BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Three miles from Orioles Park in Charm City’s Mc Henry Row at the Banner building, DIAMONDBACK BREWING COMPANY began operations in autumn 2016. Founded by three University of Maryland dorm brewers, Diamondback’s spacious 7,000 square-foot facility is part of a former Coca-Cola plant.

Located inside a red brick warehouse, the neo-Mod Industrial interior features a rustic cement floor with wood-fronted, cement-topped round bar wrapping around a huge red brick smokestack smack dab in the middle of the low-ceilinged pub. An overhead door leads to a makeshift patio for outdoor seating. Pizza and light pub fare fill out the menu.

My wife and I settled into a few bar seats to try all seven available brews on a Sunday eve, January ’24.

‘Lightly smoked doppelbock,’ Flocculator, brought dewy dried fruiting to musty caramelized malting and Noble hop earthiness.

Creamier than expected, Czech dark lager, Bohemian Forest, placed dry Bakers chocolate next to pumpernickel-toasted dark chocolate malting, caramel coffee caress and truffled Saaz hop dryness.

Soft gold-cleared citrus wheat ale, Voss Boss, utilized clean Nordic Kveik yeast to set up its brisk lemony grapefruit bittering and zesty orange peeled tangerine sweetness, leaving light floral spicing on its mild pine salting.

Diamondback’s approachable ‘house IPA,’ Green Machine, pushed lemony grapefruit and orange tanginess past the resinous pine contrasting its oated wheat base.

Smoothly clean Citra/Mosaic-hopped  ‘cold IPA,’ Coldstream, plied sweet orange tanginess, yellow grapefruit bittering and passionfruit tartness to lightly vanilla-creamed oats and kiln-malted mineral graining.

Luxurious bourbon-aged Imperial Stout, Moon Boots, let bourbon vanilla sweetness seep into creamy brown chocolate spicing, Black Forest caking and molasses-candied nuttiness for a perfect nightcap.