Walk into Ministry of Brewing in Upper Fells Point and you’ll pass by an old wooden confessional, situated just under the towering pipes of an ecclesiastical organ, and into a vaulted, light-driven space where Corinthian columns rise above worn wooden pews. This is no longer a Catholic church, but a desanctified historical building—and a brewery.

So instead of communion, there are flights of craft beers. Specifically, house brews pulled from 32 taps located directly beneath the stations of the cross—the 14-step Christian prayer devotion. And in the risen space where the altar once was, and where generations of priests celebrated Mass, there are now nine massive steel vats for brewing beer, a metal-and-hose-and pipe configuration where, well, another kind of transfiguration once took place.

Ministry is not just a brewery, but a community space. They host book clubs and fairs, Ted Lasso trivia nights, Pilates, tarot clubs, open-mic nights, “Beer & Ballet,” flea markets, and book signings. They also provide a welcoming location for food trucks in the lot behind the building.

It’s one of the leading examples of what Baltimore’s historic churches, many of which have increasingly become vacant or outright abandoned, can transform into, as part of what’s called “adaptive reuse”—with a little creativity, some dedicated people, and, in this case, a lot of hops.

Until 2020, the Ministry of Brewing was St. Michael the Archangel, a Catholic church built in 1857 to serve Baltimore’s German immigrants, that had closed its doors in 2011. After years of declining attendance and the increasing need for expensive repairs, its parishioners were redirected to a church in Highlandtown while St. Michael, then owned by the Redemptorist religious order, looked for a buyer.

Once one of the largest Catholic churches in the country’s oldest diocese, St. Michael had been closed for six years before a group of partners—Jeff Hunt, Mike Powell, Ernst Valery, and David Wendell—bought it in 2017. Wendell and Vallery, friends since college together at Cornell, are now Ministry’s two managing partners. Valery is now a New York property developer, while Wendell is a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Cincinnati. The pair had been looking to buy a church for a few years before St. Michael became available.

“It was sort of like a neighborhood nuisance,” says Valery, who lived down the street from St. Michael when it was vacant. “Your car would absolutely be broken into next to the church.”

Because the Ministry group bought not only the church but the adjacent rectory and school, they were able to divide that space up into apartments (now called the Ministry Lofts) to help make the project more viable. It’s also particularly handy for their head brewer, Dave Macala—his proper title is Minister of Malt and Hops—who now lives conveniently next-door to his tanks.

By the time the brewery came to be, the church had been abandoned for years “and getting worse every day; it was bad,” says Macala, who heard tales of people squatting inside. Fortunately, the barrel ceilings and plasterwork on the central columns were still fairly intact, although most everything below that, including the exterior walls, was badly damaged.

When the Ministry folks bought the building, though, it had been desanctified as a condition of selling. “We’re very careful not to tread on anyone’s religion,” says Macala “We don’t make Jesus puns in the beer names.”

Instead, the pints are called things like Mind the Gap, an English ESB; Old Maude, a brown ale; and 7:54, a West Coast-style IPA named for the time permanently shown on the clock in the clocktower above the building. But, as the brewmaster concedes, pointing above the vats, “At the end of the day, there is a giant picture of Jesus up there.”

“Church is where people come together,” says Valery. “And a brewery is where people come together. It’s not heavy alcohol, so no one’s ever walking out piss-drunk from the place. I think it’s sort of like what church was meant to do. You could just sit there and be in awe of it,” he continues, referencing the vaulted ceilings and restored art. “And then just hang out and have a couple of beers.”

“One thing that we did with the space was preserve something that was nationally historic,” says Wendell, noting that the project took well over a year to accomplish, using state and federal historic tax credits. Having the building listed on the historic register dictated what they could do to repair and rebuild the space.

They had to keep the crosses above the stations of the cross, for example, which they had considered removing to make the place more welcoming for non-Christians. And then there was the relic. “They came from Rome to take the relic back,” says Wendell of the bone that was retrieved from St. Michael. (Relics are actual physical remains or effects of saints, martyrs, or venerated persons that are housed in churches, historically under altars.)

“The building was abandoned and there were people stealing marble out of it. The roof was caving in,” continues Wendell. “One of the things that’s really important to recognize is that we saved this building.”

“We’re all preservationists,” adds Valery, noting that the religious items that they didn’t have to keep were given to a church recycling business. They repurposed as much as they were able: The wood used for the brewpub’s tables, for example, came from both the rectory flooring and the former altar, which had to be removed to make room for the brew system. “We really did try and save everything we could.”

