E-Malt.com News article: USA, MD: Ocean City Brewing Co. already open to public

Maryland native Mark Fesche landed a dream job in Ocean City, Maryland, by responding to a want ad on a brewer’s website.

Now it’s his job to dream up more than a dozen new flavors of ales, lagers and porters for an eager seaside audience of craft beer lovers – including his new boss, Delaware Online reported on July 5.

Fesche, 45, originally from Westminster, Maryland, left a brewing gig in North Carolina to join Ocean City Brewing Co. owner Josh Shores. The brew pub held its grand opening July 1.

“He has a lot of confidence in me, and I appreciate it,” Fesche said. “I think any brewer in the country would be really excited for someone to say, ‘Here – make all these beers,’ It’s just knocking them all off, one by one.”

The pub’s 50-foot-long wooden bar has two dozen taps, and “I’m pretty sure he wants to fill each one,” Fesche added. “I take it as a challenge.”

The 17,400-square-foot facility at 55th Street is the former home of The Adkins Co. hardware store and lumberyard. They have a 10-year lease on the property, where they’ll employ about 75 people during the summer season.

Up front, it’s a restaurant and bar, serving American pub food, from gourmet burgers to flatbread pizzas to handmade egg rolls. The main dining room, filled with 15-foot-long wooden tables, is evocative of a German-style beer hall. In back, it’s a full brewery with a private tasting room off to the side. Nine beers are now on tap, with three more to come soon.

One of those is a watermelon wheat beer, named Alrighty Then, made with actual watermelon – 45 of them, in fact, weighing about 10 pounds each. They’re pureed and dumped into the brew kettle, Fesche said.

Most other local brewing operations have started very small, and used secondhand or borrowed equipment to get off the ground.

Not here. They have six gleaming stainless steel, 30-barrel fermenters and two 60-barrel fermenters. And that’s just their first wave of tanks.

Shores said the reason for all-new equipment is to ensure that beer quality would always be consistent. Brewmaster Fesche said he’s excited to be working with brand-new equipment in a brand-new facility.

“Really state-of-the-art electronics. Just a first class brewing system,” Fesche said.

Two vats are dedicated to production of their Route 50 Pale Ale, which Shores said is gaining in popularity. He plans to add more tanks to the brewhouse as they expand operations in the future.


09 July, 2014