event | Independent Beers

Crab Soup Contest at Ellicott Mills Brewing Company

October 8, 2012 Author: Scott

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The winners and judges pose for a picture.

The crab soup contest at EMBC was once again a huge success this year. This year’s event was in an effort to raise money for 27forOldEC, a relief efforts from the derailment of trains in Ellicott City, MD. Overall there were 7 entrants that were mostly either a standard Maryland crab soup or a cream of crab soup. The Judges were given samples to taste in a predetermined order and then graded the soups on such items as appearance and taste.

When the contest was done, everyone at the bar was allowed to sample as much as they wanted of the remaining soup. I made sure to get a sample of all that was available while enjoying some of the great beers the brew on premises. Jonathan Postma (third from the right in group shot) won the overall contest with the prize being a wine rack with 4 bottles of wine.

The contest is underway, and Timmy is serving up the first soup.

This soup left in whole crab claws!!!!

The judges score their results of the various soups.

All contestants received a shirt from a locally made vodka.

Which they were happy to model.

The winners and judges pose for a picture.

Heavy Seas Real Ale and BBQ Fest

March 14, 2012 Author: Scott

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Kelli and I recently went to the Heavy Seas Real Ale and BBQ Fest. It was a lot of fun hanging out at the Heavy Seas Brewery and getting to meet Hugh Sissons again. Below are the pictures from the event. I refrained from doing beer reviews, as there were too many beers to drink, and I really just wanted to relax and have a good time. After clicking on a picture below to enlarge it you can use the arrow keys or your mouse wheel to go to the next picture.

Kelli and I arrived late to avoid any long waiting lines to get in to the event.

This event wasn't as crowded as the oyster fest...

But there were still a good amount of people around.

I started the day with the Imperial Stout.

The band was rocking out some great classic rock.

Kelli asked, "Isn't an American IPA an American Indian Pale Ale?"

The brewery was open for everyone to walk around.

And with the weather being nice, the outside area was open, too.

While we were outside I stopped into the tent and grabbed an Imperial Pumpkin Ale.

There was plenty of food if you were hungry.

It was Hugh Sisson's birthday, so I had another of his beers in his honor.

I'm a huge sucker for these kinds of things.

Find them on twitter @HeavySeasBeer.

This was the gift table for Hugh...

And this was his very cool cake.

It seems that over the course of an hour, more people had arrived at the event.

I ran into Hugh, and he made a birthday wish for everyone to have a great time at his birthday event.

By the time I made it back around to where the band was playing, Kelly was singing with them, again.

Right next to the band was the Imperial Chocolate Stout, so I had some.

I love taking pictures of bands...

And find myself unable to resist the urge...

To fire off a few shots.

An easy way to handle the amount of bathroom breaks required.

While wandering around I found a nice little medal collection.

It seems the Marzen is really popular.

Hugh took some time to open his presents.

And I had another beer, the Siren Noire.

Shortly thereafter I had the Peg Leg Imperial Stout.

These cardboard cutouts where everywhere, and it was funny to see Hugh posing with one.

The ladies took their turn, too.

Last beer of the day (and for those counting my eighth) the gold ale.

Website: http://www.hsbeer.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/heavyseasbeer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeavySeasBeer

Heavy Seas Beer and Oyster Fest – February 2012

February 10, 2012 Author: Scott

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Kelli and I recently went to the Heavy Seas Beer and Oyster Fest. It was a lot of fun hanging out at the Heavy Seas Brewery and getting to meet Hugh Sissons again. Below are the pictures from the event. I refrained from doing beer reviews, as there were too many beers to drink, and I really just wanted to relax and have a good time. After clicking on a picture below to enlarge it you can use the arrow keys or your mouse wheel to go to the next picture.

We arrived at the Heavy Seas Beer and Oyster Fest about 45 minutes after it started.

There was plenty of action, but I headed straight for the closest taps for a Märzen.

Right after that beer I ran into owner, Hugh Sissons.

He recommend I try the Black Cannon Black IPA before it ran out, so I did.

There was a good crowd on hand for the fest.

And it was really cool to see where they brew the beer.

Food was included, and the shrimp sandwiches were perfect!!

1:07 p.m., and just in time.

Fried Oyster sliders. I had to take this picture quickly because they were going fast.

In the back of the brewery there was a two tap setup, so I grabbed another Märzen.

Jonathan (a serious oyster expert) was on his 3-4 plate.

He and Kelli love going to oyster fests together.

There also was live music playing all day.

Huge was signing his new book Brewing in Baltimore, with Author Maureen O'Prey. He wrote the forward.

His book can be bought from Arcadia Publishing If you’re interested in buying it.

Nice 'stache.

Last picture before I hung up the camera for the day was Kelli getting oyster ice cream...it wasn't good. It tasted like an oyster/seafood soup.

Website: http://www.hsbeer.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/heavyseasbeer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeavySeasBeer

2011 Fell’s Point Fun Festival

October 3, 2011 Author: Scott

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On a cold and wet day Kelli and I headed to Fell’s Point for the 45th annual Fell’s Point Fun Festival. The festival took place Saturday and Sunday Oct 1 & 2 from 11am-7pm, with us arriving on Sunday around 2pm. While the street vendor section of the festival was partially crowded, the 98rock/Budweiser Beer Garden was nearly empty. There were a total of 6 beer booths, with 3 of them shut down and not even serving beer. The beer that was available was limited to Anheuser-Busch InBev brands. There was Bud Light, Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Dominion Hop Mountain Pale Ale.

