RavenBeer Celebrates 20th Anniversary With Limited Release Brew

RavenBeer, the Edgar Allan Poe-themed brewery out of Baltimore, Maryland, has announced the release of a new, limited-release beer in honor of the brewery's 20th anniversary.

Raven Special Lager Premium Edition is a far lighter, hoppier and higher-ABV version of the brewery's fame Raven Special Lager. Brewed with German Noble and Columbus hops, Premium Edition is eminently quaffable and will be available at the brewery's celebration of its 20th anniversary.

The full release from RavenBeer is below.

(Baltimore, Maryland) RavenBeer has fabulous business news to report. June 2018 marks RavenBeer’s 20^th Anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, RavenBeer will release The 20th Anniversary Raven Special Lager Premium Edition.  Founder, Stephen Demczuk describes the newest lager edition as “…a bit fruity, a little more hoppy with a 6.5% ABV, more than our 5.3% Raven.” The brewers added German noble and Columbus hops that provide a spicy/herbal aroma.  Unlike the Raven Special Lager, the premium edition is blonder as much of the darker malts were removed.  It will still be exceptionally smooth and will reminisce a Belgium blonde ale.  

“Twenty years in the craft beer business has been both a challenge and lots of fun.  We made this beer in honor of the anniversary and 20 years of Raven Special Lager, our flagship beer; and we like to dedicate this premium lager to all those who supported us and to those who volunteered their help over the years,” exclaims, founder Stephen Demczuk.

To celebrate the big day, RavenBeer is throwing a huge party on June 7 at its new headquarters at DuClaw Brewing Company at  8901 Yellow Brick Road, Baltimore, MD 21237. Food Truck, Music, Brewery Tours, All RavenBeers on Tap, Special Firkins, beer book signing and take-home of the canned versions of the regular and premium edition of Raven Special Lager. 

The new label shows the history of The Raven Special Lager via a collage of its former labels both from Europe and USA.  Demczuk believes that this label maybe the first label ever to employ a historical collage based on a company’s former beer labels. Just another first for RavenBeer. The award-winning Poe series artwork continues to be created by Kevin Kallaugher (KAL), the editorial cartoonist for The Economist magazine out of London and the Baltimore Sun.

About RavenBeer:

Brewed by the Baltimore-Washington Beer Works (BWBW) in Baltimore Maryland, RavenBeer and its brands are named after Baltimore's literary genius, Edgar Allan Poe. Originally produced in the Black Forest region of BadenWürttemberg, Germany, RavenBeer unveiled The Raven in the USA in June 1998 and the very first batch was used in the christening ceremonies of the USS Raven MHC 61 in Baltimore. Their portfolio has grown to 7 beers such as Tell Tale Heart IPA, Pendulum Pilsner, Annabel Lee White, The Cask (of Amontillado) Dobbel Bock and Dark Usher: Dark Kölsch and 7 cask conditioned firkins, all named after POE’s legendary short stories and poems.

The award winning Poe series artwork was created by Kevin Kallaugher (KAL), the editorial cartoonist for The Economist magazine out of London and Baltimore Sun. Mark Supik and Co. make the internationally award winning Poe book tap handles.

RavenBeer is distributed in the Mid-Atlantic region and in Chicagoland. RavenBeer focuses on maintaining classical beer styles and primarily German style beers.

About Stephen Demczuk:

Stephen Demczuk went to Geneva, Switzerland as a Post doctorate fellow and visiting scientist where he discovered great beer. He formed ‘Beer Around the World,’ the first beer-of-the-month club in Europe based in Luxembourg. From there, he met Wolfgang Stark of Haus der 131 Biere in Hamburg where they created the idea of The Raven Special Lager and was first brewed in Germany in 1997. Stephen returned to the USA and with the help of Hugh Sisson brewed the Raven at Clipper City Brewing Co. (later Heavy Seas). From there he co-formed Peabody Heights as RavenBeer was growing and increased production space was required. Fourteen years as a beer writer, Stephen served for 10 years on the board of the Brewers Association of Maryland and serves on the board of the Poe House of Baltimore.