Five Reasons to do a Maryland, Maine, and Michigan Tasting
Actually, Baltimore native Stillwater Artisanal's Brian Strumke is a brewer without a brewery, brewing his beers at different breweries all over the world. For example, the beer we're tasting is contract brewed by Two Roads Brewing Company in Connecticut not Maryland ... but the soul of Stillwater is in Baltimore, so we're still going to count it for this tasting ... and taste something from them!
When the Kleban brothers started Maine Beer Company in 2009, there weren't many more brewers in Portland, ME other than Allagash ... which was right across the street! We deserve to taste the beers that helped them be more than the new kids on the block.
In 1998, in Grand Rapids, MI, Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers founded Founders making unremarkable beers that they thought would have mass appeal. By 2001, their only income was from their bartending tips at the tasting room and they had to spend some of that on a pair of bolt cutters in case the landlord locked them out! Desperate, they finally decided not to go out playing things safe and started brewing big flavored beers that they loved. Those new beers -- like Dirty Bastard and KBS -- turned things around. We should taste one of the big beers they're making now!
In 2017, New Holland Brewing founder and president Brett VanderKamp made a distribution deal with Pabst Brewing Company. New Holland continues to brew in Holland, MI, Pabst does not have an ownership stake in the company, New Holland claims they remain an independent entity. The only difference is that they can now get their beer into more markets, and Pabst gets a big old New Holland sized feather in its high end portfolio. We should be the judge to see if dancing with the Big Beer Devil has changed anything!
They're good!
Beers to be Tasted
Stillwater Cellar Door
Maine Zoe
Founders Underground Mountain Brown
New Holland Dragon's Milk White
New Holland Dragon's Milk