CAMBRIDGE, MARYLAND
Just a few blocks from Cambridge Creek in Chesepeake Bay’s quaint Eastern Shore barrier, RAR BREWING (a.k.a. Reale Ale Revival) began its journey as a ‘big time small town’ pub in summer 2013. Alongside several local independent downtown shops, RAR’s casual sportsbar atmosphere, light pub fare and well-balanced brews will please mainstream commoners and advanced thirsts.
Dual black RAR awnings greet customers to this former Cambridge pool hall. A convenient overhead-doored serving station benefits outdoor summertime seating. The left side bar features 12 taps of continuously rotating original fare as well as a TV, blackboard beer menu and beer infuser (for mixed one-off concoctions). Inits first seven years, RAR has crafted nearly 100 different beers.
The separate right side dining area provides varnished red oak tables and booths, white and black tiled floor plus cool mod pop artwork.
My wife and I got seats in the makeshift roadside patio (due to Wuhan Virus) on one-hour stopover, July ’20.
Revealing evenly flavored tropical fruiting, Citra-hopped West Coast IPA, Nanticoke Nectar, retained an engagingly juicy grapefruit-orange bittering and sweet mango-nectarine tang above mild pine resin. Meanwhile, similarly styled Grapefruit Nectar brought mildly embittered yellow grapefruit splendor to tangerine-spiced tanginess over dry pale malts.
Lemondrop-candied banana and clove tartness surfaced for Groove City Hefe, exposing light floral-nipped herbal snips at the understated yellow-fruited finish.
Tropical Sabro hops allow easygoing grapefruit, orange, tangerine, mango, pineapple and coconut enticement to spread across floral-spiced cedar planking for Amatuer Sketch, a Double IPA.
Coffee-dried nuttiness and bittersweet dark chocolate consumed dark ale flagship, Bucktown Brown, gaining brown-sugared glazed walnut illusions at the caramelized mocha finish.
During awesome two-hour splurge on Friday afternoon, January ’24, sat at one of the wood-tabled metal seats near the front overhead door to down eight more sundry suds.
Though tepid pilsner-malted Lite stayed phenolic as musky grained hop astringency and dried maize husk merged, it’ll suit simpler blue collar thirsts.
Way more reliable was spritzy lemon-fizzed Country Ride Pale Ale, a lighter IPA-like moderation with light herbal musk and mild pine resin seeping into laidback grapefruit-orange misting.
Dry bronze-cleared Citra/Cascade-hopped Imperial Nectar IPA, an unconventional West Coast-inspired medium body (boasting bold 9% ABV), punctuated its expectant grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering with divergent green peppered herbage, muskily perfumed spicing and raw-honeyed pale malting.
At a heightened 10.3% ABV, off-dry Pumped Up Kicks Triple IPA coalesced Mosaic, Vic Secret and Ekuanot hops for lemony grapefruit bittering and desiccated orange musk seeping resinous pine above light oated wheat creaming.
Another boozy IPA (New England-styled at 10.6 ABV), Uni Blu stayed smooth as lemony grapefruit and orange tanginess surfaced above sugary pale malts, picking up icy vodka nip.
Smooth beige-hazed IPA variant, Smooth Peaches let its candied yellow peach adjunct receive lemony grapefruit bittering as well as tertiary red apple, pear and apricot illusions.
Aged in Bulleit bourbon barrels with vanilla cream, Old Decoy slung sweet bourbon warmth at caramel whiskey, dry burgundy, black cherry and dark cocoa.
Decadent lactose pastry stout, 10 Layers With Coconut, regaled toasted coconut sweetness for its macadamia-nutted dark chocolate caking and vanilla coffee respite.