8.3 🍺 above average
The two-faced Roman god Janus could see the past and the future simultaneously. Craft brewer Sapwood Cellars allows customers to experience the same full spectrum of brewing history, from the earliest wild-fermented sour ales to tomorrow’s cutting-edge experiments in hop biotransformation. Co-founder Michael Tonsmeire, the bearded one, is the expert on beer souring and barrel aging; in fact, he wrote the definitive book on the subject (American Sour Beers: Innovative Techniques for Mixed Fermentations), published by the Brewers Association. Partner Scott Janish, the mostly clean-shaven one, is Sapwood’s maestro of extracting maximal flavors from hops; and he too wrote a book about it (The New IPA: A Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor). This duality of purpose is expressed in Sapwood’s logo: half hop cone and half acorn (signifying the oak barrels used for aging). But as Tonsmeire told Jack Perdue of Mid-Atlantic Brew News in 2021, “Sours are fun, but IPAs pay the bills.”
Tonsmeire and Janish met through the DC Homebrewers club in 2014. By that time, Tonsmiere, an economist at the Labor Department, had already established his brewing bona fides through his ground-breaking blog, “The Mad Fermentationist” (begun in 2007), his work with San Diego’s once-iconic Modern Times Beer (2012–2013), and the publication of American Sour Beers (2014). Janish, who worked on Capitol Hill, immediately caught Tonsmeire’s attention with his competition-winning IPAs and an experimental approach that mirrored Tonsmeire’s own persistent curiosity. Their original plan was to open a barrel house, where they would barrel-age wort, and continue their day jobs. But then they learned of a brewing venture in Columbia, MD, that had just fallen through. The facility was already nearly built out with a taproom and a bar. “Too good to be true,” remembers Janish. They purchased a brewhouse and some tanks, signed a lease, quit their day jobs, and opened Sapwood Cellars in September 2018.
Joe Stange, executive editor of Craft Beer & Brewing magazine, has described Sapwood as an “R&D brewery with a taproom.” Indeed, few craft breweries demonstrate such a daily commitment to systematic experimentation and continual exploration. For most large batches, the brewers will draw off portions of wort into half-barrel Spike fermenters to test different yeast strains, fermentation temperatures, hop combinations, and other variables against the main batch. As a result, Sapwood beers are constantly evolving. They brewed 800 different ones in their first five years.
Tonsmeire brings an economist’s zeal for spreadsheet analysis to brewing operations, exhorting the brewing team to meticulously record variations, measurements, and sensory observations from every batch. Janish draws his inspiration from scientific research on technical aspects of brewing that can be translated into more consistent and better-tasting beer. For example, Sapwood has long championed mash hopping, a popular technique in the 1970s and 80s for producing a smoother finish. Recent research, however, has shown that adding hops into the mash helps release more tropical-flavored thiols into the beer, as well as reduce metals like iron that easily oxidize and reduce shelf life. Mash hopping helps keep the beer “as bright as possible, for as long as possible,” Janish told Brad Smith on a recent (Jan. 9, 2025) BeerSmith podcast.
When I last visited the brewery in the summer of 2025, I found Tonsmeire setting up a social media post comparing the haze character from three popular hops. The Simcoe-brewed beer, The Loud Parts Quiet, showed a light haze; the Galaxy-hopped Beam of Light was considerably cloudier; and Aurora of Light, hopped with Motueka, was noticeably turbid. How many breweries bother to do that kind of stuff? As Sapwood approaches its 7th anniversary, that sense of experimentation and exploration is as fresh as it was on day one.
A big part of Sapwood’s success is the ability to stay small and still flourish. At their present size, they are not beholden to retailers, distributors, or demanding production schedules—allowing them to focus on the taproom experience. “I want people to come visit us here,” Tonsmeire says. [Drinking at a brewery’s taphouse is] “where I always feel like I get the full expression of any brewery.” Customers agree. Social media surveys consistently rank Sapwood as the best taphouse in the state of Maryland.
With 24 taps, Sapwood can offer something for everyone and still focus on what they do best: hop-forward beers. “I think our pale ales are some of the better pale ales I’ve ever had,” Tonsmiere told Craft Beer & Brewing. “That’s partly because we’re not worried about margins on those beers because we’re selling [them] out of the tasting room.”
The three pale ales (5.4–5.7% ABV) I tried were all amazing: a special fresh-hop version of the all-Citra Rings of Light, what the brewery calls “the purest expression of Sapwood hoppy beer”; a sessionable version of Snip Snap, their definitive hazy Citra/Galaxy DIPA; and a reduced-gluten pale ale flavored with coconut and vanilla. Of similar strength was a Czech-style pilsner (5.4%) bittered with New Zealand hops.
