Kosher Food and Drink

Union Craft Brewing is a Baltimore-born-and-based brewery founded in the fall of 2011.

Union quickly outgrew their quarters, moving their production plant and tap room up the road to a 148,000 square foot former Sears warehouse that now houses the “Union Collective” of small, local manufacturers. Anyone from Baltimore knows the spot on the side of the JFX. Its painted mural walls draw the attention immediately.

I love supporting local small businesses. Though Union is not so small anymore, of course, like any jerkish indie music fan will stubbornly point out: “I was into them before you.”

Baltimore has a storied history of breweries, Jewish owned-ones too, and Union proudly invested in our beloved, beleaguered Charm City of Baltimore. Union was founded by lifelong friends Adam Benesch, Kevin Blodger and Jon Zerivitz and has proudly invested in Baltimore.

Union’s first beer was “Duckpin Ale,” which now accounts for about half of all production, but my attention is always drawn to the IPA. I’m a fan of citrus, bitter, hoppy in droves.

Tasting notes:

Orange-gold in the glass and hazy. Several “beer floaties” or coagulated protein apparent. No surprise for this IPA canned in 2019 I found in my wine cellar. (Isn’t it cool it’s still nice?) Fading off-white head. Minimal lacing. The dank nose is tropical fruit (mango), citrus, malt, pine. On the palate, mild to medium carbonation (imagine it’s lost a touch in a few years), medium residual bitterness (in a great way). Malty with medium fruit character. Long citrus finish. Nice.

$12 (6-pack), 6.5% ABV, IBU 50 (this is the “bitterness quotient” on a scale of 1-120)