Help me identify this beer that's been haunting me.

March 29, 2016 1:23 PM

Help me identify this beer that's been haunting me. I once drank it at the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore. I want it again.

Every couple of months, I keep thinking of a beer that I once had. I remember it because a) it was delicious and b) it was the first craft beer that I had my brother taste and he actually liked. Here's what I remember:

- I drank it on 8/12/2014
- I drank it at Hard Rock Cafe in the Inner Harbor. I know that doesn't sound like somewhere you'd get good beer but
- The bartender told me it was local
- It was a brown ale.

For a while, I thought it was Resurrection from the Brewer's Art. But that's an amber, not a brown. My brother thinks the name of the brewery or the beer had something to do with a dog, but I think he's misremembering.

I know this is vague and maybe unanswerable, but if anyone knows, it's the Internet! Help me identify and drink this beer again!

posted by moviehawk to Food & Drink (24 answers total)

Flying Dog is a local Baltimore craft brewery, if that helps narrow it down.
posted by corvine at 1:26 PM on March 29, 2016

Response by poster: corvine, thanks. I'm familiar with Flying Dog. I've had Raging Bitch, Doggie Style and Dead Rise. All tasty. But I'm not convinced that their brown ale (Counter Culture) is what I drank.
posted by moviehawk at 1:28 PM on March 29, 2016

This seems to be their brown ale.
posted by corvine at 1:29 PM on March 29, 2016

Dogfish head?
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:30 PM on March 29, 2016

Oops, cross-posted. But this list does seem to confirm they have FD on tap at the HRC there, even if it doesn't quite go back far enough.
posted by corvine at 1:30 PM on March 29, 2016

Have you tried contacting a manager at that particular Hard Rock? They might have purchase orders they can track back a few years.
posted by Fig at 1:31 PM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Heavy Seas would be local and has a brown.

https://untappd.com/b/heavy-seas-beer-desert-island-series-brown-ale/1437766
posted by advicepig at 1:32 PM on March 29, 2016

OK, maybe not, that was a limited release that was after your trip.
posted by advicepig at 1:33 PM on March 29, 2016

Response by poster: Lutoslawski, definitely not Dogfish Head. I've had enough of their beers to know when I'm drinking one. But thanks! I'm gonna go find some Raison d'Etre now.
posted by moviehawk at 1:35 PM on March 29, 2016

Response by poster: corvine, I'm gonna stop at Total Wine on my way through Maryland this weekend and pick up a six pack of both those FD beers and check back in. If they aren't what I drank, they're still beer!
posted by moviehawk at 1:36 PM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Another dog-related local brewery name is DuClaw. Their Euforia, maybe?
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:38 PM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

If you log into Untappd and search for the Baltimore HRC you can scroll back and view people's checkins around that time. The most likely candidate seems to be the Brawler by Yards Brewing, but they are from Philly. Untappd says it's an English Mild but compares it to a couple of browns.
posted by corvine at 1:39 PM on March 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

I've had Brawler, and if people were checking in to it then, that may well be it - it's very, very close to a brown ale (especially to a bartender who either doesn't care about the distinction between an English Mild and a brown ale, or who doesn't want to explain it to a patron who has heard of the latter but not the former). It's also a fabulous beer; everything Yards puts out is wonderful.

Not local, though.
posted by Itaxpica at 1:49 PM on March 29, 2016

Augh, I just realised that's an American date and I needed to be looking at August, not December! but there are a couple of checkins for the Brawler in mid July, so I'm still putting my money on that.
posted by corvine at 2:03 PM on March 29, 2016

Not local to Baltimore, but maybe Smuttynose's Old Brown Dog?
posted by ferret branca at 2:03 PM on March 29, 2016

Response by poster: It's not Brawler. I'm a Philly guy and have had my share of that tasty beverage.

LobsterMitten, Euphoria REALLY rings a bell for me. I'm gonna try to pick up some of that on my next trip through Maryland (which is Saturday, as it happens) and also a six of Flying Dog and see if either tickles the taste bud memory.
posted by moviehawk at 2:15 PM on March 29, 2016

What did your brother say was the name of it?
posted by AugustWest at 3:38 PM on March 29, 2016

Wouldn't be local to Baltimore, but throwing Avery Brewing Ellie's Brown Ale into the mix given the mention of Brown Ale/Dog.
posted by Jego at 7:10 PM on March 29, 2016

Look at Union Craft Brewery. Very popular Baltimore brewer that's expanded really quickly. I could see Hard Rock carrying them. Not sure which beer of their's to suggest.
posted by postel's law at 8:19 PM on March 29, 2016

Pub Dog Brewing is local to Baltimore, has a number of brown ales, is carried in a couple of chain restaurants, and most of the beers also have dog in the name (Brown Dog, Dirty Dog, etc).
posted by sephira at 7:34 AM on March 30, 2016

You keep mentioning that you will be picking up bottles of beer at a store, but was the beer that you drank on tap? My favorite beer tastes completely different in bottles, in cans, and on tap.
Is that possibly why you can't find the exact same flavor?
posted by CathyG at 12:20 PM on March 30, 2016

Response by poster: CathyG, the issue isn't taste but that I flat out couldn't remember the name, so I haven't revisited ANY Baltimore-adjacent beer since then. Hoping further research yields positive results.
posted by moviehawk at 6:59 PM on March 30, 2016

My work computer has neither java nor QuickTime so I can't zoom in the images, but it looks like if you can, you can see here a picture of their taps that was on their website on August 3, 2014 (though of course that doesn't mean that's when the photo was taken....)
posted by solotoro at 6:24 AM on April 1, 2016

Response by poster: UPDATE: picked up six packs of both Brewer's Art Resurrection and DuClaw Euforia on my last trip through Maryland and drank one of each tonight. I am pretty convinced that what I had that night was Euforia. The chocolatey notes hammered it home for me. Strangely, though, I prefer Resurrection of the two. Great beer. Thanks for all the help!
posted by moviehawk at 6:30 PM on April 11, 2016 [2 favorites]