PRESS RELEASE: As part of an ongoing Frederick's Original Ale Makers (FOAM) initiative to promote quality brewing in Frederick County, we are teaming with the Free State Homebrew Club Guild (FSHCG) to sponsor "A Taste of Frederick" on 2 Nov at 2 local breweries. "A Taste of Frederick" will provide homebrewers and beer lovers alike, the opportunity to sample and observe how quality beer is being brewed in the Frederick area. There is no charge for sponsored activities.

The afternoon starts out with a tour of the Frederick Brewing Company and samplings from Frederick's 17 beers on tap, with light snacks provided by FOAM. Rounding out the afternoon and into the evening is a tasting and tour of Brewer's Alley Brew Pub in downtown historic Frederick city. Although dining in Brewer's Alley is an expense not covered by FOAM or FSHCG, we highly recommend all attendees plan on eating at this excellent restaurant.

SCHEDULE:
1:30 pm Frederick Brewing Company opens Tap Room for General Tour & Event Participants (Open Tap & General Tours begin)

2:30 pm Bus from Baltimore arrives at Frederick Brewing ("A Taste of Frederick" begins officially with Open Taps, Briefing by Brewing Staff, & Special Tours)

5:00 pm Event transitions to Brewer's Alley brew pub.

5:30 pm Brewer's Alley Brewer and FOAM Member, Edgar Radonich, leads the tour of Brewer's Alley.

6:30 pm Time allotted for participants to purchase dinner and/or continue enjoying Award Winning Beers on tap.

8:30 pm Event officially concludes, Bus begins return trip to Baltimore

For our Baltimore area friends: A (tour) bus trip from Baltimore to Frederick Brewing Company, Brewer's Alley, and back is being made available for $10 per person. The bus will depart the Clipper City Brewing Co., 4615 Hollins Ferry Rd, Baltimore at 1:00 pm and arrive at Frederick Brewing around 2:30 pm. At 5:00 pm, the bus trip will proceed to Brewer's Alley brewpub in downtown Frederick. There will be plenty of time to sample beer and eat dinner at this award winning restaurant. The Bus will leave Frederick for Baltimore around 8:30 pm. Bus tickets are on sale now for $10. Tickets are limited to 40 people and only covers the cost of transportation.

While there are no tickets for the event itself, RSVP IS REQUESTED to facilitate planning of the activities and receive directions to the participating locations. To RSVP and (if desired) purchase Bus Tickets, contact either Chris Mattes at Maryland Homebrew, 410-290-FROTH; Les White at les@witzendmusic.com or 410-644-0633, or myself as early as possible.

BACKGROUND: We are Frederick's Original Ale Makers (FOAM) of Frederick, MD, a homebrew club for people interested in sharing ideas and techniques in the quest to brew the ultimate beer! We are Maryland's largest homebrew club, with 56 members from as far as Baltimore and Washington, D.C. We have informal monthly meetings that consist of information exchange, sharing of homebrew, and swapping stories, opinions, and tips on how to continually make your homebrew better. Many of our meetings include guests from craft breweries from both near and far. Several meetings have been held at local craft breweries and brew pubs, where tours and tastings are common place. Monthly club meetings are generally held at 7:00 PM on the first Monday of every month at The Flying Barrel homebrew supply shop (http://www.flyingbarrel.com/) and MD's first Brew-On-Premise (BOP) in downtown Frederick, MD (103 S. Carrol Street. 301-663-4491).

It has been said that "We are indeed a wacky eclectic bunch of good-natured folks with a common interest in making quality beer with our taste buds as the ultimate measure of our success."

The Free State Homebrew Club Guild is an association of clubs. Founded in 1998, it's mission is to promote cordial interaction between Maryland homebrew clubs and coordinate statewide events. The Guild holds multi-club events where people from different clubs can meet each other, exchange ideas, sample each others' brews and so forth. Through it's mailing list and website, the Guild also provides an excellent communication channel for each club to promote itself and it's events. According to the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), this is the first state-wide homebrewing "club of clubs" ever attempted.

All further information and updates will be posted on the FOAM web site http://alemakers.tripod.com and the FSHCG web site http://www.surf.to/fhg.

For immediate release, October 16, 2002.