For the four days I was in Baltimore in August, the temperature ranged somewhere from smoking hot to just inside the gates of Hell hot. And humid to boot… like, sweat through three shirts a day humid. Luckily, watching baseball games doesn’t require much exertion, and there’s a ready supply of beer nearby for hydration. Camden Yards, where I spent most of the trip, has a fairly reasonable lineup of craft beers from Maryland and beyond. For game one, the Numero Uno from Flying Dog, a Mexican lager, had a hint of spice and a touch of lime that seemed to help cut through the humidity and made for a very refreshing drink. Another standout from my four days at Camden Yards was the Steady Eddie (named after Orioles legend Eddie Murray) from Union Craft Brewing. This white IPA was delicious, and was an outstanding pairing with the crab waffle fries.

I didn’t do all my craft beer sampling at the ballpark – I really enjoyed the Monument City 51 Rye IPA from the air conditioned comfort of my hotel room. These reminded me of what has become one of my “house beers” in Saskatoon – Black Bridge Brewery’s Rye IPA (which is a very high compliment). My hotel fridge was broken, so these were kept cold old school in a trash can of ice kept in the bathtub. Not my first rodeo…

After the Sunday afternoon Orioles game, I stopped by the Pratt Street Ale House on my way back to the hotel. With a patio table in the shade, I ordered up a tasting flight of the beers the Oliver Brewing Company brews onsite. All were solid selections, but the best were the 206 IPA (almost a perfect “template” American IPA, hoppy, juicy, but balanced) and the Balls to the Wall (a slightly bitter, bracing pale ale).

In another beating the heat respite, I popped into Max’s Taphouse, consistently rated as one of the top craft beer bars in the city. At the ripe hour of 11:30am, I ordered up a five glass tasting flight of beers from Maryland. I got a bit lucky with my picks as they were all solid beers. The middle beer was the one that knocked my socks off – “One for the Thumb” from Key Brewing stole the show. A New England-style IPA, this was a first of this relatively new style for me, and might be my favourite beer style right now. This tasted of guava and mango, was creamy and unusual, and amazing.

I managed to squeeze one last craft beer bar into my visit just before heading to the last Orioles game of the trip. Alewife was my kind of bar – no pretension, what seemed like a mile of taps, a small but interesting menu, and a bar that was a hangout for all types. Of the bars I visited, this place was my favourite for ambiance. Nothing from this tasting flight blew my mind, but there was an interesting and unusual beer. Second from the left, a cucumber saison (just writing that makes me feel like a hipster) from Jailbreak Brewing was an odd mix of a summer beer and a spa drink that I liked more than I care to admit. The beer on the far right, Birdhouse Ale from The Brewer’s Art, was a British style pale ale and was the best of the bunch. It was initially brewed as a tribute to the Orioles, making it the perfect last beer in Baltimore and a great last taste before heading to Camden Yards for the first pitch for the final time on my trip.