I actually have a neoprene bottle holder... got it as a gift. I haven't used it for this purpose, but I imagine if you slipped in some ice packs alongside, it would work great. They also have those ice sleeves, and that would probably fit the neoprene holder as well.

Some restaurants bring a wine cooler. For our social gatherings (and occasional BYOB restaurant visit), we have neoprene totes (one holds 3 winebottles, the other 6 beer bottles) that keep bottles cold for a good long time. I found them at Tuesday Morning, but I've also seen them on-line.

The mark up tends to correlate with the 'upscaleness' of the restaurant. I find it intriguing that restaurants charge exorbitant price for their wines rather than keeping the mark up moderate to entice more sales. I for one would be much more inclined to order a more expensive wine or a second bottle if the mark up is reasonable. As for the name of restaurants that use some restraints, I seem to recall Manor Tavern the last time I was there over a year ago. The rest falls into the 300%+ retail range.

We were actually trying to find a nice BYOB in the city and couldn't think of one. Any suggestions?

We usually take better microbrews, which taste better with a bit of warming towards room temperature, or big reds that don't need it. If we bring white, it is with a chill pack or two, unless we know the place provides ice buckets....

You can buy wrap chillers that you keep in the freezer and will either chill your wine or keep it cold while you travel. If you are like me you don't want your white ice cold. More toward cool cellar temperature whether they are "serious" or not. If a wine has to be ice cold to be drinkable why would you buy it?

"the kind of food that doesn't need a serious wine"? Does that mean no more Cornas with burgers? No more Cahors with nacho cheese steak gorditos? No more White Burgundy with fish sandwiches? As someone who enjoys wine every night with all types of food I have a hard time defining serious wine and what type of food "needs" serious wine. As a rule of thumb you serve "serious wine" with simple food so the wine shines and simpler wine with more complex food so the food shines.

Samos is my favorite BYOB, but I'm always looking for more! It's a good way to save some money and still dine out. Is there a list somewhere?

It would be nice to publish/share an up to date listing of BYOB places in the Baltimore area. I personnally prowl in the Baltimore county and city area.

I find that a cold bottle of wine soaks thru my brown paper bag

My technique is not to keep the bottle around long enough for it to get warm....

Mark is a man after my own heart!

Indian Delight on Frederick Road in Catonsville. Great Indian food, reasonable prices and friendly staff. Easy parking on street or adjacent parking lot. Our favorite Indian restaurant.

At Brooks Tavern in Chestertown, we mark up our wine a flat $12 over the wholesale price, give or take 50 cents. Our wine list is on the website, always current.

rkb, that's the kind of mark up I can definitely live with. Wish more restaurants follow your example.

Seems odd that Brooks Tavern is really proud of the local produce and meat but the wine and beer list has nothing local. While I am not a fan of Maryland wine (Give me French or Italian) many people are and it seems a natural match to the local food items. There is great beer in the Penn., Maryland, Delaware area. In fact Victory and Dogfish Head make beer as good as any in the world. Like I say it just seems odd.

Oops! Please forgive my posting about India Delight. I see now that it is under the wrong topic. It was late and I thought I was on the previous post about good BYOB restaurants.

In response to Mark's comments regarding the BT wine and beer list - at the moment there are no "local" beers, but the lists change frequently (they have to, being so small), so stay tuned. We've done very well with DogFishHead and Fordham. Actually, some folks from Yorkshire thought the Brooklyn Lager was pretty local - for them at least! As for wine, that is a little more difficult. Like you, I personally am not a real big fan of too many of the east coast wines available in this area, (although the Horton Vineyard's viognier is consistently a good choice), but your suggestion to include one or two on the wine list, in keeping in the same spirit as the rest of the menu, is a valid one, especially since wine grapes are being grown more and more on the Eastern Shore these days.