The last few months on the local beer scene have been awash with news of acquisitions and closures.
In March, North Baltimore’s Full Tilt Brewery closed due to “crippling inflation,” one of the COVID-19 pandemic’s many ripple effects.
In May, Frederick-based Flying Dog Brewery was acquired by New York’s FX Matt Brewing Co., which is slated to take over production of Flying Dog beer by August.
And in June, Baltimore’s DuClaw Brewing announced it had been purchased by River Horse Brewing Co., based in New Jersey. A little more than a week later, Guinness Brewery’s U.S. outpost announced it would move production of Baltimore Blonde — named in tribute to Charm City and brewed in Baltimore County — to New York instead. (Guinness’ smaller innovation brewery and taproom will remain in place.)
The moves are part of a broader wave of change for the brewing industry over the past decade. There’s been news of consolidation nationwide: other notable deals include Boston Beer Company’s 2019 acquisition of Delaware’s Dogfish Head and Heineken’s acquisition of Lagunitas, started in 2015 and completed in 2017. The pandemic only seems to have accelerated the trend.
But I have news this week of one local craft brewery that’s expanding, not consolidating. I take a look inside Sapwood Cellars’ plans in today’s column, which also has details about two new restaurants opening in Owings Mills, including a chicken chain backed by the rapper Drake.
Keeping its brewing ‘weird’
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Sapwood Cellars Brewery has been something of a destination spot for craft beer drinkers since it opened in 2018.
The small brewery is tucked away inside a nondescript office park off of Route 108 in Columbia, near a pharmacy and a church. “You really have to be trying to come to our brewery” to find it, says co-founder Michael Tonsmeire.
He’s hoping the next chapter for Sapwood Cellars will bring even more customers through the door.
The brewery, which will mark five years in business in September, has major expansion plans over the next few months. On Aug. 5, Sapwood will debut a new outdoor patio, accompanied by a celebratory kölsch release, a food truck slinging bratwursts and a live polka band.
The fall will bring another phase of growth, with — permits willing — an expansion of the taproom and the construction of a new in-house kitchen.
The new additions are a way to attract more beer drinkers as the brewery continues to increase its production, Tonsmeire said. Right now, the average customer at Sapwood Cellars “is a little bit older and more excited about beer in general.”
“We figure food will bring in more of the people who might like drinking beer but might not know we exist,” he said. “More and more, we’re realizing that for us to grow as a business we need to figure out how to attract people who just like having a beer.”
Tonsmeire hopes to find an operator for the new kitchen so that Sapwood Cellars can continue to concentrate on beer. The brewery has been a favorite among craft beer enthusiasts for its constantly changing draft list. On any given day, Tonsmeire tries to have a wide variety of brews, from barrel-aged sours to pastry stouts to pilsners, on tap. In five years, he says, Sapwood has brewed “something like 700 recipes.”
“We’re sort of a weird brewery: we don’t have core beers,” he said.
He and co-owner Scott Janish have considered adding one recurring IPA to the draft list, but they have no plans to change the spirit of innovation at Sapwood Cellars. It’s one of the reasons the brewery was able to weather the pandemic as well as manage to grow, Tonsmeire said.
Beer can go stale if it’s not turned over regularly, which was a setback for breweries that had large batches of a particular brew that suddenly had nowhere to go as bars and restaurants shuttered in the early days of COVID-19.
“It’s such a freshness thing that once you struggle, it can be hard to get back on track,” Tonsmeire said. Those losses can snowball, prompting breweries to shutter: “At a certain point, you can only scrape by for so long.”
Where consolidations in the industry can mean fewer experimental brews, Sapwood wants to stay “curious,” he said.
“I’d rather always be doing something new. We’re always going to be a brewery that’s turning out new things, and different things, and weird things. We just need to find the balance.”
Best he’s ever had?
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The Baltimore region is about to get a taste of some Drake-approved fried chicken.
Dish Baltimore
The superstar rapper is an investor in Dave’s Hot Chicken, a California-based restaurant chain that will open its first Maryland location Friday in Owings Mills.
The new spot will feature bright, graffitied walls and a menu of fried chicken and sides like kale slaw, cheese fries and mac n cheese. Diners can choose the level of heat on their hot chicken on a scale ranging from “no spice” to “reaper.”
The restaurant, located at 9900 Reisterstown Road, will be open seven days a week.
No word yet on whether this is the best hot chicken Drake’s ever had, but we imagine his “significant” investment (per the restaurant chain) is a strong endorsement.
More growth for Honeygrow
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In other Owings Mills restaurant news, Honeygrow will open its latest Maryland restaurant at Mill Station, on the site of the former Owings MiIls Mall, at the end of the month.
This will be the sixth Maryland restaurant for the Philadelphia-based salad and stir-fry chain, which already has locations in Charles Village, Harbor Point, Bel Air, Arundel Mills and Rockville. There are “several more in the pipeline,” CEO Justin Rosenberg said in a news release.
The chain takes inspiration from Maryland with its Chesapeake crab stir-fry, a summer addition to the menu featuring egg white noodles, crab meat, veggies and Old Bay sauce.