Yesterday I got a chance to meet with Justin Cunningham and Charles Bisland, the entrepreneurs behind Barhopolis (known locally as BarsBaltimore.com). Barhopolis is a website, Facebook app, and iPhone app that compiles all of the bars in a specific area, with daily updates of current specials and events going on at each of them. Essentially, it combines the power of Yelp and local event listings so you're never without something to do. What makes Barhopolis uniqe is that the information about specials and events is provided by the bars themselves and updated daily (at 3 a.m.) to keep it fresh.

Annapolis natives Cunningham and Bisland came up with the idea for Barhopolis when they were over in Europe and wanted to be more informed about the bars around them. The conept is that locals and tourists alike can use Barhopolis to see what bars are around them, how they've been reviewed by others, and what the specific specials and events are. The site also allows users to join "VIP text clubs," where they can receive exclusive specials at bars. Cunningham and Bisland are also looking into suggesting bars in other cities based on bars you like here in Baltimore. Currently, Barhopolis serves the Baltimore, Annapolis, D.C., Ocean City, Pittsburgh, and Raleigh areas.

It's a pretty genius idea, as it provides users with the most informed and up-to-date bar hopping experience possible. While 20 percent of their users are tourists, Cunningham and Bisland explained that their main focus is to cater to locals. By giving locals all this information at their fingertips, they hope to provide the best nightlife experience possible. "We're not trying to make every Tuesday night New Year's Eve," Bisland said. "We're just trying to point out the local gems, and make every event they put on a little bit better."

I spent this past weekend in Bethany Beach watching close friends of mine tie the knot (congrats!). Before that, though, I got a chance to take a tour of the Dogfish Head brewery in Milton, Delaware—about half-an-hour from Rehoboth and 45 minutes from Bethany. I've always loved Dogfish Head beer for its bold flavors and creative, avant-garde marketing (Johnny Cask might be the best beer name ever), so I was anxious to get a peek at the brewery.

We made our reservations in advance, but, tickets are free and include a tour of the craft brewery, as well as four samples of beer at the end. The tour started out in the brewhouse where our guide gave us a mini-history of the company. Founder Sam Calagione opened the Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth Beach in June 1995 when he was just 25 years old. What started out as a 12-gallon brewery system in Rehoboth is now a 100,000-square-foot operation in a converted cannery in Milton, as well as the Rehoboth restaurant and distillery. Dogfish Head now distributes to 25 states and is the 16th best selling craft brewer in America.

The tour then moved into the cellar, where much of the aging beer is stored. This room contained massive tanks, including handmade wooden ones, used to age various beers, such as the intensely dark 12-percent Paraguayan Palo Santo (akin to a darker Guinness). Our guide talked about the key to fresh ingredients—and even passed around some hops for us to smell and keep if we wanted. He also explained that Dogfish Head beers are "continually hopped," giving it its ultra-bitter taste. For example, 60 Minute IPA is made with 60 hops additions over a 60-minute boil. 

At the conclusion of the tour, we're led to the bar/gift shop to sample some brews. The first of the four was, not surprisingly, Punkin, Dogfish Head's take on a pumpkin ale. Punkin is a spicy, full-bodied beer with hints of brown sugar and cinnamon—perfect for fall. We then sampled my favorite of the four, Pangaea. This was a spicy, ginger-flavored ale with, apparently, ingredients from every continent (I'm a little skeptical on the water from Antarctica).

Then we tried Olde School Barleywine, which is a whopping 15-percent ABV (remember this is all free!) This is a well-aged, bold beer with accents of dates and figs. The last sample was the aforementioned Palo Santo, a very bold, dark ale with earthy wooden flavors (probably due to the casks it's aged in). After you're good and buzzed, they let you loose in the gift shop to buy various memorabilia (beer-scented soap, anyone?). It's an unabashed, genius strategy, I must say. 

Overall, the Dogfish Head tour was fun, educational, and and an absolute steal. It feels good to support local-ish brewpubs that put thought and care into the ales they're making. Also, check out Heavy Seas and Flying Dog's tours if you want to stay closer to home. Cheers!

[Images: courtesy of me and dogfish.com]

In the October issue of the magazine, I wrote a brief profile on local rock band J. Roddy Walston and The Business. Though they've been selling out local clubs for years, the band released its first national album this summer and is currently gaining ground on a nationwide tour. I got a chance to talk to lead singer and piano player J. Roddy Walston and drummer Steve Colmus about their recent success.

Why did you make the transition from Tennessee to Baltimore back in 2004. What were some of the biggest culture shocks?

J. Roddy: The band had started to travel around some and we knew we wanted to get out of the small town we were living in. We played some in Baltimore, played the Talking Head, and always had a good time. Also, my wife sings opera and, when she was looking at conservatories, Peabody was on her list. The whole thing was pretty shocking at first. We were living in Mt. Vernon, right downtown. I’d grown up in a town that wasn’t at all dangerous and none of my friends ever had anything stolen. But, not all the shocks were bad. There is a lot more diversity and different kinds of restaurants here. Baltimore is very, very cool. It’s got an artistic vibe, but it’s not too heavy, so I connected with that. It’s both a blue collar and an artistic city.

And Baltimore seemed to embrace you back.

J. Roddy: There were some people who immediately liked our band. But, I feel like we gained every fan by hard work. There wasn’t, like, a big breaking point where we opened for a bigger band and suddenly the city knew about us. We got out there and hustled a lot, handed out flyers. Before the last record came out, we burned a lot of CDs and gave out free stuff. It was maybe about two years ago, in the middle of us starting to tour a ton, when people in other cities started to take notice. I would say the first moment was when we played the G-Spot about two years ago and the show before that wasn’t as attended as I would have hoped, so I thought Baltimore was going to stop caring about us. But then that show doubled in attendance. You get a little bit of press, some people see you, and you get messages from people. All the sudden, one night, everything kind of converges.

