2020.)

FX Matt Brewing Acquires Flying Dog

The following comes from our article FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery:

Yesterday around noon, a huge brewery shift was announced. F.X. Matt Brewing Company (Saranac) from New York has acquired Flying Dog Brewery (from Maryland). New York’s FX Matt Brewing Company has struck a deal to acquire Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland, both companies announced today via press releases, social media, and other formats.

As of this writing, no financial terms have been discussed, disclosed, or announced so far as the deal pertains. Flying Dog’s production will begin shifting to FX Matt Brewing Company’s Utica New York production facility over the summer; unfortunately this means that Flying Dog’s production in Maryland will cease and stop sometime mid August.

They are looking to keep a presence of Flying Dog Brewery in Maryland, choosing not to fully abandon the area that gave birth to Flying Dog Brewery and that supported them.

FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery – The Beer Thrillers

Please go to that article to read more about FX Matt (Saranac Brewing) Brewing Company Acquiring Flying Dog Brewery. (It was written in May, 2023.)

Production

As noted in the article – Top 50 Craft Breweries of 2022 (by Production) – Flying Dog Brewery was listed as number 34.

In 2019, the brewery reported producing over 100,000 barrels (approximately 3.1 million gallons) of beer annually.

Flying Dog Brewery

Flying Dog Brewery’s journey from a fearless beginning to craft beer excellence is a testament to the power of passion, artistry, and unyielding dedication. Through its distinctive flavors, rebellious spirit, and unwavering commitment to creative freedom, Flying Dog has carved out a unique place in the hearts and palates of beer enthusiasts worldwide. As it continues to challenge norms and brew boundary-breaking beers, Flying Dog Brewery remains an inspiration and a trailblazer in the ever-evolving world of craft beer.

Other Flying Dog Brewery Articles

Here’s other related articles:

• FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery
• Sipping on Tradition: A Guide to Craft Beer Flagship Beers
• The Best Craft Breweries in the United States
• Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies in the United States (2023)

Articles about Frederick Maryland:

• Beer Review: Level Up (Idiom Brewing Company)
• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)
• World MS Day (Idiom Brewing Company – May 30th, 2023)

A Series of Craft Beer Articles

This is just one of several in a series of over arching ‘craft beer’ related articles. Several alone in a ‘flagship’ series. In the next few weeks there will be some more that come out as well. I would like to have this general level of different ‘craft beer articles’ that everyone can kind of jump to and read and use for informative purposes, and give a better understanding for the other articles on the site.

Some of these articles are about definitions (like “What is Craft Beer?“) and others are about Craft Breweries in general like the Top 50 Producing Craft Breweries, etc.

• The Battle of the Breweries (2023) Winner Is
• Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies in the United States (2023)
• Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies in the United States (2023)
• What is Craft Beer?
• I’ve Missed Drinking (A Look at Non Alcoholic Beers)
• The Rise of Non-Alcoholic Beer: A Guide to the Best Non Alcoholic Brews
• Best Non-Alcoholic Beers For 2021
• Craft Beer 101: Your Guide to the World of Small – Batch Brewing
• How to Build Your Own Homebrew: A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Beer Enthusiasts
• Brewing a Traditional Lithuanian Farmhouse Beer – Keptinis
• Human Robot – Milko Pour – A Look at Milk Pours
• Hemp and Beer – Happy 4:20 Day
• Map of Maine Breweries
• Map of New Hampshire Breweries
• Map of Vermont Breweries
• Sipping on Tradition: A Guide to Craft Beer Flagship Beers
• Discovering the Best Independent Breweries with Beer Drop Craft Beer Subscription Service
• Breaking Down the Buzz: The Health Benefits of Craft Beer
• Craft Beer Styles: Exploring the Wide World of Flavor
• May the Fourth Be With You (2023) – Star Wars and Craft Beer
• Zelda and Craft Beer
• From Philly to Pittsburgh: Pennsylvania’s Top Craft Breweries You Must Visit
• The Best Craft Breweries in the United States
• The Thriving Craft Beer Scene of Pittsburgh

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

• Other Half Brewing Company Opening Friday 2.18.22 in Philadelphia
• Midwest Coast Brewery Opening
• Boulevard Presidents Steps Down Amidst Allegations
• Brewery Opening: Howling Henry’s (Hummelstown)
• Brewery Opening: Highway Manor (Camp Hill)
• Brewery Opening: Rotunda Brew Pub (Hershey)
• Is JB LoveDraft’s Opening a Brewery?
• Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino – Grantville – Opening Their 5th Location
• JB LoveDraft’s Grand Opening (Mechanicsburg)
• ZeroDay Opens Their New Tap Room (Harrisburg)
• Victory Brewery Fire and Explosion (Kennett Square)
• Sign of the Horse Brewery is Expanding in Hanover (Taking Over the Old Miscreation Brewery)
• Brewery Tour: Couch Brewery (Pittsburgh)
• Brewery Visit: Mellow Mink (Mechanicsburg)
• A Sneak Peak at the new Rubber Soul Brewery (Hummelstown)
• Rubber Soul Grand Opening (Hummelstown)
• VooDoo Lancaster Closing
• River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery Closes
• Homaide Brewing Says Goodbye To Their First Home
• Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing (Mechanicsburg)
• Rally Point Tap Room Opening – Cox Brewing Company – Elizabethtown
• Spigot Brewing Closes
• Full Pint Brewing Closes
• Night Shift Brewing Cancels Expansion
• Mikkeller Brewing NYC Closes Permanently
• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help (Pottsville)
• Official BBQ (Pizza Boy Secondary Location) (Rutherford)
• Aslin Beer Co. Now Ships to Pennsylvania
• Boneshire Brew Works to Open Second Taproom in Harrisburg (Harrisburg)
• Aslin Beer Company Confirms Expanding to Pittsburgh
• Rural City Beer Company Coming to Beamstown PA
• Grand Opening of Forest and Main’s New Brewpub
• New Bells-gium – New Belgium Owned Company Buys Bell’s Brewery
• Human Robot Expanding to Jenkintown
• High Road Brewing Company Coming to Camp Hill, Pennsylvania in Summer 2022
• YAH Brewing’s First Can Drop
• RAR Brewing’s Star Wars Can Drop
• Arboretum Trail Brewing Company Opens Their Doors Tomorrow
• Macklin Brewing Company in Development
• Michaux Brewing Company Grand Opening
• Shy Bear Brewing Announces Two New Locations
• Newfangled Brew Works Announces Closure
• Fourscore Beer Company Celebrates Their 3rd Anniversary
• Penn Brewery Announces Sale and Owner’s Retirement
• Voodoo Brewing Company To Open Brewpub on North Shore of Pittsburgh – August 27th
• Truth Beer Company’s Grand Opening
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery’s Grand New Location and Opening
• AleCraft Brewing Company Expands Into Pennsylvania
• Boneshire Brew Works Celebrates 6th Anniversary
• Funk Brewing Company – Elizabethtown Brewery – Fire
• Funk Brewing Company – Elizabethtown Brewery – Fire Update
• Victory Taproom in Kennett Square Re – Opens
• Pour Man’s Brewery Is Moving Their Tap Room
• Qatar Bans Alcohol Sales at World Cup 2022
• Second Sin Brewery Company Celebrates Third Anniversary
• Round Guys Brewing Company’s Brewpub in Lansdale is Getting a Revamp
• VK Brewing Officially Opens at Historic Ship Inn
• Rocket Frog Brewing Company Announces Closure on December 11th
• Where to Watch the USA vs Netherlands World Cup Game – in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia
• Liquid Noise Brewing Company Announces the Show is Ending (Brewery Closure)
• Looks Like Homaide Brewing Company Might Be Done (January 2023)
• Old Soul Brewing Starting up in Waynesboro Pennsylvania
• Cox Brewing Company Returning to Their Roots
• Helping the Hemauer Family
• Cellar Works Brewing Closing Cooper Station
• Imprint Beer Company Unveils The GNARCADIUM
• Blueprint Brewing Company Announces Their Closing on March 31st
• Pilger Ruh Brewing is Expanding into Gettysburg
• Back Porch Brewing Grand Opening
• Jigsy’s Old Forge Pizza and Brewpub is Expanding into Hershey
• LoveDraft’s Brewery Sabotaged
• Homaide Brewing Company Resurfaces
• Sign of the Horse Brewery Announces Closure of Zeichen des Pferdes and Re – Branding
• Mount Gretna Craft Brewery in Palmyra Announces Closing Immediately
• The Englewood Announces Re – Opening
• AB InBev Closes Cleveland’s Platform Brewing Company
• Full Tit Brewing Closing
• Camp Hill Brewery – High Road Brewing – Plans Scrapped
• YAH Brew is Coming to Hershey in Spring 2023
• Bespoke Brewing Moving and Expanding
• BrewDog Pittsburgh Has Closed
• Isle of Que Brewing – The Que Brew Crew – Has Announced Their Closing
• Fermentery Form Announces Temporary Closure
• Separatist Beer Project Announces Temporary Closing of Both Locations
• Fermentery Form Cited for Failing Health Inspections
• Guinness Brewing is Closing Their Maryland Production Facility
• Cox Brewing Company Celebrates 8th Anniversary
• Human Robot Expands into the Schuylkill
• Cape May Brewing Company Acquires Flying Fish Brewing Company
• Our Town Brewery Expanding into Philly
• Smoketown Creekside – Brewery Operations For Sale
• Founders Announce Closure of their Detroit Taproom
• The Bruery Store D.C. Is Closed
• Founders Brewing Company Sued for Racial Discrimination (Again) Just Before Detroit Taproom Shut Down
• Liquid Noise Brewing Company – New Ownership, New Beer, New Friends
• YAH Brew Grand Opening
• FX Matt Brewing Company Acquires Flying Dog Brewery
• The Beerded Goat Brewing Company Taking over the old NewFangled Brewery
• Brewery Closings – Archives
• Brewery Openings – Archives

