Pic(k) of the Week: Natty Boh, hon!

The location was Bertha's Mussels in the Fells Point district of Baltimore, Maryland. The occasion was A Beer Luncheon on the History of Baltimore Brew, one of six main events of Baltimore Beer Week 2010. The speaker was Rob Kasper —long time features (and beer) columnist for the Baltimore Sun (now editor)— offering a concise history of beer and brewing in Baltimore, Maryland from its 17th century beginnings to the early 1990s. In the foreground is an iconic can of Natty Boh (National Bohemian) once brewed by National Brewing in Baltimore, which is, as Rob lamented, long-closed.

• Without beer there would have been no Star Spangled Banner.
  
• William David Gottlieb Yuengling landed in Baltimore in 1822, coming from southern Germany. He soon moved to Pennsylvania, where he would open the Yuengling Brewing Company in 1829, the oldest operating brewery in the United States.
  
• Baltimore would eventually be awash in breweries. Just one road —Belair Road (pronounced B-lair)— would be home to over 20 breweries.
  
• The Baltimore Sun's H.L. Mencken referred to Prohibition as "the Horror."
  
• Jim Mckay began his broadcasting career in Baltimore, announcing Orioles' baseball games, with his given name, Jim McManus.

In addition to Rob Kasper, the other speakers were:

• Blogger (and former brewer at Oxford Brewing Company) Tom Cizauskas of Yours For Good Fermentables
  
• Beer Week's official blogger Brad Klipner of Beer in Baltimore
  
• Baltimore Sun features editor Sam Sessa.

Discussing the future of craft beer in Baltimore, Klipner and sessa noted that "when beer gets into the city's neighborhood bar —as it is doing more and more— craft beer will have come of age." Baltimore Beer Week founder Joe Gold concluded by pointing out that most Americans, 30 years old or younger, have never not known craft beer.

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• Photo courtesy of Brad Klipner. Posted with permission.
  
• More photos of the luncheon: here.
  
• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of personal photos, often posted on Saturdays.