“We could have gone in a ton of different directions…like a bunch of fermenters along the wall,” says Macala. “But ultimately we decided to center everything: It’s impressive to walk in the front door.”

Though none of the three men are particularly religious, Wendell says his parents are, and they have no issues with their son’s project. “I was explaining this to my mom, who invested in this. I just said, ‘Well, you know Jesus turned water into wine; we’re just turning water into beer.’”

It’s also worth noting that not only have churches been closing at a steady rate, but breweries have, too. The Brewer’s Art, the beloved Mt. Vernon brewpub, closed its doors in February after more than three decades in business. And two miles east from Ministry, the Brewer’s Hill neighborhood—once home to so many breweries that it was named for them—is down to only Mobtown Brewing Company.

“‘…JESUS TURNED WATER INTO WINE; WE’RE JUST TURNING WATER INTO BEER.’”

Baltimore has long been home to a remarkable number of churches, many historic, many gorgeous, and many now in poor repair and often vacant. Maryland was founded in part as a place for Catholics to worship freely, but church attendance has declined over the years, so much so that in 2024, the Archdiocese of Baltimore notified area Catholics of its intention to shutter 31 parishes effective that year, with the 61 remaining parishes to be merged into 30 area sites.

“It certainly is not what the church was built for,” Father T. Austin Murphy, pastor of Christ the King Church in Glen Burnie, told the Catholic Review in 2020, on the brewpub’s opening. “And certainly, it’s not what the church had served over the hundred-some-odd years that it was operational. But also, what were they going to do with the building?”

It’s a question many others have tried to answer over the years, often coming up with creative solutions. St. Stanislaus Church in Fells Point became Sanctuary Body, a fitness and bodywork facility, in 2012, twelve years after the Catholic parish permanently closed. St. Elizabeth of Hungary church in Patterson Park, which closed in 2024, merging its congregation with Canton’s St. Casimir church, was recently bought by Patterson Park Public School, which is next door and needing to expand.

Many other churches have been converted into condos or lofts, but those kinds of rebuilds tend to keep the exterior of the buildings intact, but completely modernize and rebuild the interiors, removing most of the ecclesiastical structure, identifying features, and art.

And then there is Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church, the sublimely beautiful church across the street from the Washington Monument and the Peabody, which, after a long time in limbo, was finally bought by the neighborhood-based nonprofit UNITE Mt. Vernon.

Built in 1872 with locally-sourced green serpentine stone and designed by Thomas Dixon in the Norman Gothic style of Paris’ Notre-Dame cathedral, the church—unlike most others being sold and reconfigured—is still being used by its parishioners. But it’s also now being used for something more than basement AA meetings and food banks—functions that are essential but don’t tend to keep the lights on.

The Ivy Bookshop has held popular holiday pop-ups in the church, with bookshelves in the pews and lines of books stacked like velvet museum ropes across off-limit staircases.

“I really admire the Ministry of Brewing project,” says Emma Snyder, owner of The Ivy, and also a UNITE board member, “because it’s like a historical preservation project. It preserved the space, but it also retained it as an accessible place that invites in all sorts of community uses.”

“I REALLY ADMIRE MINISTRY OF BREWING…IT’S LIKE A HISTORICAL PRESERVATION PROJECT.”

This is one of the central tenants of what Ministry, Mt. Vernon, and others are trying to do with their versions of adaptive reuse: recreate, albeit in a secular fashion, the community spaces that churches have historically been.

“It speaks to the lineage and the history of what churches were,” says Snyder, “which is like infrastructure for the human spirit, and to the degree congregations have dwindled, it’s meant that we’ve lost these civic spaces at the heart of our neighborhoods that weren’t one thing; they were everything.”

There are still some stained-glass windows at Ministry, in the back, behind the organ pipes, but there are also Ministry and state of Maryland and Orioles flags where there were once liturgical banners. If this all can seem a bit heretical, it’s perhaps worth noting that brewing beer has been a timeworn vocation for monks, the craft often helping to sustain monasteries and produce revenue. And there is still a palpable kind of reverence, if you look for it, in the care of the building, the attention paid to its history, even the lock on the confessional doors.

“People had some strong feelings about it,” says Megan Elcrat, of Present Company, the Baltimore-based architecture firm that did Ministry’s renovation. “Some people were like, you shouldn’t put something in a church.”

Like a brewery. “Think about when beer was basically how people hydrated, and that families would brew their own beer to drink,” says Elcrat, whose firm first learned about the Ministry property when it was deconsecrated. One of the challenges of transitioning St. Michael into a brewery was architectural. But it turns out, a lot of churches get turned into breweries, says Elcrat, and the firm went on road trips to look at them.