Thank You For Reading

Thank you for taking the time to read about the History of Flying Dog Brewery. If you like these kinds of articles, let me know in the comments section! Thanks!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

This popped up in the Maryland Beer Drinkers Club Facebook group last night around 8:30 PM – a posting of ‘turnkey brewery operations for sale’ with two pictures about the property, equipment, and asking price.

It appears to be the Smoketown Creekside location in Frederick Maryland, near the Carroll Creek canal. This is part of the ‘brewery district’ of Frederick that includes several other breweries (like Idiom Brewing, Steinhardt Brewing, and Attaboy Beer Co.

There are several other breweries in the Frederick area that aren’t along or nearby the Carroll Creek canal. (Breweries like Rockwell Brewing, Midnight Run Brewing, etc.)

I got to visit Frederick MD for the first time with my daughters back in 2020 after visiting the Monocacy Battlefield and we got to spend an extra day there. You can read about our trip here: Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland.

That first trip we didn’t get a chance to visit Smoketown Creekside (we visited Idiom Brewing, Attaboy Beer Company, Rockwell Brewing, Midnight Run Brewing), but on a later trip with Amy we visited Smoketown Creekside.

Smoketown Creekside

Currently there is nothing on the Smoketown Creekside Facebook page about selling their operations or anything on any of their social media platforms (either as Smoketown Brewing or Smoketown Creekside). We have sent them a message, but its still early morning yet, and haven’t received word back yet.

In the topic where the Smoketown Creekside brewery operations sale posting was made in the Maryland Beer Drinkers group there was many comments about how they are not posting any information on their social media. A respected poster (a brewer from another Maryland brewery) stated that this sale is likely more about consolidation rather than due to going out of business, a decline in sales, or anything of that nature. (“From what I understand, they’re not closing in a sense of not doing well, they’re consolidating their different operations into one effort.”) (This was then responded with comment about them opening their Hagerstown location.)

It could be that Smoketown Brewing is selling this location to concentrate instead on the Hagerstown location they are opening.

For Sale – Turnkey Brewery Operations

For Sale: Turnkey Brewery Operations – 449,000$

The listing for the sale has the following property highlights:

• 6100 square feet total
• 10 Barrel brewhouse
• 12 x 28 foot walk in cooler
• adjacent to 200 parking spots
• A bar that seats 50 with 70 barstools
• Parking area for foodtrucks
• Fully sprinklered
• Large stage for live entertainment and music
• 24 taps
• All certifications and licenses

It also states the seller will train the buyer on all equipment and that all certifications, licenses, and everything is up to code for state and county.

They also list location highlights like its proximity to the brewery district, proximity to select Maryland highways, and its proximity to Carroll Creek.

Its certainly a prime real estate location, the time I went by with my daughters at night it was very busy and crowded (back in 2020), the time I came by with Amy, it was middle of the day and it wasn’t very full.

Smoketown Brewing

For more information on Smoketown Brewing, we check in with Untappd. According to Untappd Smoketown Brewing is a brew pub from Brunswick, MD. (They have since spread out to several locations – including Smoketown Creekside in Frederick, MD.) They have 218 unique beers and over 34,000 ratings with a global average rating of 3.62 (as of 4.26.23). Their Untappd description reads: The old firehouse in Brunswick is our home. We have a 7 BBL brewhouse. The brewery is in the area of the firehouse where the fire trucks used to park. We also have a second floor that is MUCH bigger than the brewpub. We hope to open it up in our second year. It has a stage and dance floor. Patsy Cline, Jimmy Dean and Guy Lombardo have played on it.

