BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
A mere five miles north of Baltimore is the town of White Marsh. In a modern red brick building at The Avenue mall, RED BRICK STATION RESTAURANT & BREWPUB offered English pub fare, seafood, and firehouse pasta, February ’05. Fire Department memorabilia lined walls near central oak bar, which had endless hanging steins and cornered TV screens. Brew tanks were interspersed at glass frontage and behind bar while outdoor porch area befit summertime.
Opened in ’97, brewer Mike Mc Donald operates an English brick-styled Peter Austin setup, punctuating darker brews with a stiff alcohol reminder. Suiting docile palates were soapy hay-wheat-chaffed Honeygo Lite, soft lemon-spiced corn-husked grassy-hopped wafer-sugared honey-malted Avenue Ale, and red-fruited cereal-grained Something Red.
Caramel-malted beechwood-smoked cognac-teased raisin-cherry-currant-dabbed Octopus Pajamas Scottish Ale, piney dry-smoked deep-spiced grapefruit rind-embittered Daily Crisis IPA, and soft dry-bodied black coffee-licorice-deepened Spooners Irish Stout exhibited depth and complexity. Specialty brew, Mc Dunkel Weiss, pleated blackened hops with cask-y banana, rum cake, and bubblegum swirls.
On terse April ’09 stopover, renewed Octopus Pajamas had fleeting peat-smoked malting, capacious Band-aid illusion and spicier tea-like vigor.
At brass-topped central bar, consumed two previously untried soft-watered mocha-centric brews during late-morning January 2011 stopover. Got to talk about latest brew trends (newfangled Black IPA’s; cask-conditioned beers; sour ales) with seasoned brewer, Mike Mc Donald, whose well-rounded libations suited the stylish English pub setting this spacious beer hall oft-times suggests.
Easygoing German-lagered dunkel-styled schwarzbier, DPM Lager, brought up-front cocoa nibs creaminess to walnut-coarsened coffee-burnt respite, chalky chocolate chunking, and tertiary fig-dried acridity, retaining a sharp edge.
Undeniably exceptional dessert beer, Winter Solstice Oatmeal Stout, should be considered any chocolate lovers’ first choice. Soft-toned black chocolate creaming, milky cocoa caress, and distant toffee sweetness contrasted mild wood-burnt pine-tarred hop char.
Rich mocha-roasted malting allowed subsidiary crème brulee, crème de cocoa, Madagascar bourbon vanilla, and Turkish coffee illusions to increase abundant chocolate splendor.