Karl Schenk's bar, stocked with five kegs of local microbrewed beers, is always ready to roll from his garage in New Windsor.
"The whole thing is on wheels and was built to be transportable," said Karl W. Schenk, co-owner of Maryland Microbrews.
Mr. Schenk's partner, Bernie Simasek of Eldersburg, built the company's two rolling bars. One is rich mahogany, the other is oak with a copper top that Mr. Schenk retrieved from an old Baltimore brewery. Each bar surrounds a beverage cooler that's large enough to hold five kegs and some bottled beer.
Last season, Maryland Microbrews used the equipment to serve local beers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mr. Schenk, Mr. Simasek and their 13 employees provided baseball fans with drafts from such microbreweries as Old Dominion, Sisson's and Oxford.
Even in the strike-shortened baseball season, Maryland Microbrews sold 60,000 glasses of beer, all of it brewed in Maryland.
At every home game, the bars -- one on the Eutaw Street side of the park and the other near left field -- opened to lines of customers, eager to pay $4.75 for a 16-ounce glass. The company often sold 18 kegs per game.
But the road to Camden Yards was arduous.
"It took us nearly two years to get in there," Mr. Schenk said. "When it opened, the park only sold the well-known beers. Why should a state-funded stadium not sell Maryland beers?"
The partners put a business proposition together, circulated petitions in local bars and sent numerous letters to team owners.
"We were rebuffed more than once," Mr. Schenk said.
The management and Aramark, which runs the park concessions, agreed last year to give the fledgling company a try.
"We are basically the first to do this virtually anywhere in the country," Mr. Schenk said. "We represented six breweries and offered good, fresh beer at a good value."
He said he already has a seventh brewer on tap for the 1995 season and two others are in the lineup.
"We concentrate on local brews in draft," he said.
The partners also are trying to serve at Memorial Stadium for Baltimore football team games and at the USAir Arena.
Microbrews represent about 2 percent of total beer sales, but they are a growing market, which "in 1992, broke 1 billion barrels," Mr. Schenk said.
Brewing in small batches with all natural ingredients makes microbrews more attractive and more flavorful than big-name beers, he said.
Interest in nontraditional American beers is growing, said Mr. Schenk, 47. "I probably haven't had a Budweiser in 20 years."
He said he got his taste for finer beers from his father, a native of Vienna, who "taught me to appreciate and be responsible with beer."
When he was 18, his parents gave him a case of imported Lowenbrau for Christmas.
"I had to make it last all year," he said. "I learned to portion it out and adopted an all-things-in-moderation philosophy."
The partners have not been idle in the off season. They have organized Camdenfest '95, a gathering of about 15 brewers and members of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Small Brewers. "We have good beer quality, locally, and want to show off," he said.
Baltimore Brewing, a Camdenfest participant, recently won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Fest in Denver.
Three sessions of Camdenfest are scheduled in the club level at Camden Yards, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. March 17, and noon to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. March 18.
"People can meet the brewers, sample great beers and food, and tour the ballpark," Mr. Schenk said.
Tickets are $25 per person. Call the Camdenfest hot line at (410) 787-2455 for reservations.
Although the baseball strike still threatens the 1995 season, optimism pervades Mr. Schenk's outlook for 1995 at the park.
"We will be taking the bars down to the stadium soon," Mr. Schenk said. "You have to be prepared, because you never know what is going to happen."
The future may also hold a microbrewery in Carroll County, he said.