You can follow them on the following social media platforms:

• Smoketown Brewing – Official Website
• Smoketown Brewing – Creekside – Facebook
• Smoketown Brewing – Facebook
• Smoketown Brewing – Twitter
• Smoketown Brewing – Instagram
• Smoketown Brewing – Untappd

For Related Frederick MD Articles

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)
• Beer Review: Level Up (Idiom Brewing)
• Beer Review: Fredhead Red IPA (Attaboy Beer)
• Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies in the United States (2023)

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

• Other Half Brewing Company Opening Friday 2.18.22 in Philadelphia
• Midwest Coast Brewery Opening
• Boulevard Presidents Steps Down Amidst Allegations
• Brewery Opening: Howling Henry’s (Hummelstown)
• Brewery Opening: Highway Manor (Camp Hill)
• Brewery Opening: Rotunda Brew Pub (Hershey)
• Is JB LoveDraft’s Opening a Brewery?
• Tattered Flag at Hollywood Casino – Grantville – Opening Their 5th Location
• JB LoveDraft’s Grand Opening (Mechanicsburg)
• ZeroDay Opens Their New Tap Room (Harrisburg)
• Victory Brewery Fire and Explosion (Kennett Square)
• Sign of the Horse Brewery is Expanding in Hanover (Taking Over the Old Miscreation Brewery)
• Brewery Tour: Couch Brewery (Pittsburgh)
• Brewery Visit: Mellow Mink (Mechanicsburg)
• A Sneak Peak at the new Rubber Soul Brewery (Hummelstown)
• Rubber Soul Grand Opening (Hummelstown)
• VooDoo Lancaster Closing
• River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery Closes
• Homaide Brewing Says Goodbye To Their First Home
• Grand Opening of Hemauer Brewing (Mechanicsburg)
• Rally Point Tap Room Opening – Cox Brewing Company – Elizabethtown
• Spigot Brewing Closes
• Full Pint Brewing Closes
• Night Shift Brewing Cancels Expansion
• Mikkeller Brewing NYC Closes Permanently
• Pilger Ruh Brewing Needs Your Help (Pottsville)
• Official BBQ (Pizza Boy Secondary Location) (Rutherford)
• Aslin Beer Co. Now Ships to Pennsylvania
• Boneshire Brew Works to Open Second Taproom in Harrisburg (Harrisburg)
• Aslin Beer Company Confirms Expanding to Pittsburgh
• Rural City Beer Company Coming to Beamstown PA
• Grand Opening of Forest and Main’s New Brewpub
• New Bells-gium – New Belgium Owned Company Buys Bell’s Brewery
• Human Robot Expanding to Jenkintown
• High Road Brewing Company Coming to Camp Hill, Pennsylvania in Summer 2022
• YAH Brewing’s First Can Drop
• RAR Brewing’s Star Wars Can Drop
• Arboretum Trail Brewing Company Opens Their Doors Tomorrow
• Macklin Brewing Company in Development
• Michaux Brewing Company Grand Opening
• Shy Bear Brewing Announces Two New Locations
• Newfangled Brew Works Announces Closure
• Fourscore Beer Company Celebrates Their 3rd Anniversary
• Penn Brewery Announces Sale and Owner’s Retirement
• Voodoo Brewing Company To Open Brewpub on North Shore of Pittsburgh – August 27th
• Truth Beer Company’s Grand Opening
• Sobel’s Obscure Brewery’s Grand New Location and Opening
• AleCraft Brewing Company Expands Into Pennsylvania
• Boneshire Brew Works Celebrates 6th Anniversary
• Funk Brewing Company – Elizabethtown Brewery – Fire
• Funk Brewing Company – Elizabethtown Brewery – Fire Update
• Victory Taproom in Kennett Square Re – Opens
• Pour Man’s Brewery Is Moving Their Tap Room
• Qatar Bans Alcohol Sales at World Cup 2022
• Second Sin Brewery Company Celebrates Third Anniversary
• Round Guys Brewing Company’s Brewpub in Lansdale is Getting a Revamp
• VK Brewing Officially Opens at Historic Ship Inn
• Rocket Frog Brewing Company Announces Closure on December 11th
• Where to Watch the USA vs Netherlands World Cup Game – in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia
• Liquid Noise Brewing Company Announces the Show is Ending (Brewery Closure)
• Looks Like Homaide Brewing Company Might Be Done (January 2023)
• Old Soul Brewing Starting up in Waynesboro Pennsylvania
• Cox Brewing Company Returning to Their Roots
• Helping the Hemauer Family
• Cellar Works Brewing Closing Cooper Station
• Imprint Beer Company Unveils The GNARCADIUM
• Blueprint Brewing Company Announces Their Closing on March 31st
• Pilger Ruh Brewing is Expanding into Gettysburg
• Back Porch Brewing Grand Opening
• Jigsy’s Old Forge Pizza and Brewpub is Expanding into Hershey
• LoveDraft’s Brewery Sabotaged
• Homaide Brewing Company Resurfaces
• Sign of the Horse Brewery Announces Closure of Zeichen des Pferdes and Re – Branding
• Mount Gretna Craft Brewery in Palmyra Announces Closing Immediately
• The Englewood Announces Re – Opening
• AB InBev Closes Cleveland’s Platform Brewing Company
• Full Tit Brewing Closing
• Camp Hill Brewery – High Road Brewing – Plans Scrapped
• YAH Brew is Coming to Hershey in Spring 2023
• Bespoke Brewing Moving and Expanding
• BrewDog Pittsburgh Has Closed
• Isle of Que Brewing – The Que Brew Crew – Has Announced Their Closing
• Fermentery Form Announces Temporary Closure
• Separatist Beer Project Announces Temporary Closing of Both Locations
• Fermentery Form Cited for Failing Health Inspections
• Guinness Brewing is Closing Their Maryland Production Facility
• Cox Brewing Company Celebrates 8th Anniversary
• Human Robot Expands into the Schuylkill
• Cape May Brewing Company Acquires Flying Fish Brewing Company
• Our Town Brewery Expanding into Philly
• Smoketown Creekside – Brewery Operations For Sale
• Brewery Closings – Archives
• Brewery Openings – Archives

Thank You For Reading

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the article, quite a few new articles from this weekend, from Friday, and from Amy’s weekly column, as well as tonight, are going up, so make sure you follow along with us.

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

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Happy Father’s Day everyone. Hope you all made the best of your day, I certainly did. Home from Frederick Maryland and with some fresh beer to boot. You can read about my trip Monocacy Battlefield and Frederick Maryland here: Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th and June 20th, 2020) and the lead-up article to it here: Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland. But now home, safe and sound, and feeling a lot better, its time to spend time with the family and enjoy a nice, relaxing father’s day with some cold, refreshing, craft beer.

The day started with me making the girls scrambled eggs on the grill and them giving me my gifts; which was a ‘The Dadalorian’ shirt, and a small mini-fridge that can hold six cans. It can be plugged in regularly or into a car, so that’s pretty cool. The shirt:

As a fan of Star Wars and especially the Mandalorian show, its definitely a cool shirt. After my shower for the day I made sure to put it on when we went to my sister and brother-in-law’s for a lunch / dinner picnic gathering.

Social distancing was done, don’t worry, (though I did not bring any Social Distancing), but the gathering was only myself and my girls, my parents, and my sister, her husband, and their son. So everyone whose been in contact with each other in recent history anyway. Also, while there, due to an upcoming stomach procedure my father had to be tested for COVID-19 and he got his results by phone – negative. Which was a gift in and of itself for father’s day.