Steve: We were stuck there for a while because rock wasn’t happening in Baltimore and the crowd built slowly for a while. Something changed a couple years ago and the crowd started getting bigger and better. Pretty much every show we’ve had at The Ottobar has been sold out for the past couple years. I think Wham City kind of indirectly benefited us because it got people excited about local music. People got more fired up about going to shows. Rolling Stone giving Baltimore “Best Scene” gave us tailwind.

Most bands coming out of Baltimore these days do seem to be experimental, electronic, dance, etc. It’s refreshing to have a rock band put us on the map.

J. Roddy: We’re aware that we’re different than a lot of the bands doing well in Baltimore now. We were doing our thing before they all got famous. Dan Deacon was playing The Talking Head the same week as us. It wasn’t like we were fed up with artsy stuff and had to do something different. I’m surprised that [experimental music] is what took off in Baltimore. That was always kind of something that was happening on the side. But there are still so many good rock bands here. I didn’t realize that Baltimore was suddenly tacked as an artsy music city until we were touring. It became easier for us to book because we were from Baltimore. What I thought was more of a hard working, blue collar place turned out to have a completely opposite ethos. All the sudden we’re finding out in other cities, Baltimore is becoming the Mecca of these other things. But, we’re just kind of doing our thing.

Steve: I’m from Pasadena, so I grew up going to the old Ottobar on Davis Street, and I knew Baltimore for some of the D.C. hardcore bands like Fugazi. I think part of it is that a lot of the experimental bands are transplants, so maybe it’s not a direct lineage. Since Liars Academy went away, there hasn’t been much of a rock presence in Baltimore. In terms of new bands playing rock, when we try to find a local rock band to open for us, it can be tough. It would be good to get people thinking about rock again.

What has it been like to release your first national album?

J. Roddy: Before, the only way somebody bought our CD would be at our show. It’s kind of cool rolling into cities where people have already bought the record. People have been singing the words to every song at shows, which brings it up to a whole new level. Even doing this interview is a little bit different. We’ve always been really good about touring and being a band, but all the media stuff is one of the biggest differences. We did produce a record that we’re proud of. It’s been cool to sort of see this thing that we’ve been working on so hard for many years take a life of its own.

Steve: I think we kind of feel like anything is possible. There are bands all the time that put out really great records that don’t go anywhere. But I think with Vagrant and the team that we have, we have a nice sort of apparatus behind it. We’ll know more in six months if we’ll get any traction. I’ve been playing in bands since I was 15 and this is the first time I think it’s conceivable we’ll be in a different place a year from now. You need to take a step back and see how much has changed. I think we’ve learned to keep kind of a level head.

You’re known for your energetic stage shows. How did you translate that to your album?

J Roddy: We went out and recorded in a really nice studio in L.A. We sort of hit this wall, like, the record’s great, but the live show is completely different. The tendency would be to overproduce, try to make this big record. But really we just tried to play these songs well and record them that way. We tried to make the songs strong enough to stand on their own without a bunch of fancy tricks. We recorded in a simple way in a really live, organic room so there’s less chance for things to be wild and crazy. It sounds like you’re in a room with us playing.

Steve: That was actually really difficult. We tried a bunch of different approaches: playing in different studios, playing live in studio, playing together, and playing separate. We didn’t obsess over takes as much. It was like pretty much every take that’s on the album was from the first three takes. All of us were kind of feeling the pressure of the first record. There were moments where it’s not really comfortable, which almost kind of translates the nerves of being on stage. You can tell it’s not, “Let’s do 100 takes and pick the very best one.” We kind of went for a rough-and-tumble approach.

Most rock bands these days overlook the piano—it almost seems old school to use one. What is it that’s drawn you to the instrument?

J Roddy: I grew up around the piano. My grandmother was always playing it. All the houses I spent time in had pianos. I think there was a point when I was younger when I was listening to new and old bands and I stopped listening to bands that only had guitar, bass, and drums. I wanted something other than that. For a while, I got more into keyboards, but as I started writing faster-paced and pound-it-out kind of songs, I realized there’s no keyboard that sounds good doing that. So, piano was it. I do write on and play guitar, but I kind of felt like there was more room to do whatever I wanted on piano because there weren’t that many people doing that in rock bands. Not a lot of the rules have been written. I just kind of beat the crap out of the thing and after the show people are like, “You’re such a great piano player.”

Because today is 9/9, the folks at Cruzan Rum are promoting their new Cruzan No. 9 Spiced Rum in their nine biggest markets, one of which happens to be Baltimore. We may be a smaller city, but, apparently, we're mighty.

Cruzan's national brand ambassador, Stephanie Mills, explained to me that the new rum (released in July) is filled with several spices, including vanilla, nutmeg, ginger cloves, and juniper berries. Mills suggests to drink the rum neat or use it to make holiday drinks and ciders.

There will be rum tastings and games at, you guessed it, nine bars around town: Stalking Horse, Bourbon Street, Broadneck Grill, Cat's Eye Pub, Howl at the Moon, Marli's Dockside Grill & Crab House, Red Eye's Dock Bar, Sea Horse Inn, and West End Grill. The events last from 9-11 p.m. tonight. Mills will be at Stalking Horse to discuss the new product.