Ministry of Brewing – Travel Review

This week we have something a little different and with a guest reviewer – Lauren. You may remember her previous appearance in our NC beer of the week post for “Hoptimist” back in November. However, this time we have traveled to Baltimore, MD for a family vacation and made a few stops to try out some local brews. One of these stops was at Ministry of Brewing, a unique brewery set in the former St. Michael’s church. As you can see in the photos, the brew house was situated in the front of the church atop the pulpit, serving up a sermon in brewing.

The brewery’s unique location fosters community gathering and the founders of the brewery are devoted to providing learning and education, especially to the under-served communities. They have created summer courses that teach lab skills to high school seniors from the City of Baltimore to help aide them in future jobs in research or industry where molecular biology skills are needed. These great causes made us even more eager to see what the brewery had to offer.

For the review, Lauren and I picked two different beers, “Esmeralda” and “9.9 Problems.” These two beers cross the spectrum of styles with “Esmeralda” being a sour berliner weisse and “9.9 Problems” being an imperial stout. First up… Lauren’s review.

Lauren’s Beer:

“9.9 Problems”
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.9%

This week marks a week long vacation with our families in Baltimore Maryland.  This served to be a nice in between spot for both families within driving distance. Our adventures touring the city started officially Sunday morning with a self-guided walking tour around Patterson Park and through some of the city. It was during our hot walking adventure that we were looking for a nice place to seek refuge inside and to quench our thirsts with a nice cool beverage.  We set our sights on “Ministry of Brewing” to satisfy all of our needs. 

Being located in a former church, Ministry of Brewing provides such a beautiful venue and atmosphere to try some refreshing beverages.  Having 13 different beers on tap made it difficult to choose just one and I decided to start with a glass of the hazy IPA “Slow Motion” while Joe started with a flight.  After I had finally cooled down and finished my first beer, it came time to choose a beer to review and I settled on “9.9 Problems” which is one of my favorite styles, an imperial stout.  I’m assuming this beer was aptly named after its 9.9% ABV and it was the typical dark color. The beer was served in a plastic cup which seems to be the general standard now for most breweries. There was minimal head that dissipated fairly quickly even before the first photo was snapped.  

On the nose the beer had sweet chocolate notes with hints of banana that took me back to one of my favorite state fair treats of chocolate covered bananas. On the first sip I knew this was a beer that wasn’t going to stick around in my cup for long.  While most people tend to get turned off by the dark appearance of a stout I would highly recommend them to look past the exterior and give this beer a chance. The smoothness of “9.9 Problems” and roasty chocolate flavor profile make this a very easy drinker and while it weighs in at 9.9% ABV, the beer does not taste boozy and could likely get someone into trouble if they were to have more than a few at a time.  While we didn’t enjoy these beers with any food pairings I think I would pair this as an after dinner dessert either by itself or along side a nice slice of pound cake. 

Joe’s Beer

“Esmeralda”
Style: Sour Berliner Weisse
ABV: 5%

I tasted this beer from a plastic pint while sitting at a table surrounded by chairs and a church pew for seating. It was a hazy straw yellow brew with a thin foamy head that persisted throughout the tasting as a bubbly white layer on the beer.

The aroma of the beer was acidic, fruity, and a touch malty. It reminded me of a gose or similar sour style. There were some yeast characteristics in the form of fruity banana, but these were somewhat subdued by the sharp acidic fragrances coming from the beer.

Mouthfeel of “Esmeralda” was tart and refreshing. It had a mouth puckering level of acidity that was welcome after the long hot walk we took to get to the brewery. The beer was light in body and the tartness of the brew left the palate somewhat dry feeling after drinking.

The taste of “Esmeralda” was enjoyable and featured acidic tartness up front, followed by some fruity yeast and sweet malt characters. The balance of the beer was definitely skewed toward the sour side but it was not overwhelmingly sour and made the beer even more refreshing. On retronasal olfaction/tasting, the sweet bready/wheat flavors of the beer became more prominent as the acidity subsided.

Drinkability of this beer is decent on a hot summer day and the only limitation is the puckering tartness that you get with each sip. I certainly had no problem getting it down however, and would happily drink it again. Overall, I was glad to have been able to visit the brewery and try several of their wide style offerings.