“All beautiful, all different, like a real range. But what became evident immediately was that they were all brewing it in a different physical part of the building,” says Elcrat. “Every other brewery was using the basement, parish hall, offsite facility, shed. We had to not only fit the actual brewing into the sanctuary building, but we also had to do it in a way that was historically appropriate.”

And not only historically appropriate, but aesthetically on point—or on tap, if you will. Ministry hosts its neighborhood events (crab food trucks, live music, art classes) nearly every day. And this year, they’ve brought a stall to the Baltimore Farmers Market and Bazaar, the largest farmers market in Maryland, selling beer and offering tastings and conversation.

“We really did want to make a statement about Baltimore, you know, being a nice place,” says Valery. “We wanted to say something positive about the city.”

In other words, he wanted a space that represented the city he sees—which is strikingly different from Baltimore’s national reputation—that has a vibrant arts scene, great neighbors, and an appreciation for beauty. Because there are few things as glorious as lifting a pint of ale made only a few feet away from a carved wooden pew, with St. Paul looking down from above, a long wooden table peopled with neighbors playing cards, folks bringing bags of Trinidadian food down the stairs from a new food truck.

If only the organ worked again.

COMING SOON

Ministry of Brewing: Over the summer, we gave you a sneak peek at this new beer destination that has taken shape inside St. Michael’s Church in Upper Fells Point. Though locals were keeping their fingers crossed that the brewery would officially open last weekend, final inspections were still underway. But, to give antsy beer lovers a first taste at their signature brews, Ministry has taken over three taps at Canton’s Hudson Street Stackhouse with its “Wispy” hazy pale ale, “The Point” Czech pilsner, and “Old Maude” English brown ale. As for the actual space, the team is eager to open as soon as all the loose ends are tied up—which could be any day now.

Ekiben: The rumors are true. This week, Ekiben owners Steve Chu and Ephrem Abebe gave fans of their famous steamed bun sandwiches an early holiday present by confirming what the local food scene has been speculating for weeks now. Come early 2020, the Fells Point favorite will open a second eatery on the Avenue in Hampden. In a video posted to Instagram, the owners officially announced the new location that is reportedly taking over the former TigerStyle space in the alley behind Avenue Kitchen and Bar. The beloved Asian-fusion concept, which got its start at the Fells Point farmers’ market in 2014, has made a name for itself in the local dining scene—and beyond—for its staples like the Thai chicken meatballs, Taiwanese curry fried chicken, tofu nuggets in spicy peanut sauce, and tempura broccoli. Here’s hoping all of the signature dishes, and Ekiben’s frequent food collaborations, will carry over in the new space.

Neo Pizza: Signage recently spotted above the former AJ’s Deli stall at Mount Vernon Marketplace indicates that this Maryland pizza chain—which has locations in Bel Air and Annapolis—will be opening in the space in the coming months. Neo Pizza specializes in wood-fired pies, craft beer, and worldly wines. Its current locations also offer smaller plates like meatballs and fried calamari, as well as salads, burgers, and club sandwiches. The communal market, which highlights everything from dumplings and charcuterie to Indian bowls and Greek fare, hasn’t seen a pizza spot since Cocina Al Volo closed earlier this year.

CH-CH CHANGES

Sorrento of Arbutus: For more than 50 years, this neighborhood haunt has been the place to go for a quality slice in Arbutus. Owner Ella Kostinsky recently took to Facebook to announce that, although the restaurant will be sticking around for generations to come, she is planning to retire and pass the torch. “Change is inevitable and important in order to grow, and bring innovation within our community,” Kostinsky wrote. “I am excited to begin the next chapter in my life, and just as excited for the next chapter of Sorrentos.” In her message, she thanks longtime customers for their support, and assures that the new owner—who has more than 40 years of experience in the food business—will be preserving the spot’s name and secret pizza recipe. “I feel confident the new owner will grow the restaurant,” she said. “and that it will become even bigger and better.”

EPICUREAN EVENTS

12/28: Battle of the Birdland Wing Festival

Back in its fourth year, this celebration of all things wings is taking over Delia Foley’s in Federal Hill this weekend. The price of admission includes two drink tickets, a bottomless wing buffet, live music, and cash bar specials from 12-4 p.m. But the main events are the wing-eating contests—the first of which will be a race to see who can demolish 30 wings in the shortest span of time. The following “Hellhound Challenge,” which unsurprisingly requires a waiver, will crown the first eater who finishes 10 flaming-hot wings in a sauce that clocks in at a base of 9 million Scolvill units—which are used to measure pungency.

