With a blossoming renaissance of microbreweries, tap rooms and privatized beer peddling across America, you may be seeing a lot more farmland being repurposed into expansive day tripper destinations like Inverness Brewing, dropping visitors and hops hounds into the pastoral splendor of Monkton, Maryland.

Not so much transforming as maximizing what a 100 acre working farm can be to the community as much as to the owning family, Inverness is a terrific operation with equally superb beers. Three different bars with a bucket load of taps spread over two tiers in the main barn, the third being fleshed out in the estate’s old horse stables.

TJ’s family gave us a gift card last Christmas to Inverness Brewing which were finally able to break away and use. While she’s no fan of beer, she’s bitten the bullet for me a number of times and it helps Inverness had adult-styled slushies for her and a banging food truck on the premises–more like a permanent trailer with casual fare food well up to its level of beers.

Naturally, the advent of IPAs means Inverness like most microbrews, has a heavy lean on those, my favorite being the double IPA, Monkton Madness. I also dug There’s Always One IPA, as much for the taste as the hilarious name. They have a hazy mango IPA and British IPA I also recommend. Being more a fan of the darker side of beers, however, I found the 8.5% APV Miss Molly’s Imperial Nitro Stout to be stellar. The rye barrel aged, honey fused Helles Maibock called The Pollenator, is a sheer joy in a bottle, more like a hard mead. Fair warning, though, The Pollenator is a 9.2% APV drink, so it’s recommended you give this one its own separate consumption day.

Similar to vineyards, homestead breweries such as Inverness offer open-air leisure aside from the plentiful indoor seating (there’s even a large leather couch in the bottom seating area of the barn). After hitting the food truck, we said hello to a birthday gathering before picking up a couple games of cornhole Inverness has stationed outside the stable bar. TJ and I split the wins and were content to skip a needless tiebreaker game. It was enough just to get some sorely-needed downtime to play with one another.

Nearly as impressive as the empire known as Brewery Ommegang near Cooperstown, NY (that one had its own Game of Thrones-themed ales that ROCKED) which we took in a couple years ago, Inverness Brewing is a cosmopolitan brand of country with more than 20 beers, live music, lush patios and even a jumbo t.v. to watch a baseball game on while hopping it up.

The old man in the tree…

Cheers, y’all…

–Photos by Ray Van Horn, Jr.