USA, MD: Peabody Heights Brewery to open in Baltimore

Albert and Stephen Demczuk, owner of microbrewery Baltimore-Washington Beer Works, are in the final stages of opening Peabody Heights Brewery, which would be the city's first large-scale brewery in more than 30 years, The Baltimore Sun reported on April, 7.

The two men, partnered with a Chicago restaurateur, have leased the building, bought equipment from a Canadian brewery and will produce the partners' beers and others on contract.

"There used to be hundreds of little breweries all over Baltimore. When I was a kid, you could go through National Brewing and take a tour. You knew what it was. It was personal," Albert said.

"What I like about this place is that it's in the neighborhood."

The project stems from growing interest in craft beers. Despite flat sales for mainstream lagers, demand for craft beers has exploded in recent years, leading to a surge in brewery openings, including several in Maryland.

Scheduled to begin within the next two months, Peabody's brewhouse could produce as many as 40,000 barrels a year of at least 10 different beers, say its owners, who aren't disclosing financial details about the venture. Yet success can be elusive in this beer-making business — more than 10 microbreweries have closed each year during the past two years — and Peabody can expect a sobering first several years.

Peabody is the latest development to move Baltimore closer to its brewing past. National Bohemian flows from some city bars' taps again and National Premium is returning this month for the first time in over a decade, though both are brewed out of state.

The city's reputation as a beer town stretches back to the late 19th century, when it had as many as 40 breweries, said Maureen O'Prey, who wrote the book "Brewing in Baltimore" on the subject.

"It's part of our roots," she said.

National recognition came in the 1960s for brands produced by Gunther, American Brewery and the National Brewing Co.

But enthusiasm for local beers fizzled out by the late 1970s, as competition from the national brands of brewing conglomerates overwhelmed the locals. One by one, the Baltimore breweries and bottling plants closed.

Peabody is the first large-scale brewery slated to open in the city since then, though several brewpubs —all with annual production of fewer than 5,000 barrels — popped up in the city during the first craft beer boom in the 1990s. That interest recently has been an upswing.

Some 200 breweries opened nationwide between 2009 and 2010, according to the industry group Brewers Association. In Maryland, two opened last year and five more, including Peabody, are in the process of opening.

11 April, 2012