National Bohemia or Natty Boh, the "Official" Beer of Baltimore

  Somewhere Between Baltimore, MD and Baton Rouge, LA

My Natty Boh and my Latino Bro!

Natty Boh!

The "Official" beer of Baltimore is National Bohemia, or at least it was.  The beer was introduced in 1885 by The National Brewing Company.  In 1953 the St. Louis Browns baseball team moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Orioles.  National Bohemia became the official beer of the stadium at that time and quickly gained popularity.  I first learned of Natty Boh while watching Homicide: Life in the Street.  The cast would walk into a bar and order a Natty Boh.  

A really bad image off the internet of John Waters tending bar on Homicide: Life on the Street.

Now National Bohemia is brewed by The Pabst Brewing Co. and isn't even brewed in Baltimore.  It's the same thing with Rainer Beer, started in Seattle, became a Seattle institution and is now owned by Pabst and brewed elsewhere.  I guess we can all take comfort in the fact that Anchor Steam is still the official beer of San Francisco and still brewed in San Francisco.

This blog post started when I was looking up facts about Baltimore and found a site that claimed that National Bohemia invented the 6 pack.  It seemed like a really cool fact but I wouldn't go as far as to say they invented it.  I will say that in the 1940s National Bohemia began selling 6 cans at a time because 4 wasn't enough and 8 was too many and that this might have been the first example of a 6 pack being sold in the US.  

That's my fun history post for today.  More might be coming, I don't know for sure.  I can tell you we will be in Baton Rouge November 6th with fresh new content!

Yesterday's Post

On the Road Francis Photo

 Somewhere Between Baltimore and Baton Rouge

This is a first person view of eating a baked potato while Francis begs

We do a lot of cooking when we are staying in our vacation homes.  We pick and choose our meals that we eat out and make sure they are totally worth it.  On this night we were eating baked potatoes with sour cream and cheddar cheese and Francis was down for the diary parts of the meal.  

Yesterday's Post

D.C. Liquor Laws

 Washington D.C.

Blue Skies in D.C.

Liquor Laws in D.C.

Since D.C. is closely related to Baltimore and we have been here a couple times on this trip I have decided to break down Liquor Laws in D.C.  

Packaged Beer and Wine can be bought at grocery stores, liquor stores, and convenient stores.  Packaged liquor must be purchased from a licensed liquor store.  Packaged alcohol can be purchased from 7am to midnight 7 days a week.

Bars can serve on premise alcohol from 6am to 2am during the week and 6am to 3am on the weekends.  There are no special restrictions on Sunday sales of alcohol in Washington D.C.  Recently a bill was passed to allow bars to be open 24 hours a day during The World Cup but alcohol will need to stop being served from 4am to 6am.  There were also some holidays added to that rule so on some holidays you can be served alcohol until 4am.

Not being a state has its advantages: DC is the only place in the country where bars and restaurants can purchase alcohol directly from breweries/distilleries; every other state requires using a wholesaler.  Take that InBev!

If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.

Magnolia Springs State Park GA

Magnolia Springs State Park GA

The Long Shadows of Fall

On The Road

One of our camping spots this week was Magnolia Springs State Park in Georgia.  It was a really nice park with great hiking trails.  Now that we are in The South, we have to start watching out for Gators, Snakes, and giant spiders.  So far we have only seen the Giant Spiders.  I couldn't get a good photo of it but the body was like an inch long and with the legs it was about 4 inches. It's called a Golden Silk Orb-weaver.  I assume this will just get more and more common as we head south.  

The Coffee Ritual

This is the very pretty natural spring at Magnolia Springs.

Just a quick post from the road.  That's it for today.  If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.

An Evening in Savanna GA

 Savannah, GA

Selfie with The Savannah River behind us

Savannah, GA

This morning we did the short 1.5 hour drive from Magnolia Springs State Park to our Embassy Suites Hotel in Savanah Georgia.  We arrived a little after noon and check in is at 3pm so we checked to see if we could at least park if a room wasn't ready but happily there was a room waiting for us and we were able to get checked in really early. Shortly we were walking to downtown Savannah to check out the scene.  

Savannah is amazing!  The downtown was hopping with people, dogs and drinks.  There are tons of places to eat and the vibe is great.  If you saw yesterday's post I talked about the whole downtown area being open container friendly.  When you order a beer they ask if you want it for here or to go.  If you choose to go they give you a plastic cup.  We swung by Moon River Brewing to have a pint and check out the dogs in costume.  We hit a great weekend to be here with Francis because Wag-a-ween is going on.  Downtown is packed with people and their dogs in costumes.  

