Burp Fest at Maryland Craft Beer Festival 2026

The Maryland Craft Beer Festival is one of the longest-running craft beer festivals on the East Coast, organized by the Brewers Association of Maryland (BAM), which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025. BAM was founded in the late 1990s as a nonprofit trade association to grow, promote, and protect the state's craft beer industry -- an industry with remarkably deep roots. Maryland's brewing history stretches back to the colonial era, when the colony's first brewing company opened in Annapolis in 1703. The modern craft movement traces to 1989, when Heavy Seas founder Hugh Sisson opened Sisson's, Maryland's first brewpub, after personally lobbying to legalize brewpubs in the state two years earlier. BAM emerged from that pioneering spirit, giving the state's growing community of small brewers a collective voice in Annapolis and a platform to reach consumers.

The festival has been held along the Carroll Creek Linear Park in downtown Frederick for much of its history, and the venue is a major part of its identity. Carroll Creek is not a fairground or a parking lot; it is a beautifully landscaped urban park that winds through Frederick's historic district, giving the event the feel of a neighborhood block party rather than a massive industry expo. With an attendance of around 5,000, the festival is large enough to showcase 50-plus Maryland breweries pouring more than 200 beers, yet small enough that attendees can actually talk to the people who made what they are drinking.

BAM produces two large-scale festivals each year -- the spring Maryland Craft Beer Festival in Frederick and the autumn Baltimore Craft Beer Festival in the city -- but the Frederick edition holds a special place as the organization's signature event. Proceeds go directly to BAM's legislative and promotional work on behalf of its member breweries. Multiple ticket tiers, including the Beer Geek Pass with early entry and the BAM Bus option with round-trip transportation from Baltimore, reflect a thoughtful approach to accessibility. For Frederick, a city that has quietly built one of Maryland's most vibrant downtown food-and-drink scenes, the festival is both an economic driver and an annual point of civic pride.