That still left five full-flavored hazies in the 7–8% range, plus a massive TIPA at 9.9%. I started with version #31 (Mosaic and Motueka) of Sapwood’s “Cheater Hops” series, so called because the hops are so aromatic that “brewing with them is like cheating.” Perhaps even fresher tasting was a 7.2% IPA brewed with the latest crop of Simcoe and Citra hops. Purists may scoff, but Magic Carpet Ride IPA (7.6%)—flavored with tangerine zest, ginger, and dank terpenes—was the best spiced ale I’ve tasted this year. Orange Juicius (7.0%), a milkshake IPA with orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla beans added, further confirmed Sapwood’s ability to brew any style at the highest level. Also available was The Dragon MAX (9.9%), a massive version of their Dragon series of hoppy rye ales. But the day’s highlight was R.I.W.A.K.A (8.1%), a single-hop version of the brewers’ favorite hop varietal, brewed with virtually every Riwaka hop product available (pellets, Cryo, Hop Kief lupulin concentrate, and Quantum distilled hop oils). Sapwood calls it “the most intensely diesely-dank-delicious expression of Riwaka we’ve ever created.” I couldn’t agree more.
Whatever else a thirsty drinker might desire could be found in the remaining 13 taps: two porters (oatmeal and coffee); two stouts (Vanilla Threads Jr. [6.9%], a lighter version of their vanilla bean, barrel-aged stout series and S.C.C.C [Stout.Coffee.Coffee.Coffee], the brewery’s celebrated 11.5% imperial-strength coffee bomb); two Smuzis (Blueberry Maple Pancakes and Blackberry Lemon Compote) from Sapwood’s smoothie sour series; Prince of Dragonflies (8.1%), a barrel-aged peach and honey sour, brewed in collaboration with Troegs; two Mexican lagers (light and dark); a Vienna lager; a cider; a seltzer; and Planned Latitude (5.3%), a gentle grisette brewed with heirloom spelt grains and fermented with a mixed culture of saison and Brett yeasts.
There may be a couple dozen breweries in the U.S. that brew IPAs and DIPAs as bright and flavorful as Sapwood’s, as Tonsmeire admitted on a recent podcast, but the number of American brewers producing world-class, barrel-aged, mixed fermentation sour ales is a small club indeed. Among a group that includes Allagash, New Belgium, Jolly Pumpkin, Russian River, and Lost Abbey, Sapwood is one of the newer members. While most breweries maintain a house culture of microbes, Sapwood initially practiced what Tonsmeire calls the “royal rumble,” in which every barrel contained a unique culture of microbes that might have been drawn from the dregs of a commercial sour, a blend of commercially available lab strains, or “wild capture” from the surrounding environment. After a while, they narrowed their selection to just the best-tasting barrels. These days, there may be around 80 barrels of beer aging at any given time, containing 30 or so different beers. To avoid contamination with its “clean” beers, Sapwood brews, ages, blends, and bottles its mixed fermentation sours in a separate facility within the same business park as their taproom. Up to 15 different half-liter bottles, priced from $16–$20, are available for purchase from the taproom, with three also available straight from the aging barrel.
True fans of barrel-aged beer will want to sign up for one or more of Sapwood’s varied club memberships that offer free merch and access to exclusive releases. The Wood Club ($300/year), for example, guarantees members 16 bottles of barrel-aged, mixed-fermentation sours, plus 15% off additional bottles. The Cellars Club ($200/year) offers six bottles of “clean” barrel-aged beers—mostly imperial stouts and the occasional barleywine—plus a 10% discount on additional bottles. While the Sap Club ($250/year) rewards members with 10% off just about everything (bottles, draft pours, growlers, crowlers, merch) except food.
Looking for something more hands on? Beer lovers with deep pockets can spend a day brewing a batch of beer with the Sapwood team or join their tasting panel for a day-long blending session ($500). Or work with the brewing staff to design and brew a beer of your own. Take home a sixtel, two cases of cans, or enjoy free pours and growler fills at the brewery until the beer runs out ($3,000). Or comb through Sapwood’s cellar of barrel-aging sours, blend your own cuvée, and take home the entire bottle run of 150 half-liter bottles ($5,000).
In May of 2025, after six years of scheduling food trucks, Sapwood opened Albura Taqueria (“Sapwood Taco Shop”) in the middle unit between the taphouse and the barrel aging room. Chef Brock Clonchmore prepares a range of Mexican-inspired items including nachos, quesadillas, and nine varieties of tacos, including two vegan options (mushroom asada and fried avocado) and a “Frontier” taco made from bison nourished on spent grains from the brewery at Bow Tie Farm in Davidsonville, MD. The new kitchen and food license allows Sapwood to now sell cocktails as well as wines from Old Westminster Winery.
Now with a full kitchen and focused menu, Sapwood seems to have everything it needs to survive the present era of consolidation. The unwavering commitment and expansive vision of its founders should continue to set Sapwood Cellars apart as Maryland’s favorite taphouse.
SAPWOOD CELLARS BREWERY
8980 Old Annapolis Rd.
Suites M-N-O
Columbia, MD 21045
OPEN
Tuesday – Thursday: 2 pm–9 pm
Friday: noon – 10 pm
Saturday: 11 am – 10 pm
Sunday: noon – 7 pm
NUMBER OF TAPS
24
AVERAGE ABV
6.7%
IN-HOUSE CANS
5
IN-HOUSE 1/2 LITER BOTTLES
15
BOTTLE POURS
4
OTHER ALCOHOLIC DRINKS
3 wines from Old Westminster
House margarita
McClintock rye
NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS
Phony Negroni
Go NA beer
12 sodas, juices, lemonade
FOOD
tacos, quesadillas, nachos, pretzels, small plates
PARKING
Ample parking in business park