I went to the DuClaw brewpub at Arundel Mills during my January trip to Baltimore and had to stop by again. I really do love the majority of their beers– they are tasty and creative, just what you want in a brewery. I was also glad to see that, at least Sweet Baby Jesus, was readily available in many locations. My hotel, The Marriott at Inner Harbor, had it on draft in the hotel bar. The guys at the bar got a kick when I said “Sweet baby Jesus, they have Sweet Baby Jesus on draft!”

This second trip to DuClaw at Arundel Mills didn’t disappoint and being so close to the airport it was a great spot to stop for lunch before catching a flight.

Funk was a blueberry citrus wheat that was probably the closest thing I have found to my memories of Bar Harbor’s Blueberry Wheat. I hate wheat beers that are fruit and not beer. This was still a good wheat beer with hints of blueberry. The nose had just a light blueberry aroma. I really wish someone at Sea Dog would try this one so they would see how it should be done (sorry people who like this beer but it is disgusting and I am the biggest blueberry fan alive– I eat them almost daily).  The only problem with this beer was that I really didn’t get any citrus from it.

From the X-10 series, I tried the Cantalope Saison.  This beer really reminded me of the Cigar City Cucumber Saison– not sure why as a cuke should not taste like a cantalope.  It had an good underlying saison flavor but the fruit was a bit odd.

Sawtooth is a white ale.  This has a good Belgian style nose and interesting citrus flavors.

HellRazer IPA was not my favorite. It didn’t have a very strong hop nose and ended it with a very bitter flavor. To me, this was not a well balanced beer.

From the Hop Continum Series, we tried the Mosaic which was a hoppy red ale.  This had a good hop nose and a nice caramel flavor imparted from the malt– a very good beer.

Misfit Red is a solid amber ale with low hops and very malty, toasty and light caramel flavors.

Euphoria is a Toffee Nut Brown Ale. You get toffee immediately from the nose of this beer and the toffee flavors are also predominant. This is a very easy to drink and dessert like beer.

The Devil’s Milk with Bourbon is a barley wine aged in bourbon barrels. This is a strong beer with the high alcohol (10.5%) from the barley wine and strong bourbon flavors. This is a very solid beer but not for the faint of heart.

Dirty Little Freak is a really good coconut caramel chocolate brown ale. A little sweet, but still very drinkable, this beer has a hint of coconut on the nose and good coconut flavors.

From the Exile series, we tried the Coffee Stout which had a typical of burnt coffee. The taste was a bit off putting though as it tasted a bit like a cigarette put out in your coffee.

Black Lightning is an American Black Ale.  It has a solid hop nose with an underlying burnt malt. The burnt malt flavors come out up front but it finished with good hop flavor.

The Bad Moon Porter had a good solid porter nose and overall was a very balanced porter.

For those who don’t know, there is also a DuClaw in BWI airport near the Southwest check in (it is outside of security).  I went by just to see what they had and they still had Flying Fish. I had Flying Fish when I had come back in January and it was about the day it was released. It was fantastic– a raspberry chocolate truffle in a glass. Well, if you want to try this beer, make sure to get it near the release date– it doesn’t seem to age well. The raspberry flavors now tasted very artificial. It loses that fresh truffle taste and begins to taste that weird Nestle raspberry iced tea or like when you add the raspberry flavoring to coke at some of those fancy new soda machines. Don’t do Flying Fish old or it will ruin it for you.

Overall, Flying Fish aside, I have to say that DuClaw is one of my favorite breweries, just because they are unique and different.

Blue Lab Brewing Company is one of those breweries that I just love. Right in the heart of Lexington, within easy walking distance to bars, restaurants, and shops, this brewery is located in an older home that has both curbside appeal and charm.  I love to visit a brewery that isn’t located in a warehouse next to a railroad track. I always give kudos to a brewer that wants his brewery to have character.

No matter the location, I really wish that the beers here were better.  Everything here seemed unfinished– like it needed more time, a tweeked recipe, and more patience.

The Hefeweize had a light nose with hints of banana and clove.  This was a good solid hefe and probably the best beer of the lot.

The Special Bitter was a bit strong for a bitter and didn’t have much nose. The Special Bitter was also served on cask (why I don’t know).  It was better on cask with a milder hop/bitter taste.  The smoother mouthfeel was also an improvement.

The Irish Red Ale was not a good Irish red as it was very bitter up front without much taste of toast or caramel from the malt. You could get a very slight toasty malt aroma from the nose, but overall the nose was also weak.

The IPA had a mild hop nose with not much citrus.  The nose also seemed slightly off and this was more evident in the taste as it was not well balanced. Up front there was an odd taste but it did end solid hop flavors.

PDX-LEX was a double red IPA. This beer had a slight caramel nose without much hop, as would be expected from a double IPA. This beer was absolutely horrible, the finish was sweet mixed with some sort of taste that reminded me of vomit. No one at my table could drink this one.

The Irish Stout had a good coffee nose and was the beer that really should have been served on cask.  This was a solid stout that would have greatly benefit from that silky mouthfeel.

The Coffee Chocolate Stout had very good coffee notes with and underlying hint of dark chocolate.  The flavors of both were maintained in the beer and were very solid. Overall this was a good beer.

So what do I say to sum up Blue Lab— give them a chance. Some of the beers have potential and the location is worth a stop (if you should ever find yourself in Lexington, VA).

