The Wharf Rat, the restaurant and brewery at 206 W. Pratt St. that has served as a fountainhead of English ales in Baltimore, has new owners. Donald Kelly, who has operated bars in Connecticut and Justin Dvorkin, a brewer at Fordham Brewing, bought the business from Bill Oliver on Tuesday. The price was not disclosed.
In a brief telephone interview Wednesday, Kelly said he and his partner do not anticipate making substantial changes to the restaurant and brewing operation. "We like the concept; we bought it for the brewery," said Kelly.
Kelly said that in the couse of his career he has owned and operated 10 bars in New England, including the Black Bear Saloons in Norwalk and New Haven. "I have been in the bar business since I was 13 and I am 35 now," he said.
Steve Jones, the current Wharf Rat brewer, will continue making the establishment's beers, called Oliver Ales, Kelly said.
"The tradition of brewing English ales here speaks for itself," Kelly said, "and we like the location. We are on the corner of Main Street and Main Street in Baltimore," Kelly said."
Oliver will retain ownership of the Fells Point pub also named the Wharf Rat.
Oliver and his wife Carole took over the iron-front building on Pratt Street, then called P.J. Cricketts restaurant, in 1992.
One of the first things they did was increase the number of beers on tap. "It just had Coors, Sam Adams and Miller Lite," Oliver recalled in an interview. In January 1993, they added a brewery and began brewing ales. This week, when the sale was completed, the Wharf Rat on Pratt Street was pouring 25 beers on tap, Oliver said, adding, "eighteen of them were our own."
Reflecting on the change he has seen in the local brewing scene, Oliver said "we've seen them come and go." He ticked off the list of local breweries that have closed or been absorbed during his tenure.
"It used to be just DeGroen's, Sisson's, and Wild Goose on the Eastern Shore, and us," he said.
Baltimore Brewing Company, which made DeGroen's beers, is gone. Hugh Sisson and family sold their South Baltimore brewpub, but Sisson went on to open Clipper City Brewing. Wild Goose moved from Cambridge, Md , and it is now brewed in Frederick and is part of Flying Dog Brewery.
"All along we tried to make a really good product and decided to stick to one style. For us it has been English ale,'" Oliver said.
Oliver, who is 68, said one of the reasons he sold was that he was "getting up there" in years. But he added that one of the benefits of selling the Pratt Street business would that he would now have more time to play hockey. He plays two nights a week, one of them with a group of older players who call themselves the Geri-Hatricks.
Any thoughts on the sale of Wharf Rat?
What do you think Bill Oliver has contributed to the Baltimore beer scene?
