Burley Oak Brewery

gillagorilla

Maryland

4.8/5  rDev +5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $

If you're in Ocean City or nearby, you have to head here. They send out kegs to various bars on the Eastern Shore, but very few around Baltimore. So, if you are in MD you can usually try their "flagships" or year-round beers at Max's.

A: It is a very quaint place that has a small, gravel parking lot. They have a nice rectangular space complete with foosball table. I can't recall any tvs there, but that is not a bad thing. The bar is located against the wall with a glass window into the brewing area. Also, to the left of the bar they sell shirts, hats, glassware, stickers and glassware.

Q: The beers are all fresh and made right behind the bar with a lot of local ingredients. Their IPAs are top notch and they aren't afraid to experiment or try new styles. Their casks are always full of weird things.

S: It is a small place, so service is easy to get and very fast. Also, the head brewer (and helpers) are almost always on hand to talk and chit chat, but may be in the back brewing, which you can see through the glass behind the bar.

S: I got a full flight at $5.50 for 3 5 oz. pours (and $1.84 for single samples), with 9 beers on tap. All pints were $6 with one being $5 (the kolsch). There was room for 12 beers on the board and it looked like at least 1 had just kicked.

The tour is only on Saturdays and Sundays at 3. It is quite short and informal, but it is very informative and you can bring a pint with you. Bryan, the head brewer is very passionate about brewing and a very down to Earth guy that loves talking about his brews, especially the new and weird ones. Great guy.

p.s. I wish I had known about their homemade root beer. They don't serve food (outside of mini bags of pretzels you can buy), but you can bring your own.

05-17-2013 20:13:20 | More by gillagorilla

tommyguz

Pennsylvania

4.64/5  rDev +1.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

From Visit on 12/31/12
(copied from my blog post)

The owner of Burley Oak, Bryan, was at the brewery pouring beers and talking with whoever wanted to talk. He seems like a really nice guy and someone who is passionate about beer and the local community. We were also fortunate enough to have him give us a little tour (which is usually only on Saturdays but there were a lot of people there (including our group of 24). What a treat. We got to go into the back room and he explained their whole brewing process and a little bit about the brewery and its short history.

The building has a nice size bar in the front with enough room to sit and enjoy live music (which they have pretty often) and as your sitting at the bar you can look into the back and see the brew kettles and fermentors. Their production is small. Bryan told us that what they do in a year is something that Dogfish head can do in a day and a half. They make a handful of different beers and they even craft their own root beer (they were out of it this time around, unfortunately). I was also able to pick up their second bottled beer, Lower Class Barleywine.

Overall it was a great visit to Burley Oak, again. Excellent beer, with a lot of selection and a good time. During the week they seem to have a lot of different things going on like live music, vinyl record night, etc. It is a shame I don't live close to them anymore.

If you ever travel to OCMD, take a few minutes away from your tube at Seacrets and make it a point to get over to Burley Oak to have a few beers and chat with Bryan.

05-07-2013 14:21:18 | More by tommyguz

Big_J22

Maryland

5/5  rDev +9.4%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

This is my favorite place in the world besides M&T Bank Stadium. It is such a relaxing place and it feels like you are just drinking over your buddies house. I definitely recommend stopping by and if you do feel free to buy me a beer on the pay it forward board!

02-15-2013 02:39:26 | More by Big_J22

akorsak

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev -12.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Last year, we left two days before Burley Oak opened; I'm not missing it this time around.

Atmosphere: Just outside OCMD, Berlin has a quaint small-town feel. Burley Oak is not in the historical district; rather, it is right beside the local paper (the Dispatch). Gravel driveway, restored beer barrel from Croppers out front. Inside, a long bar, a few scattered tables and foosball. A large glass window behind the bar reveals the brewing room.

Quality: Greeted immediately, even with two munchkins in tow, by Bill. We chatted with him and a few locals wetting their whistles on this Monday morning. Plusses all around. The foosball especially.

Service: As I said, Bill introduced himself straight away and our drinking companions were affable. Bill even ran back to ask the brewers a question about the Free Labor saison.

Selection: 8 or so beers on tap, the only one missing was the peach seasonal. I sampled through most all of them - the Assawoman Amber especially pungent with a rich cascade nose. I also had the Hugs & Nugs, Free Labor Saison, Rude Boy (an imperial red that seemed more barleywine than not), and Barreled (a brown ale that, in the future, will be barreled). The beers were all good and the root beer was fantastic. I plan to bring a growler of the soda back with me.

Food: Slices of pizza are advertised, beyond that nothing. I recommend bringing something in.

08-21-2012 01:53:56 | More by akorsak

duceswild

Maryland

4.61/5  rDev +0.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $

Visited this place on a trip to Ocean City, MD. Randomly found out about it from a post on the forums which I'm glad I read.

This is a very quaint place. Seating is available at a good sized bar and various tables and couches throughout. They had 12 taps plus 1 nitro when I was there offering pretty much all of their beers.

Prices are reasonable $5 or $6 for each pint but they have samplers which are $5 for 3 5oz pours. I went the sampler route and tried a number of beers.

Merchandise for sale includes shirts, hats, glassware, stickers, and growlers.

Make sure your try their craft root beer if it's available. It was so delicious.

Also they do not serve food, but you are welcome to bring you own. I will definitely be coming back.

04-29-2012 21:01:53 | More by duceswild

Naugled

New York

4.38/5  rDev -4.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I found this place while golfing in Ocean City. It's located in a quaint old town of Berlin. It was a welcome find because the area doesn't really have any brewpubs around. They don't serve food but the beers were impressive. They had quite a variety on tap, I believe there was 10 when I was there. Sometimes that is not a good thing, but these guys have it together. I sampled all available and the only one that struck me as poor quality was an English PA that tasted like it might be getting old. To my surprise, the next day when we returned to give it second chance, the English PA had kicked. They also had a dry stout on nitro and and IPA in cask I believe.

It was a friendly little place with many locals visiting. Many customers brought their dogs with them as well.

I'll be going back next time I'm down there. For a beer drinker it's a must visit place IMO.

04-04-2012 14:47:22 | More by Naugled