Havre de Grace, MD April, 13, 2019

Thomas Wolfe said, ‘You Can’t Go Home Again’ but I did last Saturday. I spent a beautiful Saturday at the 2019 Lock House Craft Beer and Wine Festival in Havre de Grace, MD, my birthplace.

The festival is hosted by the Susquehanna Lock House Museum. The festival promised craft beer, wine, distilleries, food trucks, food vendors, music and more, located where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay in Havre de Grace, MD (HdG). Price of admission is $35. This beautiful location is usually about a 1-hour drive from my home in Columbia.

Beer Event Rule #1: arrange travel ahead of time. Usually, the trick to planning any beer event is getting home. You can drive just about anywhere but after an afternoon of drinking beer, driving home is never a good idea.

I first investigated train travel. MARC and Amtrak regularly travel through HdG. After some frustrating time crawling through the internet, I realized that no train stopped in HdG and stopping in Aberdeen was a logistical challenge. Bus service was also not an option. Uber and cabs were much too expensive. I finally begged car rides from a few friends. After all my careful planning, it still took 2.5 hours to arrive in HdG due to an accident on I95.

Hint to the Susquehanna Lock House Museum: arranging transportation via train would be awesome. Perhaps the MARC could stop at HdG for the festival. You could include info about it on your webpage. Turnout just might be spectacular!

We strolled onto the festival at 1:00 PM, about an hour after the festival began. I had sort of talked my friend and son into attending this festival and honestly, I was a bit concerned about the turnout. Later in the afternoon, the grounds were full of people, so this was not a problem. Also, the amount of craft beer tents versus other vendors was not what I expected. We collected our small, complementary plastic cup for unlimited beer drinking for the afternoon.

Beer Event Rule #2: Pace yourself. I know, I know. You’ve waited for weeks for this festival. You are excited to try all your favorite ales and discover new delicious brews. Plus, you’ve followed Rule #1, so you feel you can just go hog wild. But, I can’t say this enough, mind the ABVs and slow down. Also, if you don’t love a beer, feel free to dump it. And remember to ask for small pours.

It was a beautiful sunny, warm day along the mighty Susquehanna River. We wandered around the many vendors until we hit the jackpot – all the beer tents strategically located in the back. They included: RavenBeer, Peabody Heights, Independent Brewing Company, Heavy Seas, Fin City Brewing Company, Alecraft Brewery, Maryland Beer Company, Old Oriole Park/Public Works, Falling Branch Brewery, and our friends from Reckless Ale Works (the Frisco Tap House brewery in Columbia, MD).

We all grabbed a beer – mine was a low ABV Heavy Seas Smooth Sail Summer Ale – and headed to the food trucks. All of us were starving.

Beer Event Rule #3: Don’t forget to eat. This is really more pacing (Rule #2) but often forgotten. For me, eating slows down my drinking and helps me handle the alcohol. Also, drinking water helps as well, slowing down the drinking and keeps me hydrated. I find water and food are great hangover preventives. Rule of thumb: one to one beer to water.

We all headed over to the food truck area. I scarfed down a polish hotdog with the works and sides. It was a bit expensive ($14) but hit the spot. We found a table to stand around and enjoyed sipping our beers while munching our lunch. We also discovered $3 hotdogs that we planned to munch on later in the afternoon.

Beer Event Rule #4: Save the IPAs for later. I love a good IPA. For instance, Hysteria’s Trash Panda is one of my all-time favorite Howard County beers. Many times, I have made the crucial error of drinking this NE IPA first and ruining my palate for later beers.

We wandered around, stopping at almost every beer tent. Most beer pours were wisely 3 or 4 ounces. After a while, it is difficult to really remember all the different beers tasted. I really did not discover any really bad beers. I think Raven Beer’s Raven Special Lager was the beer of the event. This is surprising for me, an IPA/Saison loving guy, but this flavorful beer really hit the spot and my friends seemed to agree. BTW, I learned from Raven Beer owner, Stephen Demczuk, that Raven Beer is holding an event, Pints for Poe on May 25th from noon – 4:00 PM in the Rosedale facility of DuClaw Brewing (Pints for Poe, fundraiser for EA Poe House, DuClaw Brewery, 8901 Yellow Brick Rd, Balto, 12:00-16:00).

Another pleasant find was the AleCaft Brewery of Bel Air. I very much enjoyed 2 of their beers – Le Renard, an IPA, and Black Knight, a stout. I also learned that all their beer is gluten-reduced. Besides being a brewery, they also sell beer making supplies. I learned that you too can brew gluten-reduced beers by using White Labs Clarity Ferm by adding it when you add yeast. Cool!

Finally, I must mention the Lock House. As a young boy scout, I mowed the lawn for the Lock House when it was an abandoned building with grass over 3 feet high. My good friends, David and Johnny Lee Witt, were instrumental in restoring this gem of a museum. Imagine my surprise to see this fine museum with a scale model lock, tour guide (Bob Magee) and restored lock outside. From 1840-1890, this canal ran from the Chesapeake Bay to Wrightsville, PA. When in HdG, this is well worth a stop to the Susquehanna Lock House.

Cheers!

Warren