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Winter: Though they technically debuted in late 2014, Monument City Brewing’s 51 Rye was our go-to beer of the year. This 6.5-percent IPA has a ton of grapefruit and orange hops on the nose, but has a taste that’s immediately balanced with the spice of dominant rye malt. We especially enjoyed it on draft—with those beautiful Mark Supik-made tap handles—for a fuller, thick mouthfeel.

Another thing we were excited about at the very beginning of the year was NY Distilling’s Rock & Rye, a bottled cocktail that blends rye whiskey and rock-candy sugar with sour cherries, cinnamon and citrus. The distillery’s founder, Allen Katz, is a Baltimore native and held his launch party at Rye in Fells Point. Of course, you can sip the 32-percent spirit neat or add it to a cocktail, like Rye’s Melvale Sour.

In February, Charm City Meadworks opened its doors for tastings and tours, introducing us the to wonderful world of mead. The drinks—basically a combination of fermented honey, water, and yeast—are available in draft, bottle, and now canned form throughout Baltimore. Our favorite during the chillier time of year is Retire by the Fire, which drinks like a craft beer at 6.9-percent ABV, and has notes of cocoa nibs, vanilla, and cloves.

Spring: The warmer temperatures brought with them the opening of Pane e Vino in late March. From the same owners, and adjacent to, Cafe Gia in Little Italy, the intimate bar holds about 25 people or so and has a witty cocktail menu. There are Negroni and limoncello cocktails like you’d expect, but we were most impressed with Redheads Have More Fun, a blend of tequila, fresh blood orange, ginger liqueur, and lime juice that was tart and bold.

We’ve spent a few different nights at the Horseshoe Casino this year (some we’ve written about and others we probably shouldn’t), but one of the top moments has to be drinking tequila with Johnny Sánchez owners John Besh and Aarón Sánchez to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. We got quite the education inside the tequila tasting room, but our favorite drink will always be the restaurant’s Jalapeño Margarita, made with roasted jalapeño and agave nectar.

In early June, the much anticipated mezcaleria Clavel opened, just down the street from its owner’s original bar W.C. Harlan. With stunning, bright decor, this place was an instant favorite. We crowned its Santa Sandia cocktail our favorite of the year, with a Mezcales de Leyenda spirit from Durango, Mexico, watermelon juice, serrano peppers, lemon, agave nectar, basil, and a chili-salt rim. The mezcal itself is full of citrus and lighter on smoke, and the peppers and rim pack a fiery punch—transporting us right to the desert. Apparently, we had a very tequila-filled spring. No complaints here!

Summer: We’ve espoused the virtues of Four Season’s boozy popsicles before, and this season they took it to another level for Wit & Wisdom’s Shake It, Shuck It, Smoke It happy hour on the waterfront patio. Former bar manager Aaron Joseph crafted these creations Flavor Ice-style, freezing them in liquid nitrogen and putting them in plastic packets. Our favorite was the honeydew-rum combination.

We were so sad when the restaurant space at the American Visionary Art Museum sat vacant after the closing of Mr. Rain’s Fun House in 2014. But we were delighted when it came back to brilliant, colorful life with the opening of Encantada in July. Not only are the art and decor vibrant, but there are whimsical cocktails to match, like the color-changing Cheshire Cat with gin, cucumber-lemongrass syrup, mint, lime, fizzy water, and magic cabbage ice.

Fall: We love a sour beer as much as the next person, but even we had to admit that Union’s Old Pro Gose was just too cloyingly tart for us. This is why it’s brilliant that the brewery added sweet syrups to its recipe—available at the taproom, during Baltimore Beer Week dinners, and then finally, in the fall, in cans. Our favorite variety was the addition of organic blackberry syrup, which cut the sour flavor just right with its bittersweet notes.

We also have to give a shoutout to the team at Bookmaker’s Cocktail Club, who has continued to do amazing things all year with house-made ingredients and cocktails on tap. Our favorite drink from the past couple of months has been the Zeppelin homage of What Is & What Should Never Be with Maison Rouge Cognac, Smith & Cross Rum, cinnamon, crème de peche, fresh lemon, and a beautifully crafted, huge cube of ice in the middle. Doesn’t get much more autumnal than that.

Cheers to a happy (and boozy) 2016!

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“What was on the market at the time was pretty terrible,” he says. “It was mostly novelty products that were cloyingly sweet. Almost immediately, I started making something better.”

Fast-forward a few years and Boicourt, along with partner Andrew Geffken, have launched Charm City Meadworks. The products are created out of a facility near Curtis Bay and the honey is sourced just up the road from Dutch Gold in Lancaster, PA. To date, the company has seven different products and, starting tonight, is opening up its facility for tours and tastings.

Boicourt explains that mead-making is a “cold process,” similar to wine. Basically, they mix honey, water, and yeast, allowing that to ferment in tanks for a couple months, and then aged in barrels for an additional three months.

Charm City’s mead products are divided into two categories: stills and drafts. The still line has a higher ABV and is fairly dry, like a white wine. That category contains flavors like the original, rosemary, and cinnamon. The draft meads are carbonated and have an ABV around 6.9, more like a cider or craft beer. A current popular draft is Retire by the Fire with cocoa nibs, vanilla, and cloves.

“Our biggest push is to show people that mead can be an exciting stand-alone drink,” Boicourt says. “That being said, they are versatile and you can mix them in cocktails.”

In fact, a few bars around town already have Charm City Meadworks on draft or have incorporated it into cocktails, like Pen & Quill, Fork & Wrench, Liam Flynn’s Ale House, and Rocket to Venus. The product is also available to purchase at various liquor stores and on site and its facility, where tours and tastings begin tonight from 5-9 p.m.

Additionally, Charm City Meadworks is planning upcoming events (including a special mead night at Rocket to Venus on February 26), returning to the Fells Point Farmers’ Market, and adding more products to its roster—all in the hopes of changing people’s perceptions about mead.

“Mead was the earliest fermented beverage, so there is that association with ancient cultures.” he says. “But we’re excited to get people down here and get it in their hands. The product is what we rely on to change people’s impressions about mead.”

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