Sitting at the monochromatic Taps Fill Station, we can’t help but think we’ve sidled up to the bar of the future.

Taps is located inside Mt. Vernon Marketplace (520 Park Ave., 484-998-8277), all concrete, exposed ceilings, and floor-to-ceiling windows. In true sharing-economy fashion, any dish from the market—oysters, dumplings, or charcuterie—can be brought over from a neighboring stall to nibble on while you drink. And, as the name suggests, all of Taps’s products are available in draft form, including beer, cider, mead, nitro cold-brew coffee, wine, and even olive oil.

Another very au courant aspect of Taps? Owner Will Glass conceived of it as a zero-waste business, so it actually encourages you to stop by to fill up your growler for takeout. But, on a bustling Saturday night, we weren’t budging from our barstools. Taps’s red-and-white bar features bulbous lights spelling out “taste,” “order,” and “relax.” And so we obliged.

We ordered a beer flight, or four 4-ounce pours for $8. (Flights of wine, cider, and mead are available as well in more manageable 2-ounce portions.) On our visit, all of the beer selections available hailed from Pennsylvania, though the region rotates each month. Even so, we managed to find variety in a Victory Prima Pils and a full-bodied Sly Fox red ale—both brewed 40 miles outside of Philly, as well as a Tröegs Java Head stout from Hershey and a Gunpowder Falls Export Hell lager from New Freedom.

We appreciated that the flight was served on a wooden tasting board that clearly labeled each libation with a gold wax pencil. (A few sips might otherwise have us forgetting.) Each sample was noticeably crisp and fresh, but the standout was the Sly Fox red ale made with mulling spices like ginger, clove, allspice, and nutmeg. It was coziness in a glass.

Between the bar’s unique business model, variety of spirits, and helpful yet laid-back service, the future certainly seems bright.

Coffee desert no more, Baltimore is blessed with many a caffeine oasis. We regularly indulge in the creamy cortado steamed at Johnny’s and the deep-mug satisfaction poured at Atwater’s. Here we highlight a few cups that stand out for their sheer audacity. Take a slug:

Rusty’s Sea Salt Massaged Ka’u
Spro, the tiny Hampden coffeehouse that serves up big flavor and long waits, now lists a cup that is also remarkably expensive. The $15 ka’u, brewed in a vac pot straight out of chemistry class, relies on beans that have been salt-rubbed during fermentation. Spro’s crib notes suggest it gives off “notes of pineapple, cherry and grape that lingers with a tannic, cabernet sauvignon type finish.” Our early morning taste buds didn’t catch all that, but we did savor the smooth sipping, salt-tinged taste, and whiff of the sea. It’s like waking up on the beach.

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Siphon Brewed
At Starbucks’ spacious new lounge in the Inner Harbor, you can order a $10 siphon-brewed cup that calls for seven minutes of preparation on a halogen-powered burner, 90 seconds of steeping and precisely four stirs. Our cup, brewed from 22 grams of Tanzania kimuli reserve beans, drew a crowd and delivered a gulp that was very hot and very light-bodied. Also light on flavor. On the upside, you don’t get that nasty post-coffee throat coat.

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Nitro Cold-Brew
We loved Tesfa Coffee, a sweet spot in Ridgely’s Delight that served drinks, sandwiches, and job training to youth aging out of foster care, until it sadly closed its doors last month. One of our favorite menu items was its nitro, which was cold-brewed for 24 hours, stored in a keg, and infused with nitrogen. The glass pint of brew looked more like a beer: cold, pale, and topped with a foamy head. Though Tesfa is closed, Taps Fill Station at the new Mt. Vernon Marketplace takes up the cause of nitro brew. A 10-ounce glass of Ceremony nitro cold brew is $3.50 or take home a 32-ounce growler for $12.50.

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Spike-ee-ato
At Artifact, where the crowd is hip and the coffee is hot, you can down the Spike-ee-ato. A shot of espresso in one demitasse, a shot topped with foam in another. The one-two punch, named for chef/owner Spike Gjerde, is sure to spike your day with its chocolate-rich intensity. A mere $3.50.

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Kopi Luwak
The Asian palm civet is a squirrel-style tree-dweller with a reputation as a picky eater. Up all night, it sniffs out the ripest coffee berries, downs them, and then—let’s say—expels them. Cleaned, roasted, and brewed, kopi luwak delivers what Zeke’s roastery manager Ryan Schmidt calls “an excellent, smooth cup.” Zeke’s Coffee hosted a tasting of the rare brew in January at $10 a slug. It may again next year—provided it can find ethically sourced beans. Apparently since the coffee became famous, entrepreneurs have been capturing and caging the civets. Zeke’s insists on the real deal: hand picked from the jungle floor in Indonesia. “The last thing we want to do is upset anybody or hurt any civet weasels,” says Schmidt. News of a tasting will be posted on Zeke’s site in December.