For my father I had gotten him a book about Eagles’ Zac Ertz, as well as a new hand-made broom for their porch, and a rose I planted in their garden.

The get together was nice, and relaxing, the kids played in a water pool and played with squirt guns and water balloons, my brother in law grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and I drank a few delicious Fredhead Red IPAs. Even having one later watching a nice storm roll through.

So let’s check it out….

Beer: Fredhead Red IPA
Brewery: Attaboy Beer
Style: IPA – Red
ABV: 7%
IBU: 50
Untappd Description:

Piney, Roasty, Rich. Fredhead is formally named Fredheaded Stepchild. An ode to the great Red IPA’s out there.

Starting Gravity 14
Final Gravity 3.8
Hops: Simcoe, Mosaic, Horizon, Cascade

Malts: 2 Row, Munich, Crystal 80, Black Malt, Black Prinz

I enjoy the Untappd descriptions for Attaboy Beer’s; they include the malts used, the hops used, the starting gravities and the final gravity. All great for home brewers who would want to replicate (or attempt to) their recipes or make a clone. If anything, it at least gives them a base idea to start from. Plus, for consumers (drinkers) its a great way to learn more about the beer and the ingredients in it that you are drinking. Always cool, a smarter consumer, smarter drinker, is a better consumer and better drinker.

Appearance is similar to Amber Ales; in that its just that – Amber. Red. Red… and an IPA…. Oh, I get it now! Now do take note – this is a IPA – Red; not an Amber Ale, like Nugget Nectar. So remember folks – Nugget Nectar is NOT an IPA, its an Amber Ale, this – Fredhead Red – IS an IPA, and its a RED IPA. Ok? We got all that sorted? Though I do have to confess loving sitting at the bar at Troegs Brewery watching people call Nugget Nectar an Amber IPA or Red IPA or just an IPA in general and everyone roll their eyes, sigh, and try to begin to explain. But anyway….. getting back to the appearance of this redheaded stepchild….. First off, color is a dark amber red, still fairly transparent but not completely (due to its darker hue; not due to filtration). Super carbonated, but not a gusher. Big foamy, fluffy head with randomized and large bubbles.

Aroma is hoppy, but with a much more distinguishable malt backbone to it. Definitely not a hop bomb or a malt bomb either way, by any means. This is certainly closer to being a West Coast style IPA and there is a nice piney, resin, earthy heavyness to the nose on this. A hint of citrus, some of the simcoe making its presence known, but for the most part this smells more like a roasty, malty West Coast IPA.

This drinks like a darker, more malty, roasty, version of a West Coast IPA. It is malty, but not a malt bomb. It is hoppy, but not a hop bomb. It mixes nicely and makes a very nice combination of the two. There is a very healthy piney, resin taste to it that gives it that good old fashion West Coast IPA taste, thats nice to get back to every once in a while. In the current New England IPA dominated beer trends, its nice to kick back every once in a while with a good old fashion West Coast style IPA (even if its a ‘Red IPA’). With the piney-ness and resin, I also get some faint hints of grapefruit, bit of citrus, bit of roasted malt, darker, bread-crumb like malt, slight biscuit, and earthy notes. The mouthfeel for this is pretty much spot on, not too thick, not too thin, right where an IPA should be. Its well carbonated and is a lovely brew. This, along with the other two beers I had at Attaboy Beer were downright fantastic. And definitely makes Attaboy Beer worth a stop if you are in the Frederick Maryland area. This is a great Red IPA, a great West Coast IPA, and just a downright great beer.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.6 (as of 6.22.20)

Cheers everyone, happy father’s day, and make sure dad gets to sit back, relax, and drink a nice cold craft beer!

My Trip to Frederick Maryland:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

So this is the story of an impromptu two-day road trip / adventure in Frederick Maryland I had with my three daughters. It was originally planned as a quick five or so hour trip down to visit the Monocacy Battlefield, tour it, have lunch and dinner at breweries, and leave. Well…. none of that worked out. None of this went according to plan. And by none, I mean, legitimately, none of it.

As I said in part one of this – An Impromptu Two-Day Road Trip to Frederick Maryland – the original plan was simple; I would pick up the girls and leave the Harrisburg area around 10:30AM, we would arrive at Idiom Brewing at a little after noon (right when they open too), eat our lunch, view the canal / creek there a bit, then spend roughly four to five hours at the battlefield viewing everything, find another brewery (Midnight Run Brewing, Rockwell Brewing, Monocacy Brewing, or some other) for dinner, then head out, all in time to drop my oldest off in Lemoyne for a sleepover and even have time to take my younger two Mini Golfing at Indian Echo Caverns.

…..Well, none of that really happened.

Starting off, its not a bad trip from the Harrisburg area to Frederick Maryland and Monocacy Battlefield. Roughly an hour and a half (direct shot Google Maps said it was 1HR-36Min). We start off at Sam’s Club to get gas. Sam’s has three dual-sided pumps with two pumps at each for a total of twelve pumps. Nearly every car in line has the tank on the driver’s side, and of course, despite being in the shortest line, I somehow pick the line that ends up taking the longest.

A guy asks for a jump on his car, help him do so, and then on our way we are. The drive is luckily uneventful, its mostly taking RT15 the whole way there, skirting around Gettysburg and making it into Frederick. We see about six or seven patrol and state cop cars along RT15 so I keep speed limit and not venturing to much past the noted limit. We arrive in Frederick at Idiom Brewing at 12:30.

Finding the Idiom Brewery was easy, turn here, turn there, boom you’re there. Pulled in, woke up the littlest one, and we masked up and headed inside. Got the gist of what their rules are during the pandemic / COVID-19 / coronavirus crisis, and got the girls to the outside dining area. We settled in, I grabbed a beer, took a sip, and then we went to the food truck and made our order and went back to the outdoor dining area.

I ordered ‘Moment in the Sun’ by Idiom Brewing. It is a Fruited Sour, using papaya, pineapple, and coconut cream. No IBU, and a 6.1% ABV. On Untappd I gave it a ****. The global average rating is 3.83 (as of 6.21.20).

We got our food back from the taco truck. My oldest – Olivia-Grace – got a fried chicken quesadilla, my middle child – Lily – got a fried brisket quesadilla, and my youngest – Mara – and I shared three chicken tacos. The food was very good, the girls loved it. It was more of a traditional Mexican taco using cilantro and no lettuce.

The view from the backporch dining area of Idiom Brewing is absolutely beautiful. It overlooks the Carroll Creek and some of the park that runs alongside the creek on both sides. Also, right by the brewery is several other businesses, fountains in the pond, and the train interchange for Frederick.

As we ate our food and then explored a little of the surrounding area, I then went back and got a second beer – Its The Berries. Another fruited sour, this one was only 5.8% ABV and no IBU. The Untappd description for it reads: “Juicy and slightly tart, this beer was kettle soured with a mix of lactobacillus plantarum and lactobacillus brevis, then fermented with Conan yeast for some stone fruit undertones. We then fermented the beer on top of over 300# of Raspberries, Blackberries and Boysenberries.” I gave it ****.25 on Untappd, and the average global rating (as of 6.21.20) was 4.1.

