Calvert Brewing Company

I credit my trip to Calvert Brewing Company to the groupon that my boyfriend purchased for us, which included a beer flight or pint, two glasses, and a 64oz growler of a beer of our choice. Needless to say, I was really excited to come here — my parents have visited Running Hare (the vineyard in which the beer garden is located) and said it was one of the most beautiful locations, and they had pretty decent wine. My expectations were pretty high.
The location is as gorgeous as I had expected, if not more — rolling hills and a gorgeous tasting area. The beer garden was composed of a little bar pavilion with neighboring seating. It was really nice.
Unfortunately, my expectations in terms of quality of beer were not met. They currently only offer four types of beer — a cream ale, a rye (?) which is kind of reminiscent of a wheat, a pale ale, and an IPA. No big bold dark beers here. The first two beers were not very flavorful and were INCREDIBLY light. The IPA smelled like cat pee and didn’t really have any hoppy flavor at all, which is what I expect out of a good IPA. The pale ale was the only one that was stomachable. I admit I am somewhat of a beer snob, but the fact that ALL FOUR of their beers are relatively light is just kind of dull. I was hoping for a nice stout, or even a brown ale. But no. Now we have a growler of beer that we don’t even love. The glasses they gave us were snifters, though, which is pretty darn cool. Additionally, the service really wasn’t great. When we went back for our growler and glasses, the guy working the bar saw us and passed over us three times to serve people that had just walked up, and only paid attention to us when I called «excuse me?» as he walked away. Ugh.
If you are looking for a really unique variety of beers, this is not going to be the place to go. If you like Pilsner type beers or cream ales that are really light, you might enjoy this place and their selection — everyone has their thing! Otherwise, stick with the Running Hare wine. I didn’t get a chance to try it, but I imagine it’s better than the beer. The location is really beautiful, and they have a little brick oven pizza tent that makes delicious (albeit a bit overpriced!) margherita pizza!