New Brews

While locally brewed craft beer has surged to tsunami-like proportions nationwide, not every part of Maryland was catching the wave.

Until recently, for instance, Anne Arundel County, the state’s fourth-most populous, was home to exactly zero independent breweries. (Elsewhere in the state, the Brewers Association of Maryland counts nearly 70.)

That changed in February with the opening in Odenton of Crooked Crab Brewing Co., founded by a trio of 2009 Maryland grads. It’s the latest Terp alumni-owned brewery to open in Maryland and arguably the first one in the county. (Chesepiooc Real Ale opened in Crofton around the same time.)

The brewery serves a range of easy-drinking ales in a tasting room stocked with board games and other accouterments designed to encourage fun with friends and family rather than heavy drinking—it’s not a bar, the partners stress. 

From the brewery’s name to its signature “I Fought the Claw” IPA, there are overt references to the state’s history and economy.

“We’re proud University of Maryland graduates,” says Earl Holman (top right), who opened the brewery with Alex Josephs (top center) and Daniel Messeca (top left). “We want it to be clear we’re a Maryland brewery all the way.”

Josephs and Messeca knew each other growing up in Montgomery County and met Holman as freshman while they all lived in Easton Hall. Several years after graduation, they were at a Rockville independent brewery discussing their shared love of fine beer and homebrewing when the idea of opening their own brewing operation hit them.

“It took 2½ years from that initial tipsy conversation for this to become reality,” Josephs said from behind the bar at Crooked Crab on a recent weekend. “At first, I’d ask Dan what the chances we’d actually do this thing were, and he’d say 10 percent. Then it was 30 percent. And at some point we knew it was actually happening.”


Terp-owned Maryland Breweries:

Black Flag Brewing Co.
9315 Snowden River Parkway, Columbia
blackflagbrewingco.com

Crooked Crab Brewing Co.
8251 Telegraph Road, Suite E, Odenton
crookedcrabbrewing.com

Diamondback Brewing Co.
1215 E. Fort Ave., Baltimore
diamondbackbeer.com

Falling Branch Brewery
825 Highland Road, Street
fallingbranchbeer.com

Milkhouse Brewery at Stillpoint Farm
8253 Dollyhyde Road, Mount Airy
milkhousebrewery.com

Rockwell Brewery
880 N. East St. Suite 201, Frederick
rockwellbrewery.com 

Red Shedman Farm Brewery and Hop Yard
13601 Glissans Mill Road, Mount Airy
redshedman.com

Union Craft Brewing
1700 Union Ave., Baltimore
unioncraftbrewing.com

7 Locks Brewing
12227 Wilkins Ave., Rockville
7locksbrewing.com