Before heading out, we packed up our stuff, threw away our trash, paid and tipped, and I tasted a sample of their White Stout which was very good. The girls hit the bathroom and then we were heading out to begin our actual visit of the Monocacy Battlefield.

First stop of the Monocacy Battlefield is the Best Farm.

The first stop of the tour was the Best Farm and property. We walked about it, checked it out, and then we went over to the Visitor Center. Unfortunately due to COVID-19 / coronavirus the visitor center is closed, but there is still a trail to hike behind it, and some things to see, so we still stopped to check it out.

This is when things started going ‘horribly awry’. As we started the Juncture Trail, I begin noting that my stomach was cramping severely and was hurting pretty bad, but not too bad that I couldn’t walk. The girls were also starting to do little complaints; “Its too hot”, “I’m tired”, “My legs hurt”, “its waaaaaaaaaaay toooooo hooooot”, etc. So we get back to the car, and take note of how its starting to look ominous in the distance.

We start making our way along the road towards Gambril’s Mill, the next stop of the tour. We cross the bridge over the train-tracks that ran along and through the battlefield (as you can see in the pictures, and make up part of the Juncture). We get out at what I thought was the trailhead for the Gambril Mill (it wasn’t), and start walking, and a few drops of rain begin to hit us… its also when I re-look at the map and realize we are not in the correct spot, so we start heading back to the car…. when the heavens above unleash and it just becomes a torrential rainfall.

So we get back in the car and begin to weather out the thunderstorm. Important thing to note here – my car’s AC has not been working recently (it needs recharged). So, its getting a bit hot in the car, thus I then roll down the windows and keep the defroster on, and work a delicate balance of things to try and maintain some form of cooling in the vehicle. Which is definitely needed when you have three youngsters in the car who have been complaining about how hot its been all day. About five-ten minutes into this storm…. the violently ill feeling overcomes me and I rush out of the car towards the bridge and into the trees.

As you might have guessed; in the thunderstorm and downpour, within sight and view of the pretty scenic bridge, I began to retch and vomit. I had a full on stomach upheaval. But sadly, it wasn’t enough. It became mostly dry heaving, and not enough for me to overcome the sickness and sickening feeling. After some time of this, I got back in the car, and we finished out the storm, once the storm abated we decided we could further our trip. Me thinking that my stomach could hold off, the girls probably just wanting this all to be over.

….It was far from over. Towards driving to Gambril Mil, the stomach pain increased, and I made an emergency finding of a Dunkin Donuts. Where a beleaguered (and probably quickly horrified) teenager encountered me all but rushing through the store on my way to the bathroom. Thirty minutes later, and a few “Are you still alive in there?” check-ins from my daughters as well as the terrified teenage Dunkin Donuts employee, I emerge, and get back in the car.

By this point its about 4:45-5PM, and I tell the girls, I don’t think there’s anyway we can finish the tour, we’ll make the drive to Lemoyne (Google Maps estimating it at 1 hour), to drop off my oldest at her sleepover and then proceed to home (another 20-30 minutes from there). At this point, she’d get to her sleepover at about 6PM (we were originally aiming for 6:30PM) and we would be home at 6:30-6:45PM. Not too bad, and albeit a miserable trip, at least not the worst possible outcome….

….Until it was the worst possible outcome. I get onto the highway, and its immediately, completely, bumper, to bumper, to bumper, to bumper, to bumper traffic for as far as the eye can see. If I was Noah sending off a dove, it wouldn’t be able to find land, only cars. So, I sadly, internally crying to myself, and hoping my intestines, guts, stomach, lungs, and whatever other organs can hold together, like Han Solo, “Hear me baby… hold together…” I grit and get into this mob-scene of traffic. After about 15-2o minutes of waiting, we edge closer and closer, and I can see an off-ramp exit. And thats when Wave 2 of this all hit me, and I peel out and down the ramp, having no idea where I’m at. My co-pilot next to me – my oldest; not Chewbacca – is passed out, my youngest in the back – likewise sound asleep, just me and Lily awake and completely clueless on where we at. I see an empty parking lot and I swerve in. I fling the door open and fall to the ground as it begins to storm and rain again, and my stomach unloads upon the poor pavement that never did anything to it. Much to the horror of a shocked worker standing outside on their smoke break. I find myself in a near-empty parking lot for a Wellness Salon and Spa. Ironic I suppose. After a horrific five minutes, I crawl back in, and Google Maps for a hotel. I find an Econo Lodge, and I find myself going back through the town of Frederick Maryland for about the third time that day. (As becomes apparent, I will pass through the town of Frederick all told about twenty times on this trip, crossing the same bridge, passing over the same road, back and forth, back and forth.)

We reach the Econo Lodge, where I somehow maintain a semblance of sanity and don’t look like a man who is about to divulge all of his stomach’s secrets upon the nearest person, I make it through the check-in and rush the girls into the room….. or attempt to rush the girls into the room… for the door doesn’t work. I try it again, still nothing, …one more try, leaning my shoulder in, and blam-o, we’re in. The girls get comfortable, turn on the TV, and start to watch Guardians of the Galaxy 2, while I rush off to get a shower and try to resort to normalcy.

Quick shower, some more throwing up, and I’m soon sound asleep in the bed. Except its a fitful, feverish sleep, where the girls said I snored and huffed and puffed like the Wolf trying to destroy a village of pig homes. After the feverish, hellish, hallucinatory nap, where I apparently sweated out a small pond’s worth of sweat, I’m back to normal. To the point where my stomach is even growling and letting me know its hungry. But oh no, not so fast Mr. Stomach, I ain’t falling for that one.

I get another quick shower (hey, why not), and get the girls over to the Sheetz right next to the motel for some food, and we then find a nice playground park to eat. The park is a nice little playground, dog park, and some athletic fields, called Bellenger Creek Park. The girls eat and play, and I rest and get back to feeling like normal.

Following this, we returned back to Carroll Creek and started walking both sides of the creek. Which looks like basically a long canal that runs through Frederick, it gives a beautiful view on both sides of it. At one end is Idiom Brewing and other businesses and the Frederick train station, at this area a short hop and skip over is also Smoketown Brewery and Attaboy Beer. We parked somewhere in the middle at a parking garage and walked all over it.

We walked the entire path, at about 9:15-9:30PM we found ourselves near some of the restaurants that were still open, and the girls saying they were hungry (again). Seeing where we were (near Idiom Brewing) but that they were closed, and seeing a few places open, we decided to go over. I will say here, that I was a bit unaware of how the locations looked. The Attaboy beer, Attaboy Barrel House, and Smoketown Brewery are all right next to each other (physically touching) in part of an old warehouse like complex. That night, I had looked at the Google Map and it didn’t list the barrel house or the Smoketown Brewery, but instead just listed Attaboy Beer, so thats where I thought it was when we talked to the hostesses at the restaurant. (When we went back then Saturday, I realized they were three distinct locations.) Talked to the hostesses, and they said due to having children, that we would be unable to be seated. That they were too busy for children at the time. We said ok, finished our walk, and got food elsewhere then before hitting the motel and going to sleep.