I was curious how a craft beer like Dominion Hop Mountain Pale Ale of Old Dominion made it onto the taps of the Bud Light truck, so when I got home I did some quick research. It turns out that Anheuser-Busch owns a stake in the company. From the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Dominion_Brewing_Company the following is stated:

“Anheuser-Busch’s purchase stake gave them no control of either of the two breweries, nor any input or influence on brewery recipes, nor oversight of any day-to-day management — AB’s interest solely resides in the distribution side of the two breweries’ business using AB-favored distributors, entirely focused on competing with SABMillerCoors “craft brand” Blue Moon.”

So there you have it, another ruse from big beer to make you think you’re getting an independent product when in fact you putting more money in their coffers. Of course, with no other options (no outside beer allowed and all beer had to be purchased in the Beer Garden), I went with the Hop Mountain Pale Ale. It was a heavy attempt an an IPA that I otherwise wouldn’t bother with outside of no other options. I won’t do a full review, but I will give the beer a 3.5/5 stars. It’s an OK craft beer, but tasted like the flavor was injected into the beer.

To accompany the beer there was plenty of live music. We arrived just in time to see The Niki Barr Band. She did her best to entertain the 50 or so people in the Beer Garden. It was tough, however, as the beer vendors were on the opposite side of the parking lot from the stage, and most seemed intent on staying closer to the beer than the stage.

In between bands I found an odd sight of no lines for the spot-a-pots. I think the cold and rain really spoiled the day and kept many of the festival goers away.

Next up on stage was Can’t Hang. They managed to get most of the crowd to come to the stage, and celebrated at the end by bringing as many people as they could on stage.

After seeing The Niki Barr Band and Can’t Hang we left the Beer Garden to see the rest of the Festival. There weren’t too many people left, or maybe there never were too many people to begin with, but there were plenty of vendors selling their goods. We ended our Festival experience with a few orders of mussels from Bertha’s Mussels.

6th Annual Dogfish Head Dash 5K/10K

September 29, 2011 Author: Scott

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The 6th Annual Dogfish Head Dash races started at 8am sharp with 1810 registered runners. We arrived early to make sure we got good parking, which didn’t seem to be as big of an issue this year. I finished the 10K in 58:09, while Kelli finished ahead of me in 56:18. The post race party started at 9am to allow for many of the 10k runners to return. There were lots of beers on tap, including the 60 minute IPA and the Punkin. I heard a rumor that there were 90 kegs to cover the 1810 runners plus other paid guests.

There were games to play, like the keg relay, but this year I didn’t see those events (I most have been too busy drinking my beer). There was, however, live music provided by Reedo and the Front Porch Offering. They are a band local to the DelMarVa Peninsula. Intermittently between songs various awards and announcements were made, including the fact that the race raised $33,500 for the Delaware chapter of The Nature Conservancy — more than $100,000 to date from all the years of the Dogfish Head Dash.

There was also a costume contest for the runner with the best use of recycled material as a costume. The winner of that contest was won by a women who dressed in trash (pictured below) she had picked up from the side of the road. Well done in the spirit of the race!!!!

Tours of the brewery were overflowing with people all day as runners came and went from the brewery store. Several items for sale in the store sold out, including a women’s running shirt that Kelli had her eyes on. I was tempted to get a few things myself, but the line was long, and I needed another beer.

Speaking of the beer, this is the one spot in the post race ceremonies that could use a little work. This year, as in years past, the lines have been really long for the one beer truck on hand. I know they don’t want people drinking too much, so maybe it’s a built in throttle, but it would be nice to have at least two beer trucks, if not three. This way I could spend more time enjoying the event, rather than waiting in line.

The overall winner of the men’s 5K was Greg Cauller of Wilmington, DE with a time of 17:29.

The overall winner of the women’s 5K was Elizabeth Butterly of Milford, DE with a time of 20:25.

The overall winner of the men’s 10K was Matt Flynn of Media, PA with a time of 34:28.

The overall winner of the women’s 10K was Lisa Jalot of Wilmington, DE with a time of 42:54.

Registration for the 2012 Dogfish Head dash will take place in April of 2012.

Crab Soup Contest at Ellicott Mills Brewing Company

September 28, 2011 Author: Scott

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The crab soup contest at EMBC was once again a huge success this year. This year’s event was in an effort to raise money for the flood victims on Main Street in Historic Ellicott City, MD. Overall there were 9 entrants that were mostly either a standard Maryland crab soup or a cream of crab soup. The Judges were given samples to taste in a predetermined order and then graded the soups on such items as appearance and taste.

For the spectators, there was a raffle with proceeds going to the flood victims. When the contest was done, everyone at the bar was allowed to sample as much as they wanted of the remaining soup. I made sure to get a sample of all that was available while enjoying some of the great beers the brew on premises. Kelli Habicht (top row, second from left in group shot) won the overall contest and the Guitar signed by the members of the band Drive By Truckers. The big prize for the raffle was a box of beer and wine.