On Local Beer and Regulations, Part I, The Session #61

Background: The Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday, is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants, along with a short pithy critique of each entry. 

There's a lot I could say about locally made beer, but I'm going to focus on the how and why of it, as opposed to the freshness factor (especially for hoppier beers, which is why I think a Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA is just about the best thing out there), or keeping more money in the community by supporting local businesses. Instead, I'm going to talk about the regulatory climate, which plays an important role in the distribution of local breweries. We in the DMV are blessed with something like laboratory conditions, thanks to three jurisdictions (the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia) and a wealth of breweries under 18 months old. For this exercise I make the perhaps erroneous assumption that beer entrepreneurs are randomly distributed throughout these locales.

DC: DC Brau, Chocolate City Beer, 3 Stars Brewing*
Maryland: Baying Hound Aleworks, Washingtonian Brewing Company**
Virginia: Port City Brewing, Lost Rhino Brewing Company, Cabinet Artisanal Brewhouse***, Adroit Theory Brewing****

That's nine (9) breweries within thirty (30) miles of Washington, DC, all under two years old. My question is why Maryland isn't as represented as DC or VA? My hypothesis is that the regulatory climate in Maryland, especially in Montgomery County, home of Baying Hound, is a structural impediment to new breweries. The next step is to test it. Suggestions welcome, and the DC part of this puzzle has been discussed before.

* No brewing takes place at 3 Stars, but they have collaborated with other local breweries, such as Baltimore's Oliver Ale and Evolution Craft Brewing Company, from Delmar, DE.
** The first batch of beer did not ferment, and I suspect that this brewery has been shelved.
*** Currently not open to the public, but have plans for a tasting room and regional distribution. Currently brewing for The Farmer's Cabinet in Philadelphia, PA.
**** ETA, early 2013.

Good Beer Everywhere!

I spent this weekend in Front Royal, VA, mostly at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's open house (and no, I didn't get to pet a clouded leopard cub). As is often the case when I'm traveling, I do a bit of beer research before I go someplace. I tapped into the wealth of knowledge that is the DC beer listserv... and got nothing. Somebody posted something about Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which must be the most taken-for-granted good beer out there by now, and proclaimed Front Royal a beer wasteland. This same listserv downplayed the interesting beer options in New Zealand when I went there in May. In both cases they were wrong.*

Now, there's nobody in or around Front Royal making and bottling good beer, but there are certainly folks distributing and selling it. Products from Brooklyn Brewery, Bell's Brewery, Unibroue, Southern Tier, and semi-local St. George, most famous for letting the Tuppers make Hop Pocket at their facility, are all available. If you go there, check out J's Gourmet and Vino E Formaggio.

And on the way back to DC I stopped off at the Gainesville, VA Wegman's. Now there's a grocery store that understands good beer.

If you enjoy craft beer we truly live in a golden age. There's no better time to be alive, because good beer is everywhere. Thank formal and informal networks of brewers, thank effective supply-chain management, thank the interwebs... good beer has become globalized and democratized. And that's a very very good thing.

* Free advice: seek out Epic Beer's Armageddon IPA and Mayhem Pale Ale if you're in New Zealand. NZ brewers are increasingly influenced by the US, which means hops and Belgian yeasts are prevalent, and US beers can hang with the best of them.