The next morning came early with me waking up around 5:30AM, after falling asleep sometime around 11:30PM to Futurama on the SyFy channel. Apparently at 5:30AM theres nothing much to put on TV in Frederick Maryland other than Home Alone, so me and my youngest watched that until the others woke up and we decided on breakfast. The girls voted Waffle House… so at 9:30AM I found myself at a Waffle House in Frederick Maryland, on day two of a trip that was only meant to be five hours. Like Gilligan and the Skipper and all of them, it was only supposed to be a three hour tour.

Following the Waffle House, we revisited the Monocacy Battlefield, starting with the Gambril Mill and Gambril House. The Mill area had a nice trail down by the Monocacy River, and the girls enjoyed this early morning hike, we got there around 10:15-10:30 and stayed until 11-11:20AM.

Next up on our journey through the Monocacy Battlefield was the Thomas Farm. Which also included a large hike, leading down along the river, and basically just circumnavigating the farm fields. While at the farmhouse Olivia-Grace found a snake skin, and then down along the river trail section we encountered a snake (not sure what type, so if anyone knows, feel free to say so in the comments).

Our next and final stop of our tour through the Monocacy Battlefield was the Worthington Farm and family house. There was also a long (several long) hike trail here, but my daughters didn’t want to do it, so we ended up skipping out on that.

So now it was time for lunch, and the girls were hungry, as was I, so we looked up several breweries in the area to see where to eat. Remembering that Attaboy Beer, and having been recommended it before, I decided we would try them out. At this point I was still under the impression that the Smoketown Brewery was the Attaboy Beer, so I was hoping since it was day time, they’d let us in. Google Mapped our way there, got there and there is a large parking lot area for the complex of breweries and other businesses. Parked, and realized my mistake, that there was the Attaboy Beer AND the Smoketown Brewery. We decided to stop at the Smoketown Brewery first. They once again denied us entry because of the girls, saying that I had no way to properly maintain them and that they could become a hindrance to all around due to the COVID-19 restrictions. That I had no way to ensure that they would remain in their seats; despite them being 12, 11, and 7 years old. As well as very well behaved young ladies. I didn’t make a scene, just said ok, and we headed over to the Attaboy Beer. But, I will take this moment to point out, that when passing their outdoor beer garden, which was visible from the hostess location, there was a family with a small child running around. Legitimately running around. And small enough, to what looked like he was in just a diaper and t-shirt, so toddler age, at best three years old. Either way, once we got to Attaboy Beer, I definitely don’t feel like I missed out on anything with the Smoketown Brewery, and from what I’ve been told, I didn’t miss out either.

At Attaboy Beer, the bartenders were super nice, as well as the host. Accommodating and very nice and talkative and helpful to my daughters as well. Even giving us a free Sprite because they didn’t have any root beer left and they felt bad. I ordered their Galaxy Maid, which was a delicious NE-IPA.

Galaxy Maid is a NE-IPA by Attaboy Beer, its 20 IBU, and 6.9% ABV. The Untappd description reads: “Grapefruit, Hazy, Juicy. For people who can’t decide if they want a glass of orange juice or a beer. Our hazy New England IPA is thick and lush, bursting with citrus flavor. So of the moment. Hops: Galaxy, Horizon, Malts: 2 Row, Oats, Wheat, Carapils, Caravienne, Starting Gravity 14.4, Final Gravity 4.2” I gave it ****.25 on Untappd and as of 6.21.20 the global average rating was 3.89.

At these breweries, there were two food trucks, the traditional taco truck from Idiom the day before, and a Peruvian food truck. Now, I want to emphasize that I did not get sick because of the taco truck. That was just a fluke stomach bug that hit me at just at that time. Would have happened if I was at home, or California, or Vermont, or Michigan, or Frederick Maryland. But, despite all that, I did not feel up to retrying my luck with the taco truck and we ordered Peruvian instead. Never had Peruvian before, never had Yucca Fries before, but all in all it wasn’t bad. Not my huge cup of tea, but not bad.

While at Attaboy Beer, before we left, I purchased a four-pack of Fredhead Red IPA to take home, as well as one more beer myself as we finished our lunch. My second beer was….

Creek Life (Citra) is a pale ale, by Attaboy Beer, it is 5.6% ABV and 30 IBU. The Untappd description reads: “Tropical, Citrus, Bright. Bursting with citrus and mango, Creek Life is a beer for all days. Especially sunny ones. Hops: Citra, Simcoe, Horizon, Malts: 2 Row, CaraVienna, Starting Gravity 13, Final Gravity 2.7” My Untappd rating was ****.25 and the global average rating (as of 6.21.20) was 3.64.

After paying, tipping, and cleaning up to leave, the bartender told me if I wanted to try flights that the barrel house next door was doing flights. Most of the breweries I’ve been to since we’ve been allowed back out, have not been. Desperate Times was in Carlisle, PA; and later on this trip Rockwell Brewing in Frederick, MD; but most of the other places (like Idiom Brewing, Midnight Run Brewing, Molly Pitcher, etc.) have not been. Since I was with my daughters and just had two at the main brewhouse, I decided not to, and we then went to our next stop. Which was the Francis Scott Key memorial.

I understand our current climate, politically, etc, and I understand that Francis Scott Key was a slave owner. As per wikipedia on him:

Key purchased his first slave in 1800 or 1801 and owned six slaves in 1820.^[29] He freed seven slaves in the 1830s, one of whom continued to work for him for wages as his farm’s foreman, supervising several slaves.^[30] Key also represented several slaves seeking their freedom, as well as several slave-owners seeking return of their runaway slaves.^[10][31] Key was one of the executors of John Randolph of Roanoke‘s will, which freed his 400 slaves, and Key fought to enforce the will for the next decade and to provide the freed slaves with land to support themselves.^[32]

Key is known to have publicly criticized slavery’s cruelties, and a newspaper editorial stated that “he often volunteered to defend the downtrodden sons and daughters of Africa.” The editor said that Key “convinced me that slavery was wrong—radically wrong”.^[33] However, in spite of his anti-slavery position, Key expressed white supremacist points of view. During the War of 1812, after seeing the Second Corps of the Colonial Marines—a British military corps composed of fugitive slaves from the U.S.—fight against American soldiers, Key said that blacks were “a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community”, according to Snow-Storm in August (Knopf Doubleday, 2013) by Jefferson Morley.^[34][35]

Key was a founding member and active leader of the American Colonization Society (ACS), whose primary goal was to send free blacks to Africa.^[10] Though many free blacks were born in the United States by this time, historians argue that upper-class American society, of which Key was a part, could never “envision a multiracial society”.^[36] The ACS was not supported by most abolitionists or free blacks of the time, but the organization’s work would eventually lead to the creation of Liberia in 1847.^[27][36]

Francis Scott Key – Key and Slavery (Wikipedia)

I was sure to discuss these things with my daughters. We discussed his slavery, we discussed his story, his life. We read the signs and posts there at the cemetery. We also discussed The Star Spangled Banner, its meaning, its impact, etc. We did go and visit his memorial, statute, and burial site at the cemetery of Mt. Olivet. I think, in light of how statues of slave owners, slavers, racists, etc, are being pulled down, I will not post the pictures of his memorial. I have taken pictures of the memorial, we were there, but I don’t see the need to post them here, in light of the political climate, and given that this is still just a beer blog. I’m not making claims, I’m not looking to engender fights, I just think its unnecessary, unneeded, and not worth posting those pictures. I’ve posted tons of other pictures in this blog article alone, of the Monocacy Battlefield, of the Civil War, etc. At the end of the day, this is still a beer, brewery, craft beer, hops, home brewing, etc, blog, and so I don’t see the need for that here. This post is long enough as it is, and I’ve probably lost most of you by this point anyway, especially those just looking to read up on beer, breweries visited, etc. (Not that I have that huge of a following or anything anyway.)

