This Pharmacy on a Quiet Corner in Dundalk is a Whiskey-Lover’s Best-Kept Secret

From the moment you walk through the automatic doors at Dundalk’s Drug City, it’s clear this is not your average pharmacy. Sure, it has endless aisles of medical and beauty products, like every CVS or Walgreens. But there’s also an on-site liquor store, featuring a front display of bourbon bottles and, in old-school style, a soda fountain, selling everything from deli sandwiches to ice-cream floats to something unexpected: house-made, old-fashioned craft cocktails.

Slowly but surely, a theme emerges, with the pièce de résistance found through a door in the back left corner. There, a staircase leads to a dimly lit hallway that seemingly dead-ends at a stately bookcase. But here, Drug City owner George Fotis pushes an inconspicuous black button that reveals a hidden room beyond it.

“It really doesn’t have an official name,” says Fotis, 50, walking into the pharmacy’s second-floor speakeasy—a sort of sumptuous Bat Cave equipped with leather armchairs, rustic wooden tables, and a bust of Shakespeare. “It’s more of a community than a club.”

The Drug City speakeasy, as we’ll call it, might be North Point Road’s best-kept secret—a local whiskey club that happens to be known by aficionados around the world. There’s no cost to join and anyone can patronize it, with one main caveat: The room only fits 40 people. So its monthly events—first-come, first-served, and announced via the GroupMe app—typically sell out quickly.

“We’ve had whiskey royalty here—the top people in the industry,” says Fotis, who started at Drug City as a cashier in 1996, before becoming a pharmacist in 2000, and taking over the business in 2016. It was around this time that the Greektown native first got interested in liquor. With the rise of the craft cocktail movement, brown spirits were experiencing a boom across the United States.

“IT’S MORE OF A COMMUNITY THAN A CLUB.”

Here in Baltimore, a Scotch-loving friend suggested that Fotis meet the moment by enhancing the pharmacy’s liquor store offerings. Soon enough, he became a fan himself, partnering with other enthusiasts to form the Maryland Bourbon Society group on Facebook, and, with a “tavern license,” it wasn’t long before Drug City was slinging drinks itself.

Today, it not only carries a wide variety of bottles in its liquor store, from the local Sagamore Spirit to the well-known Maker’s Mark to world-renowned labels like W.L. Weller, Willett, and Pappy Van Winkle, but also pours hard-to-find bourbons at The Fountain. For brown-spirit aficionados, says Fotis, pictured above, “We are now a destination store.”

(For the uninitiated, whiskey is an umbrella term for a liquor distilled from fermented grain, whereas bourbon and rye are types of whiskeys—one made from majority corn, and majority rye, respectively, typically made in Ireland or America. The latter has deep roots in Maryland, with Baltimore being an epicenter of its production well into the 20th century. Meanwhile, whisky, spelled with no “e,” hails from Scotland, Japan, or Canada.)

Of course, Drug City’s hype is due in large part to the upstairs club, which Fotis runs with his friend Justin Jarvis, who owns Allview Liquors in Howard County. Not only do they draw devoted drinkers, but also the master distillers behind many of those beloved brands, who often pop in to host talks and tastings on their way through the Mid-Atlantic. These events are what set Drug City apart from other well-stocked bars in Baltimore, with each special guest offering historical anecdotes and insights into how spirits are made today.

“This is what makes us different—we share the stories with people, and that’s something special,” says Fotis.

And for those just passing through, there’s always a pour at The Fountain for reasonable prices. For him, that’s half the fun—allowing the public to try rarities they might not otherwise be able to find, let alone afford.

“I like giving people that opportunity,” says Fotis. “I get a customer for life.”