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I visited Annapolis, MD on Saturday. Among other places, I visited two semi-brewpubs (see the reviews for why they are "semi")
Castlebay Irish Pub is an Irish pub on Main St., the main tourist/commercial strip in downtown Annapolis. Castlebay has its own house beer: Three Nuns Ale. Otherwise, it is a standard Irish pub -- which is why it is only sort of a brewpub.
In short, Three Nuns is not worth it. It begins malty, and ends like you've been chewing on a mouthful of hop pellets. The aftertaste of hops is all the gritty bitterness of hop pellets, with none of the lovely flowery or citrus flavors that hops can have. At $4.75 a pint for Three Nuns, you can do a lot better with any of the pub's other offerings.
Or you can go down the street to find much better locally brewed beer at Rams Head Tavern and Fordham Brewing Co. Rams Head Tavern is on West St., which is only a few blocks away from Main St. West St. is a major commercial street in Annapolis, but it is off the main tourist strip. Fordham makes, and Rams Head sells, six standard beers plus seasonals. Fordham is a commercial brewery, and also sells its beer in bottles in stores around the area -- which is why Rams Head/Fordham is only a semi-brewpub. Rams Head also sells beers by other breweries.
I tried the seasonal, a Wheat, which was a competently executed and tasty, if uninspired, wheat beer. It improved, as many wheat beers do, with a slice of lemon squeezed into it. It was definitely the thing for a hot day. I also had a pint of their standard Helles Lager, which was better than most lagers I've had. Many lagers have a bite to them that tastes, unpleasantly, nearly of being skunked. This one had no such near-skunky taste. It was slightly malty, with the expected crisp lager finish. I had the lager with a seaweed salad, which was well done, save that it was served on a warm plate. Other than that it was quite tasty, with the spicy zip I want in a seaweed salad. In cooler weather I could work through several pints of lager in a session, especially if I was there for one of their concerts.
Rams Head also has live music on a regular basis. While I was there, at around 3 PM on a Saturday afternoon, there was a solo guitarist/singer who was performing familiar songs by various rock artists, including requests when he knew the song. He made all the songs somewhat folk. The music was a bit louder than I thought it should have been given that the bar was relatively empty.
Castlebay Irish Pub is an Irish pub on Main St., the main tourist/commercial strip in downtown Annapolis. Castlebay has its own house beer: Three Nuns Ale. Otherwise, it is a standard Irish pub -- which is why it is only sort of a brewpub.
In short, Three Nuns is not worth it. It begins malty, and ends like you've been chewing on a mouthful of hop pellets. The aftertaste of hops is all the gritty bitterness of hop pellets, with none of the lovely flowery or citrus flavors that hops can have. At $4.75 a pint for Three Nuns, you can do a lot better with any of the pub's other offerings.
Or you can go down the street to find much better locally brewed beer at Rams Head Tavern and Fordham Brewing Co. Rams Head Tavern is on West St., which is only a few blocks away from Main St. West St. is a major commercial street in Annapolis, but it is off the main tourist strip. Fordham makes, and Rams Head sells, six standard beers plus seasonals. Fordham is a commercial brewery, and also sells its beer in bottles in stores around the area -- which is why Rams Head/Fordham is only a semi-brewpub. Rams Head also sells beers by other breweries.
I tried the seasonal, a Wheat, which was a competently executed and tasty, if uninspired, wheat beer. It improved, as many wheat beers do, with a slice of lemon squeezed into it. It was definitely the thing for a hot day. I also had a pint of their standard Helles Lager, which was better than most lagers I've had. Many lagers have a bite to them that tastes, unpleasantly, nearly of being skunked. This one had no such near-skunky taste. It was slightly malty, with the expected crisp lager finish. I had the lager with a seaweed salad, which was well done, save that it was served on a warm plate. Other than that it was quite tasty, with the spicy zip I want in a seaweed salad. In cooler weather I could work through several pints of lager in a session, especially if I was there for one of their concerts.
Rams Head also has live music on a regular basis. While I was there, at around 3 PM on a Saturday afternoon, there was a solo guitarist/singer who was performing familiar songs by various rock artists, including requests when he knew the song. He made all the songs somewhat folk. The music was a bit louder than I thought it should have been given that the bar was relatively empty.
