Wine and Beer Festivals Draw Connoisseurs to Carroll County

Written By Linda Morton

The 25th annual Maryland Wine Festival¨ on September 20 and 21 and the 3rd annual Maryland Microbrewery Festival on September 27, both premiere Carroll County attractions, celebrate nature’s harvests of grapes and grains, beverages created for discriminating palates by artisans who specialize in their crafts.

Both events are sanctioned by the State of Maryland as Official State Events. Both offer samplings, how-to information, mingling with the experts, music to imbibe by, and food to complement the drink.

The Maryland Wine Festival¨ is an annual tradition that has achieved national and international recognition. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the event has seen continuous expansion, improvement and refinement.

The Maryland Wine Festival¨ is hosted by the Carroll County Farm Museum and the Maryland Wineries Association.

The weekend includes tastings from Maryland wineries, live music, foods from local restaurants, arts and crafts, and wine education seminars. The Governor’s Cup Awards will be presented each day of the festival as judges sample 150 wines, awarding prizes in various categories until the best of the best is discerned.

An amateur wine competition is also available. Entry forms must be received no later than September 14. Rules and procedures for participants may be found at The Maryland Wine Festival¨ Web site:www.marylandwine.com/mdwinefest/.

Farm Museum Manager Dottie Freeman said 25,444 people attended last year. “By checking zip codes, we discovered that people from all 50 states and 18 foreign countries attended the festival,” she said. “We are trying to better accommodate our visitors this year with greater sampling opportunities, easier parking, and faster entry and exiting.”

Free shuttle buses – from Carroll Community College (for Rt. 32 traffic), from the Carroll County Office Building (N. Center St., for 140 traffic), and from Friendship Valley Elementary (Gist Rd., for Hwy 27/Kate Wagner traffic) – as well as ticket booths at five gates open for parking should help move guests smoothly and quickly into and out of the festival.

Parking will be available in the front and back lots at the Farm Museum. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, VIP visitors with special invitations will enjoy samplings from six new wineries not yet offering their products to festival goers.

There will also be a 25th anniversary Road Rally Trivia Tour, inviting festival participants to visit the wineries before the festival and send in answers to very specific trivia questions for prizes to be awarded at the festival. Contact the Farm Museum for the entry card and trivia questions.

Twenty-one of the state’s almost 30 wineries will participate this year, an increase from last year’s 18 participants.

Wine Festival tickets are $20 and allow as many samplings as guests desire. For maps and directions or details about the festival and its attractions, including food and craft vendors, the entertainment schedule, and wine education seminars, go to the Maryland Wine Festival¨ Web site.

The Maryland Microbrewery Festival celebrates and promotes the best of Maryland’s handcrafted and distinctive microbrews with a day of fun and relaxation at the Union Mills Homestead. In addition to beer tasting and seminars about brewing processes and traditions, the event will include food, crafts and unique merchandise vendors. Musicians scheduled to perform throughout the day include the Eric Byrd Trio Brother, Ray Band, Mike Duggan and the Blues Mission, and Wall and Frye.

According to David Shriver, chair of The Maryland Microbrewery Festival and Union Mills Homestead board member, attendance doubled last year with more than 3,000 participants. More brewers and greater variety in the samplings are planned for this fall.

Brewers participating in the 2008 festival include first-timers: from Westminster, Dog Beverage Company; from Gaithersburg, Growlers; from Baltimore, The Wharf Rat; and from White Marsh, Red Brick Station. Returning from 2007: from Westminster, Clay Pipe Brewing and Johanssons Brewing Company; from Ellicott City, Ellicott Mills Brewing Company; from Frederick, Barley and Hops Grill & Microbrewery, Brewer’s Alley, and Wild Goose Brewery; from Baltimore, Clipper City and Baltimore Washington Beer Works; and from Abingdon, DuClaw Brewing Company.

Beer samplers will pay $18 for a mug and tokens for samples. Tickets for visitors preferring not to imbibe will cost$5. Midnight Brewer’s League of Carroll County will give demonstrations and seminars on the process of homebrewing. The club has convened for 14 years and includes 60 members who make homebrewed beer as a hobby.

Neil Mezebish, league president, said homebrewing gives the brewer control over the final product in terms of the style of beer, the flavor, sweetness, and amount of alcohol.

A new feature of this year’s Microbrewery Festival is a homebrew contest sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings Restaurants and Union Mills Homestead, organized by the Midnight Brewers’ League and The Free State Homebrew Club Guild. The competition will further the festival’s goals of beer education and appreciation of all forms of the brewing arts and is open to amateur homebrewers who are either Maryland residents or members of a Maryland-based homebrew club. Entry forms and instructions are available at www.unionmills.org.

Entries must be received between September 8 and 20, 2008. Beers in the English Ordinary Bitter and Brown Porter styles will be accepted for judging with a $5 entry fee. Winners will be judged by certified beer judges according to the 2008 BJCP Beer Style Guidelines (www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.html).

Judging and announcement of the winners will take place during the festival so guests can watch the judging and learn the criteria for a prize-winning brew.

The best of show winner will have the honor of his or her recipe being brewed by Dog Beverage Company for limited commercial sale at Buffalo Wild Wings locations throughout Maryland. Recipes should not be submitted with entries, but prize winners may be asked to submit a recipe. The best of show winner will be required to submit his or her winning recipe.