Noah Chadwick in the brewing area.

Mobtown Brewing features recycled materials, such as panels from the tin roof of an old barn on the lower half of the bar, railroad track for the footrest, and wood planks from the floor of an old high school gym.

Inside there’s seating space offering a view of wall murals crafted by talented local artists.

Outside seating at the Mobtown Brewing Company.

A wide variety of beers flow at the brewery.

Complete a flight card and venture into trying beer styles you typically wouldn’t consider; you might just discover your new favorite.

Mobtown offers an ever-changing menu featuring a diverse array of beers.

A line of beer cans is queued up in the feeder, awaiting filling and labeling.

Today, the beer can labeler is set up for German Pils.

You can purchase beers on-site and find them available at numerous locations across the Mid-Atlantic region.

The resident beermaster, Ernie the cat, comfortably lounges on the bar.

PHOTOS: MIKE CIESIELSKI AND COURTESY OF MOBTOWN BREWING COMPANY

When you think of beer, you probably don’t think about upcycled materials, but Noah Chadwick ’13 MS does. He’s part owner of Mobtown Brewing Company, which opened in 2019 in a southeast Baltimore neighborhood long known for beer making. 

“The short life cycle of materials we use in the United States has a real impact on the planet,” says Chadwick, who received a graduate degree in environmental science. “I spent some of my graduate work doing hazardous waste management, and I realized that if we stop creating all of this waste, it will simply make our planet better.” 

From the floor up

So Chadwick and his co-owners, David Carpenter and Darren Stimpfle, began a quest to incorporate upcycled materials into their new business, searching around Baltimore and beyond for materials they could use. Today, some of the tables and wall coverings at Mobtown Brewing are made from wood planks previously used for the gym floor at the old Lake Clifton High School. Chadwick found tin roof tiles from an old barn in Pennsylvania that are now around the bottom of the bar. And the footrest at the bar? That comes from old railroad track recovered from a metal recycling yard. 

The idea to start a brewery was born several years ago when Chadwick was hanging out with his buddies, enjoying the fruits of a friendly home-brew contest. 

“I was working for an engineering firm then,” says Chadwick. Carpenter was a former coworker, who shared Chadwick’s taste for home-brewed beer and also lived nearby. After completing a certificate in brewing (yes, it’s a thing), Carpenter and mutual friend Stimpfle approached Chadwick about starting their own brewery. 

“I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur,” says Chadwick. 

Back to Brewer’s Hill

The trio looked at several possible locations, but as serendipity would have it, the ideal location ended up being in Brewers Hill. The neighborhood got its name from being associated with a number of prominent late-19th-century businesses, chief among them the brewing industry. 

“We felt like everything had come together, and we’re energized about tapping into that brewing history,” he says. 

Chadwick hasn’t completely turned his love for environmental science over to beer, however. He still has a day job working on Bay restoration projects aimed at reducing pollution in the United States.