So, there has been all this hype about how great Devil’s Backbone is and how great their beers are– so, of course, you are expecting a totally stellar experience. I mean they have won awards, been featured in articles like 29 Breweries You Must Visit Before You Die, and on and on….

However, I just did see or get it.

Overall the beers were pretty average, nothing stuck out except a couple of the collaborative beers that were available in the bottle (and you have to wonder if that has to do with the collaborator). I call this phenomena the Cigar City effect–average beers hyped up by someone (who does this) to make everyone around the world want the beer but anyone who is local will characterize them as “oh they are ok”.

The staff at the brewery tasting room in Lexington was less than stellar too.  I had to wait and wait for someone to help me and then they pour about 5 tastings all at one time and did a group introduction to the beers. I found that a little off-putting as there was little individual attention to the customers.

What did impress me though was the size of the facility– it is huge.  I assume that they want to do some major distributing. It was about the biggest brewery I had been to, in terms of square feet. I don’t even think Magic Hat in Burlington was that large.

Anyway, on to the beers…

The Vienna Lager is one of their long time award winners and I would compare it strongly to Motorworks Vienna Lager which is also an award winner.  This has a traditional malty lager nose with a slightly sweet taste up front that ends in more maltiness. A solid beer– however, not so sure it is that distinct.

The Dark Abbey did not have a strong Belgian nose but had good herbal Belgian flavors with a bit of toasty malt. My father in law loved this one.

The Wood Aged Dark Abbey Dubbel was the best here and most unique.  This had a nice oak flavor that contributed nicely to the herbal flavors in the beer itself. Vanilla was also prevalent. To me, this was a chardonnay beer!

The Schwartz Bier had a nice toasty, burnt nose with prevalent coffee notes. Although the coffee flavors were strong in the beer, you still go a hint of underlying malty ones.

Aviator is an amber lager.  The nose was slightly sweet but the beer itself didn’t have much flavor.  There were no real caramel malty flavors that I expect from an amber.

Striped Bass Pale Ale has that slightly tar like nose prevalent in beers made with German hops. It has a very German taste as well with only a slight bitterness at the end.

Cattywompus is characterized as a Belgian inspired IPA.  It seemed to have a sort of weird piney nose that might have been a combination of hops and herbal notes but there were underlying hints of citrus.  This is a mild beer with a mild hop flavor and underlying tastes of citrus.

Eight Point IPA is well rounded, very sessionable IPA that finishes with good hop flavor.

Now on to the collaborations….

Devil’s Tale is a collaboration between Devil’s Backbone and Coronado Brewing.  A Black IPA with a nice aroma of coffee (not an overwhelming one) and a hint of hops, this is a really good beer. The hop flavors and coffee are also prevalent in the taste.

The Devil Went to Georgia is a collaboration of Devil’s Backbone and Ninkasi. I was really looking forward to this one but a bit disappointed. This was supposed to be a Rye IPA but I didn’t really get any rye on the nose– the nose was that of a typical IPA. There was also only a little hint of rye at the onset of each sip but it did finish with a nice hop flavor. I’ll stick to Ryeght Angle from Fat Point.

Double Gooch was collaboration between Devil’s Backbone and Fat Head. Classified as an Imperial International Pale Ale, this beer had a good hop nose and bitter finish at the end with a bit of a burn from the alcohol. It is a solid Imperial but need just a touch more sweetness to balance the bitter.

Since my in-laws live in Lexington, VA, just a few miles from the brewery, I am sure that I will be there again. Maybe next time I can figure out what all the fuss is about.

Next stop was Heavy Seas to give some of their beers a try. I didn’t do Loose Cannon or Double Cannon as those are easily available here and both good solid beers. I tried to stick with those that I hadn’t had.  Also got an oyster on the half shell because it is a required thing to do while in B’more.

The Heavy Seas Gold was a unique beer. Apparently this one won a gold at GABF in 2010 and I can see why. It has lots of flavor unlike a typical Gold which is generally is a glorified version of Budweiser. This beer had a slightly sweet and malty nose with hints of vanilla. The finish was also sweet and it is an easy drinking beer with notes of vanilla and caramel. I would recommend this one on a hot day.

Powder Monkey was supposed to be a Pale Ale but I found it very disappointing.  The nose didn’t have much hop aroma and the taste was also more malty than hoppy.  It didn’t seem well balanced, needing more hop and less malt.

Cutlass Amber had a toasty malty nose and the taste was slightly sweeter than most Reds.  It had good caramel undertones. I am not generally a Red fan and I found this much better than most.

Crossbones has a nice but lightly hopped nose. The taste is that of a very balanced session style IPA with a good but of hops but still very drinkable and light.  My husband thought the hops added too much lemon taste but to me it was quite refreshing.

Small Craft Warning had no nose and didn’t have a traditional Pilsner taste. In fact, there was not much taste here at all. This beer was too weak.

Smooth Sail was another beer without much nose but did at least have a solid malty taste.

Peg Leg had good coffee and chocolate notes of a classic Imperial Stout. However, I found that the beer was a bit bitter on the start. It did, however, finish with good strong coffee flavors.

Blackbeard’s Breakfast was aged in bourbon barrels and had a great bourbon nose. The nose also had lots of coffee which was prevalent in taste, as well. It was quite well balanced as many bourbon aged beers have too much alcohol burn– this one however did not.

I’ve always been a fan of Heavy Seas I just never do drink any of their beers on a regular basis. Double Cannon is a very solid Imperial IPA and Loose Cannon is a very solid IPA. Maybe I should add them to the regular list.