(Feb. 13, 2015) Opened on July 2, Assawoman Bay Brewing Co. qualifies as one of the youngest craft breweries on the Eastern Shore.

Age often having no bearing on success, the fledgling company quickly established itself in the region, putting out nearly a dozen beers in a short time and taking home top honors in a national competition.

Located in the 45th Street Village, Brewmaster Jason Weissberg said the concept of the brewery was “in the plans of the ownership of 45th street for many years.”

The first equipment orders for the facility were made roughly two years ago, with Weissberg coming on board last April.

A former home brewer, Weissberg turned pro in 1999 after attending the American Brewer’s Guild in Davis, Calif.

“I worked as an assistant brewer in Colorado for a couple of years and then used those experiences to move around the country and brew on different sizes and different types of breweries, making different types of beer,” he said.

Weissberg landed in Rehoboth, where he became the general manager of Dogfish Head Brewings and Eats, one of the largest and highly regarded craft beer companies in the world.

“After a while I decided it was time for me to return to strictly brewing,” he said. “The timing of me leaving Dogfish and this position opening up was almost perfect. It worked out really well.”

Dogfish Head is known for big, bold flavors and daring concepts, including adapting ingredients unearthed in a 2,700-year-old tomb.

Weissberg, on the other hand, leans a little more on the traditional side of brewing.

“My brewing style would be best described as a healthy respect for traditional brewing styles with a little bit of personality and my own twist on it,” he said.

Assawoman’s debut beer, the 5.25 percent ABV/20 IBU Bayside Blonde pale ale released last summer, balances light malt notes with a refreshing hop bitterness.

“It was really the first beer brewed on this system, a test batch just to see how the system worked,” Weissberg said. “When commissioning a new brewery you have a lot of variables and unknowns. You don’t know what your efficiency is going to be, you don’t know the hop character and what kind of reaction you’re going to get from that and the fermenters and using your water for the first time and how that reacts with your grains.”

Weissberg said the light, no-frills pale ale, helped him determine how his flavors would show through in the new system.

“You don’t want to disguise a lot of things,” he said. “You don’t want to throw too many ingredients into your first batch. You just want to learn how your system works and then you can start adding more and doing more things with it.

Today the brewery offers 10 different styles of beer on tap, ranging from the original brew to the increased spice character of the Bryant’s Folley Belgian Pale, the American-style Isle of Wight Wheat, the malty Angry Clown Brown, the Commodore Decatur’s Black Ale, featuring a roasted malt character on the front of tasting, the German-style Oktoberfest MD marzen and the award-winning Transporter, named the top porter in the winter United States Beer Tasting Championship earlier this year.

“We received two regional awards for the porter and the marzen, and the porter went on to the national round and won the national grand champion for the porter division,” he said. “It’s very exciting for a new brewery to get some really good response. I don’t think the purpose of doing this is to get the awards, but it’s nice to see where your beers measure up to all the other great craft breweries that are out there.”

For now, the tasting room is open for tours and tastings by appointment. Weissberg expects the brewery to keep regular hours during the summer.

Assawoman beers are also available at the 45th Street Tap House, 9th Street Tap House and OC Steamers.

“We’re also hoping to start distributing and getting placement,” Weissberg said. “I would certainly encourage everyone to stop by the brewery, and when you’re out and about at your favorite craft bars to ask for our beers.”

Weissberg said the brewery is also looking into bottling or canning options.

“We’re looking for this spring and summer to be a good kind of breakout year for us,” he said. “We had a really good introduction of our product last summer and now the word is starting to get out about what we’re doing.”

The current crop of 10 beers is likely to become the core lineup, according to Weissberg, although he promised to continue adding new flavors in the future.

“With a 15-barrel system, we’ll continue to grow here,” he said. “With the new year, we’re just trying to bring more great craft beer out on the shore and attract as many people to not just our brewery and tasting room, but the other craft beer bars that we love and continue to support as well.

(Jan. 30, 2015) Assawoman Bay Brewing Co. in Ocean City on Monday held the second installment of the ongoing “Beer Talk & Tasting” series that aims to promote the area as a craft beer tourism destination.

Put together by ShoreCraftBeer.com, the event included representatives from eight local breweries, as well as a number of hotel and restaurant owners eager to learn more about the burgeoning craft beer industry.

Organizer Ann Hillyer from OceanCity.com said more than 90 people registered to attend the quarterly event.

“We have 17 [breweries] on the shore and eight within a half an hour of Ocean City,” Hillyer said. “There’s really, really world-class beer being produced.”

Along with the talk, guests had the chance to sample one beer from each participating brewer, including Assawoman’s Trans Porter, which recreantly won national and regional competitions.

“There are a lot of award-winning beers here,” Hillyer said. “There are many, many beers to be proud of, so we’re thrilled.”

During the last fiscal quarter, Hillyer said ShoreCraftBeer spoke with the Brewer’s Association of Maryland about opportunities in cross promotion.

“I think what we’re doing here is more organized and coordinated at this moment than what’s happening in the other areas of Maryland, so I think we’re going to help them and they’re going to help us,” she said. “There are going to be some really good opportunities surrounding these efforts.”

Hillyer said fellow OceanCity.com editor Anthony Towey is working with brewers to create a training program for area restaurant employees designed to help them educate their customers on the subtleties of craft beer.

“If we want to be a craft beer destination, we need to make sure that everybody is educated,” Hillyer said. “The Brewer’s Association of Maryland has told me that if this is successful here and we are able to do the education that we want to do so that anybody who walks into any bar or restaurant will understand the products that we have to offer, they are going to make that a certificate program across the state of Maryland.

“That’s really exciting, and it gets our name out even more,” Hillyer continued.

The group is also putting a brewery tour brochure together, offering advertising opportunities for brewers.

“We want 100 percent participation from brewers,” Hillyer said. “The more advertisers we get in here the farther we can distribute it. The more money we get for distribution, we’re going to target our efforts toward your clients and your demographic.”

Liz Walk, from the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association, touted a new beer festival currently in the planning stages in cooperation with the Maryland Brewer’s Association.

Walk said the group is targeting Oct. 24, with tie-ins to restaurant week and OCtoberfest.

Towey addressed “first experiences” with craft beer.

If that all-important first taste goes badly, Towey said, “that might turn them off from the whole craft beer world.”

“Craft beer is as diverse in flavors and styles as fine wine,” Towey said. “There’s literally something for every single person’s taste and every single situation. Understanding styles and characteristics will help you make a more informed choice when you’re purchasing for your customers.”

All beer, Towey said, is not created equally.

“Not every beer is fizzy and yellow and mass-produced,” he said. “The different styles come from different brewing techniques [and] they come from different ingredients.”

Certain beers work better with certain foods or in certain situations, Towey said.

“You may not want to drink a heavy dark beer … in July when you’re sitting on the beach, when a lighter, more refreshing beer might be more ideal for you,” he said. “Conversely, on a day like today, when it’s cold and rainy out, maybe you do want a heavy kind of beer like that.”

Jason Weissberg, brewmaster at Assawoman, briefed the crowd on the brewing process while volunteers passed out tasting samples.

“We are all here for the reason of promoting and supporting craft beer on the shore,” Weissberg said. “It’s truly a great environment to be brewing in.”

The next beer talk is planned for late April or early May.