I do enjoy visiting Civil War battlefields and learning. I have gone to Gettysburg, Antietam, and several other smaller sites, and looking to go to many more in the upcoming future. I like to tie them in with brewery visits, and now with the blog, I write a bit of it as a travelogue. I like to think that this blog does a lot of things; beer reviews, brewery news, brewery reviews, brewery tours, visits, etc, as well as act as a bit of a travelogue, especially for those reading vicariously and might not get to visit these places. I hope people can be respectful here reading, and this does not become a fight or politically charged thing. So having said all this – and continuing as the faithful narrator, and recounting my travels, I am listing them and continuing, just for this section, I am not providing pictures. That is all. Moving on.

While in the cemetery, we saw several KLINE tombstones. So we drove throughout the cemetery and saw numerous KLINEs which I found interesting. I have done a fair bit of genealogical research after my oldest was born and even made a rather large Family Tree website, that my middle child (Lily) loves checking out. While doing all that, I have done a lot of past research on KLINEs and where my family came from and traveled and gotten to America, etc. But most of the branches I’ve seen stayed in the Pennsylvania area. So I am looking forward to researching these KLINEs and seeing what the relationship is to my family. KLINE, KLEIN, and CLINE is a somewhat common last name, not massively common, but somewhat, especially in the farming areas of Pennsylvania and such. And I’m not going to breakdown the full history of KLINE, KLEIN, and / or CLINE, but it is common throughout the groups that it would be. My daughters and I just thought it was interesting to see all of the KLINE names. My oldest, who was born in August (like myself), thought it was interesting that most of the dates on the tombstones for the KLINEs either had a birthdate or a deathdate in August. Side trivia note for you all I suppose.

After the cemetery we checked out Baker Park, which was a huge, open area park with an amphitheater, a creek, a wonderful fountain area, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, a playground, and much more. We walked the area, stopped at a shaved ice truck and the girls got ice cones with ice cream in them. While there, there was also a Black Lives Matter rally going on. So we stopped, listened, knelt for the 8:46, and respectfully went on our way after a while.

(Once again, not taking political sides, not trying to cause controversy, not trying to cause issue, just providing a listing of my events, my activities, and my trip. This blog post was about my Road Trip to Frederick Maryland, and thus I am discussing my road trip to Frederick Maryland. Laying out the details as they happened. Omitting nothing, as you can tell by my intestinal escapades.)

Now it was time to eat some dinner and get going. It was closing in on 5:30PM, and was time we got moving. Til we would eat dinner and all, it’d be a while, so we had to make preparations to go. Since it’d still be an hour and a half drive home from where we were, and this had already been quite the trip!

Based on the recommendations, I decided on Midnight Run Brewing for the dinner spot. But as we came down the road to it, I realized there was a brewery just a block away from it, so we stopped there quickly and first. And that first brewery was….

Rockwell Brewing, located just outside the main area of Frederick Maryland but still within the city. It had its own building and was a nice looking place. The indoors smelled lovely, lavender, sage, berries, perhaps, not sure, but not your typical ‘hop’ smell of a brewery like Troegs Brewing or Idiom Brewing had the day before.

While there, there was live music, playing Three Eyed Blind, Counting Crows, Oasis, and similar bands; single live singer with his guitar. Rockwell Brewing was doing flights, so I ordered myself a flight. The four beers I got were:

• Tidal Wave – 6.8% NE-IPA ; my rating: **** / global rating: 3.62 (as of 6.21.20)
• YMCA – 8.6% DIPA ; my rating: **** / global rating: 3.82 (as of 6.21.20)
• Smooth Operator – Session IPA (interesting note: while drinking this, the live singer started playing Smooth Operator) – my rating: **** / global rating: 3.61 (as of 6.21.20)
• Bitchin’ Camaro – 6.2% milk / sweet stout ; my rating: ***.75 / global rating: 3.7 (as of 6.21.20)

I liked the atmosphere of Rockwell Brewery, it was low-key, fun, cheery outdoors, good nice live music, open atmosphere. You could tell this was a hangout for a lot of locals to come and meet and talk with each other. But, after having the flight, it was time to move on.

Which was easy to get to the next brewery – Midnight Run Brewing; it was just across the parking lot area in the stretch / strip mall outlets area. We stopped at the Dollar General because I had to pick up a new charger cord (forgot it at the motel) and was reminded constantly by my daughter. Then went over to Midnight Run Brewing which was just a few shops down. Went inside, got the story of their rules, ordered a beer and walked through the brewery to the outback recently built out-door seating patio area.

I then went next door to Oscar’s Alehouse (basically an Applebee’s, Texas Roadhouse, etc. type place) to order food.

Like most places, they weren’t doing flights. So over the course of the hour and a half we were there I ordered two pints, and got a crowler to go. The pints I got were:

• Electric Monster – 8.3% Fruited Sour ; my rating: **** / global average rating: 3.94 (as of 6.21.20)
• Higher Intelligence – 10.3% Belgian Quad ; my rating: ****.25 / global average rating: 3.94 (as of 6.21.20)

The crowler I picked up (which I haven’t yet gotten to drink, but will soon, be on the lookout for a review of it) was The Milky Way; a 10% Double Imperial Milk Stout. Super looking forward to that.

For food, I wanted to get a pizza and wings at the Oscar’s Alehouse, they told me they couldn’t do pizzas because they didn’t have any pizza to go boxes, so I ordered nachos and wings for the girls. They brought the food over and left it at the front counter of Midnight Run Brewing, where… to my surprise… the nachos were in a pizza to-go box…. me and the bartender of Midnight Run found that humorous and interesting. Shrug. The girls were happy with the wings and nachos, so, no complaints there. The bartender kept my crowler in the fridge while we ate and I had my last drink, and then we were on our merry way.

The drive home was relatively uneventful, made to the Gettysburg Sheetz or pretty decent time, girls needed a pit break, and then on to home. We left Midnight Run Brewing at about 7:30-7:45PM, and even counting in the pit break, we got home at about 9:30PM.

