Fordham Brewing Company and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum are presenting the 2nd Annual St. Michaels Oyster Crawl on Thursday, October 1 for a limited number of participants. The 4-7 pm. event features a “From Seed to Shuck: Exploring Chesapeake Oyster Farms” program at CBMM, followed by a walking tour of historic St. Michaels for stout and oyster pairings at four waterfront locations.
The two organizations have been partnering together since 2012, when Fordham launched its Rosie Parks Oyster Stout brand, made in honor of the museum’s recently restored 1955 oystering skipjack, Rosie Parks. The event is a fundraiser for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, with all proceeds supporting the non-profit museum’s education, restoration, and exhibition programs.
Rosie Parks Oyster Stout has a new twist this year as it is brewed with Avery’s Pearls oyster shells. Avery’s Pearls is the brainchild of Ryleigh’s Oyster Food & Spirits Owner Brian McComas. Ryleigh’s three locations in Baltimore, Md. will be serving Rosie Parks on draft, with the stout also available for a limited time in six-packs and draft in select Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia locations. The brewery release party for Rosie Parks is scheduled for Friday, September 4th from 5 to 8 p.m. at Fordham’s headquarters in Dover, De. A portion of the stout’s sales are being donated to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
The October 1 St. Michaels Oyster Crawl begins at 4 p.m., with participants joining CBMM’s Director of Education Kate Livie for a brief “From Seed to Shuck: Exploring Chesapeake Oyster Farms” presentation in the museum’s Van Lennep Auditorium. During the program, the museum will offer tastings of local, farm-raised Choptank Sweets, shucked and served by a Chesapeake waterman. The oysters are generously donated by the Choptank Oyster Company of Cambridge, Md. To kick off the event, each participant will receive a keepsake tasting glass to take along during the crawl and to commemorate the event.
From there, participants will break into four groups for a brief walking tour along the St. Michaels harbor to sample oyster and stout pairings at four locations. This year’s participating restaurants include the Crab Claw Restaurant, Town Dock Food & Spirits and Foxy’s Harbor Grille, all located on St. Michaels’ harbor front, along with Theo’s Steaks & Sides, serving from the museum’s Miles River waterfront Oystering on the Chesapeake exhibition building.
Oysters will be prepared a number of ways, including Oysters Rockefeller, Oysters Casino, and raw on the half shell, and an award-winning oyster stew.
“Brewing an oyster stout is a rite of passage in the mid-Atlantic, especially when you look at the rich maritime culture and how oysters play a part in the ecosystem,” said Fordham VP of Sales Casey Hollingsworth. “We took it a step further this year by partnering with Avery’s Pearls oysters which are farm raised in Hog Island, Va. Rosie Parks is a dry stout with hints of dark roasted malt, cocoa, and chocolate. The beer finishes with a slight brininess which compliments the sweetness from the malts.”
The skipjack Rosie Parks was built in 1955 by legendary boat builder Bronza Parks for his brother, Captain Orville Parks, and was named for their mother. CBMM purchased the sailing workboat in 1975 from Captain Orville, after 20 years dredging oysters along the Chesapeake Bay. Rosie had a reputation as both the best maintained skipjack in the oyster dredging fleet and as a champion sailor at the annual skipjack races. She is now a floating exhibition and ambassador of the museum, participating in the annual skipjack races along the Bay.
The cost for the St. Michaels Oyster Crawl is $65 per person, or $55 for CBMM members, with limited participation and registration needed by Monday, September 22. To register, contact Allison Speight at [email protected] or 410-745-4941. The event is generously sponsored by the participating restaurants, as well as Kelly Distributors of Easton, Md. For more information, visit www.cbmm.org or www.fordhambrewing.com.