2/23-25: The Charmery Presents Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

We know, we know—February feels like a lifetime away. But The Charmery’s full-sensory movie showings tend to sell out quickly, so this is one to have on your radar early. The ice cream factory at Union Collective has previously hosted screenings of films including The Princess Bride and Elf with accompanying themed treats, and now it’s transforming into a Hogwarts-themed wonderland. See the first movie in the Harry Potter franchise like you’ve never experienced it before with a self-served popcorn bar, special punch, and other treats that correlate with scenes in the movie. $30

Something’s brewing (literally) inside St. Michael’s Church in Fells Point.

This fall, Ministry of Brewing will open to the public inside the 19th-century landmark, located on the northeast corner of Lombard and South Wolfe streets. The brewery aims to bring a classic rotation of beers and a unique gathering spot to the neighborhood.

General manager Jon Holley predicts the novel idea of a church brewery is unlike anything neighbors will likely expect, especially when they step inside the church and look up toward the vast barrel vault ceiling.

“When I came on board, I was like, ‘Oh, a church brewery—that’s cool,’” he says. “But then walking in here I think my jaw dropped. There’s nothing really like this anywhere. We just want to have a good atmosphere, good food, good beer, and good people.”

Built in 1857, the church was designed by Baltimore architect Louis Long in the style of early Romanesque Revival. It served the “significant waves of German Catholic immigrants that settled in East Baltimore during the mid-19th century and the Redemptorists who took charge of these German Catholics as part of their mission here in Baltimore,” according to National Register of Historic Places.

It became the oldest continuously operating Redemptorist Catholic church in Baltimore. After most recently serving Hispanic parishioners, St. Michael’s closed in 2011. It was abandoned until Ministry of Brewing partners—Jeff Hunt, Michael Powell, Ernst Valery and David Wendell—bought the building in 2017, with a deal closing in 2018.

The church first caught the eye of Valery, a real estate developer. As more partners became involved, a brewery felt like the right fit for the church’s next life. Hunt—who also opened MadTree Brewing in Cincinnati, Ohio—says that turning the building into a 250-seat brewery has been a “unique undertaking.”

Beer hall–style tables are made from wood reclaimed from the church, with the brewery’s logo burned into the center of each. Food will be available, and Holley says to expect pub fare such as baskets of flavored popcorn, burgers and flatbreads.

A large bar, around 40 feet long, will soon be covered with a crushed oyster shell concrete bar top. The bar will initially serve classic beer styles—all made by Ministry of Brewing—such as a fruit-forward IPA, a pilsner, and a sour. Head brewer Dave Macala will use a 20-barrel system, with the equipment fittingly perched on the altar.

“He’s excited to do some pretty unique things with beer,” Holley says. “We’re going to get pretty nerdy with it.” Holley adds that the beers will be available draft only to start, and self-distribution plans around town are in the works.

Along with the beer hall tables replacing where rows of pews once were, patrons will find a lounge underneath the choir loft with low tables, cozy love seats, and couches. A platform with stairs, which is closer to the altar on the right-hand side, will lead out to a small outdoor courtyard with additional tables.

The partners are preserving as much as they can to honor the church’s history. A number of specialized sub-contractors are working to restore the grand columns and one of the saint murals on the ceiling, as well as lightening the interior paint. The Stations of the Cross are also being touched up and will be filled with acoustical material to mitigate noise levels.

Holley says when the partners first got into the building, the stained glass was gone and only eight pews remained. They’re currently refurbishing the leftover pews to use as booths around some of the tables. Wendell says vandalism was apparent, but patrons will see a completely different sight come early fall.

Church breweries are not particularly new, but still rare. In 2017, the Associated Press reported that since 2011, at least 10 breweries opened inside old churches in the US, with four more slated to open the following year. One of the closest church breweries to Baltimore is the renowned The Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which opened in 1996 inside what was formerly known as St. John the Baptist.

Often the goal with church breweries is to create a “wow” factor and revitalize a historic piece of property that’s been left to dust and decay.

“Neighbors come in here and say, ‘My parents got married in this church,’” Holley says. “It’s so cool to be a part of it and hear all the stories.”

He says that Ministry of Brewing hopes to offer tours to curious patrons who want to learn more about St. Michael’s history.

Adds Hunt: “We want to preserve the place and be respectful of what it was, but at the same time, transform it.”