Henry Ruhlman shows the process of brewing Milk Stout.
by James Rada, Jr. photography by Amy McIntyre Devilbiss
While many people have fun drinking beer, Henry Ruhlman has more fun making it.
His son bought him a beer-making kit 14 years ago, and he enjoyed brewing beer so much that he started growing his own hops, one of the basic ingredients in brewing beer.
After his father died in 2010, Ruhlman and his siblings inherited Creeping Creek Farms. Ruhlman asked his siblings if he could start growing hops on the farm, and they agreed.
That birthday present has now grown into a micro-brewery and retail operation on the farm called Ruhlman Brewery in Hampstead, which brews a variety of ales and stouts.
“We’ll have 11 or 12 on tap at any time, with six of them being our best sellers,” Ruhlman said. “About 75 percent of the people who come in like what we do, and some of them like everything we do. The flavors aren’t for everyone, but I’m sure that if you come in, we’ll have one, two or three that you’ll love.”
Ruhlman begins with a purchased recipe and then he tweaks it with his own innovations. He’ll try out the results and when he get something that he thinks the public might like, he offers it for sale. If it’s popular, he keeps it. If not, he goes back to tweaking the recipe again.
“It may take three or four months to get something that works,” Ruhlman said.
While sipping the various brews, visitors can stroll through the hops fields to see where the recipe started.
“Hops are unique to their area,” Ruhlman said. “You can use the same recipe with the same variety of hops, but if they are from different areas, the drink will taste different.”
While visiting, you can even burn off some of the calories you drink by playing disc golf. Ruhlman’s son and his friends originally put a few disc golf baskets up just to practice, but they realized disc golf and the brewery were a popular combination.
“Most disc golfers are drinkers, but most courses don’t allow drinking on them,” Ruhlman said. “Here, they can do both.”
Business Bits:
Ruhlman Brewery www.ourales.com • 410/259-4166 • 2300 Harvey Gummel Road, Hampstead, MD 21074
- Ruhlman Breweries products include: Milk Stout, Tavern Pale Ale, Red Ale, I.P.A. (India Pale Ale), Black Knight (Imperial Stout), Chocolate Stout, Amber Ale, Le Wac Amber Ale, Rebel Rye, Buzzard Brown Ale.
- Hops are unique to the area where they are grown. The same recipe brewed with hops from different areas will taste different.
- Ruhlman’s father, Norman, started Creeping Creek Farm in 1970 for raising beef cattle.
- Rebel Rye, a special recipe for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, was designed to taste like a something that might have been available in Carroll County during the war using grain milled at Union Mills and water from Creeping Creek Farm.
- All of the ales are brewed with well water from the farm.
- Ruhlman’s brewery grows seven varieties of hops: Mt. Hood, Willamette, Centennial, Saaz, Fuggles, Nugget and Cascade.
- The hops are grown without the aid of any chemical treatment and only natural fertilizer.
- Ruhlman Brewery has the largest hop field in Maryland.
- Creeping Creek Farm is a 36-acre farm.
- Ruhlman enjoyed cooking as a youngster and considers his enjoyment with brewing an extension of that.
- The farm house on the property was built in 1890, but the foundation was built even earlier than that.