This was definitely a very, very, very, very, very interesting and unique ‘road trip’. Nothing like how it was planned out to be. There were definite disappointments; getting sick, missing the sleepover, no mini-golf, but there were more joys and fun and laughs though too. And funnily enough, now we have a story to tell too, “remember that time dad you got sick all over Frederick Maryland?” ….oh do I ever!

Talking to an older co-worker over text the day after this trip (this morning), he told me – the events and trips that him and his sons (grown and off to college) remember the most are the ones that also went horribly awry, with unexpected things happening. They create the memories, the lasting impressions. I can honestly see the wisdom in those words, and one hundred percent believe it. I’m sure my girls will be talking about this trip (as will I) for years – possibly decades – to come.

Some Monocacy Battlefield pictures and things for you all to see:

The breweries visited:

Friday:

• Idiom Brewing (Frederick, Maryland)

Saturday:

• Smoketown Brewery (was not allowed to sit due to girls, did not drink at) (Frederick, Maryland)
• Attaboy Beer (Frederick, Maryland)
• Rockwell Brewery (Frederick, Maryland)
• Midnight Run Brewing (Frederick, Maryland)

Recommendations:

I recommend Idiom Brewing, Attaboy Beer, Rockwell Brewery, and Midnight Run Brewing. I don’t want to speak for Smoketown Brewery, of their food or beer, but it was annoying their policy of no kids yet having a kid running around. Most likely he was a friend, owner, or worker there (not the kid, but the kid’s parent[s]) I assume. Who knows.

As for the battlefield, its a nice, small, easy navigable battlefield. It is smaller (much smaller) than Antietam or Gettysburg, and there is less things to see. Doing the full hikes at the Thomas Farm, Gambril Mill, the Juncture Trail, and Worthington Farm, would add a bit more time, but there isn’t a whole lot to see on the hikes than if you just go for a hike at a normal nature trail or park. The visitor center was closed due to the pandemic, so perhaps there would be more to see in the future. Also, there is a New Jersey monument section that was closed due to being repaired and reworked on, so we couldn’t stop at that as well. I would suggest visiting, but if you haven’t been to Gettysburg or Antietam I would highly recommend them first.

The town of Frederick Maryland though was beautiful, and could spend several days just exploring it. Lots to see and do. Lots of breweries too. Some breweries we didn’t get to visit but were in the area are:

• Monocacy Brewing
• Jug Bridge Brewing
• Smoketown Brewery
• Attaboy Barrel House (part of the Attaboy Beer)
• Old Mother Brewing

There are also several distilleries in the area, none of which I got to visit either:

• Dragon Distillery
• Puerto Rico Distillery
• McClintock Distilling
• Tenth Ward Distilling Company

There is plenty more and lots of micropubs and gastropubs and all kinds of restaurants along the Carroll Creek park / walk area. There is even a section called Brewer’s Alley, so I can only assume there is at least one brewery in that area (I would hope so at any rate).

Some reading about the Monocacy Battle:

• The Battle of Monocacy (NPS Gov)
• Battle of Monocacy – Facts and Summary (American Battlefield Trust)
• The Battle of Monocacy – July 9th, 1864 (Battlefields.Org)
• The Battle of Monocacy (Wikipedia)
• Francis Scott Key (Wikipedia)

Thank you everyone for reading the blog, and checking out my trip. I know this was a long winded blog post (possibly my biggest, or at least top 3 longest posts). Hopefully you found it amusing, informative, and interesting. It certainly was an interesting trip. The battlefield was interesting, the breweries were great, and the company (my daughters) was fun.

Hope the best to everyone. You can check out a selection of other road trip and other stories posted on my blog below, be sure to check them out. Cheers everyone, and thanks for reading!

Also, since this is going up on Fathers Day, I’d like to say Happy Fathers Day to everyone. Hope you got to spend time with your children and had a wonderful day sitting back, relaxing, and enjoying some cold craft beer. I did with my family (first time in a long time I didn’t have to work on Father’s Day, so that was a blessing in and of itself), drinking Attaboy Beer’s Fredhead Red IPA. It was a good day. Hope yours was as well! Cheers!

-B. Kline

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

• Going on the Road
• The Trip: Day 1 Recap
• The Trip: Day 2 Recap
• The Trip: Day 3 Recap

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

• A Road Trip to Rickett’s Glen
• The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

• Brewery Hopping – 12.27.19
• Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg – 9.6.19

My Article for Breweries in PA:

• Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

• Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

• A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown
• A Brewery Tour of Mellow Mink
• Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works
• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing
• A Trip to Gettysburg and Beer Review: This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Road Trip Snacks (Panther Island Brewing)

Yesterday was meant to be a simple trip. Had a simple plan. Simple trip idea. And should have been relatively easy to accomplish.

…..But nooooooooooooooooope. Things definitely didn’t quite work out that way (do they ever?). Checked with some knowledgeable people online (primarily Tyler Budwash – of Pilger Ruh Brewing; who is a big Civil War battlefield buff and brewery buff) about the Monocacy Battlefield as well as nearby breweries. So I figured out the itinerary (roughly) to go; leave at 10:30AM, get there at 12-noon, when Idiom Brewing would open up. Eat lunch there with the girls, do the battlefield until about 4:30PM/5PM and then go to another brewery for dinner, then be able to drop my oldest daughter off at a sleepover in Lemoyne, and take my two younger daughters for some putt-putt (Mini Golf for the layman) and call it a day. A nice, fun, family day trip vacation.

There is a LOT of good breweries in the Frederick Maryland area. Idiom Brewing, Midnight Run Brewing, Rockwell Brewing, Smoketown Brewing, Attaboy Beer, Monocacy Brewing, and many more.

We were probably going to hit just two breweries – Idiom Brewing for lunch and then most likely Midnight Run Brewing for dinner. BUT…. like I said, nothing ever seems to work out quite right.

So what started as a one-day trip, with clear target times… lasted two days, two full days (only got home at 10PM tonight), and resulted in quite possibly one of the most interesting one (turn two) day trips I’ve done in a long time.

In the past, when I’ve done multi-day trips (like my August trip with my daughters) I broke it down per day, and gave three day reports. Given the nature of how this trip went down, I’m going to just make it a single blog article about both days (especially since I’m also doing this post as well). Since all of day two was impromptu, its all a bonus anyway! What started out as probably doing a brewery review Friday night when I got home from all of the trip, and got my youngest two to sleep, has now turned into a full on report of the trip.

And no, I’m not going to give you spoilers about what all happened and why it ended up turning into a two day trip. You’ll just have to read on yourself to find out why! (Don’t worry, I don’t think you will be disappointed and most likely will be able to get a laugh or two at my expense.)

Until then everyone, cheers!

-B. Kline

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

• Going on the Road
• The Trip: Day 1 Recap
• The Trip: Day 2 Recap
• The Trip: Day 3 Recap

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

• A Road Trip to Rickett’s Glen
• The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

• Brewery Hopping – 12.27.19
• Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg – 9.6.19

My Article for Breweries in PA:

• Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

• Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

• A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown
• A Brewery Tour of Mellow Mink
• Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works
• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing
• A Trip to Gettysburg and Beer Review: This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Road Trip Snacks (Panther Island Brewing)