Cool Neon Sign

Open containers allowed with organic drink holders!

Octoberfest is still going strong down here

Doggo wants to attack water!

Poe continues to stalk us.

New Brewery!

No Doubt Tribute Band!

After checking out downtown we headed back to the room to drop off Francis and clean up. We headed to The Bamboo Room to check off Tiki in Georgia.  It's located above Sorry Charlies Oyster House so you have to go in and find the elevator.

That's it for today.  Tomorrow we pack up and get closer to Florida.  We still have one more stay in Georgia.  If you missed yesterday's post you can see it here.

Savanah, GA and Open Containers and Dogs

 Savanah, GA

The cross hashed areas are where you can have an open container in Savanah!

Visiting Savanah GA

When we are on the road we camp as much as makes sense because we enjoy it and it helps offset more expensive stays.  Savanah would normally be an expensive stay but we have built up enough points using our Hilton Amex to make it a free stay.  The free part doesn't include the pet fee or parking but it's a lot less expensive than paying for it all.  When we visit a new city I try to do a bit of research and the fact that Savanah is one of the few places in the US that allows open containers in certain areas caught my attention.  Our Embassy Suites Hotel sits right in the middle of the open container area (we didn't know this at the time of booking).

 Savanah is awesome!  There are dogs everywhere and bars everywhere.  We are staying in the The Embassy Suites and were able to check in early.  Apparently this went live before I could finish it.  Sorry to you that read it before it was done.  

We rolled into town at about noon and there was a room for us.  We got settled and then hit the downtown area.  

Tonight we will hit a tiki bar in Atlanta and enjoy more of Savannah. Savannah seems like a great place.  We have 2 more weeks on the road and then Baton Rouge!  

If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.

The Oyster Wars

 Somewhere Between Baltimore, MD and Baton Rouge, LA

The Oyster exhibit at the Maryland Museum of History and Culture

The Oyster Wars

We are currently on the road but it's my goal to keep fresh content coming to you by way of scheduled posts.  As we explore areas interesting bits of history pop up and I end up doing a deep dive into them and if they are interesting enough I share them with you.  

When settlers first arrived to what now is The New England area they were met by the locals already living here and oysters were one of the things that was shared.  They were plentiful, easy to harvest, and provided good nutrition.  It was a cheap and easy meal.  So easy that they quickly became the poor mans meal as we developed as a nation.  So plentiful and easy to get that people of means were tired of them but this all changed when refrigeration and quicker more efficient travel came about.  Soon oysters were being shipped all over the place and even canned and shipped even farther into the interior of the continent.  Canning, shipping, and refrigeration increased demand for the oyster so commercial oyster harvesting began.  Harvesting quickly become more efficient and oyster beds began diminishing.  This led to Maryland passing laws in 1830 stating that only Maryland State Residents could harvest Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River and they couldn't use dredging.  Virginia continued to allow dredging until 1879.  During this time in 186 Maryland tightened things up again and required annual permits to harvest oysters.  

In 1870, Virginia began passing legislation to regulate oyster harvesting in their waters.  In the 1880s the oyster harvesting industry exploded.  Local oyster beds were depleted which caused clashes between Maryland and Virginia oyster harvesters looking for new beds.  Armed and organized dredgers from Maryland began violating Virginia bans.  This caused Virginia to begin policing their waters hoping to curb illegal oyster farming.  Armed boats would intercept "Oyster Pirates" and with the hopes to prosecute illegal harvesters from Maryland.  On February 17, 1882, Cameron's force (The Governor of Virginia's armed fleet), consisting of the tugboat Victoria J. Peed and the freighter Louisa, engaged pirates at the mouth of the Rappahannock River. The governor's raid resulted in the successful convictions of 41 dredgers and the forfeiture of seven boats. The raid represented the high point of the governor's term.  Later attempts to capture and convict weren't as successful.  These sometimes violent conflicts continued until 1959 when the Potomac River Fisheries Commissioner ordered the fisheries police to disarm after an officer killed a Virginia waterman who was illegally dredging.  

Most of the information was taken from Wikipedia here, but there is also great information in this Covid Era presentation presented by Kate Livie and The Baltimore Museum of Industry.  If this subject is interesting to you watch the 13 minute video.  It really brings the story to life.

That's it for today.  Check back for timed posts and check back on November 6th for updates from Baton Rouge, LA.

If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.