Beer aficionados have new place to call home in OC

By Cindy Hoffman Staff Writer

(March 3, 2023) The Other One Brewing Company will open its doors in Ocean City Friday and introduce local beer aficionados to someone they already know: master brewer Nate Todd, whose last home was at the now closed Backshore Brewing Company.

When Backshore closed, Todd wanted residents and tourists in the area to have a place to go to enjoy quality, locally made beer. So he launched The Other One Brewing Company.

“The Other One” is a favorite song by the Grateful Dead, a band Todd loves. He picked that name to reflect that love and his history.

“I was always the guy behind the guy. The one that put in the most effort, the other one,” said Todd. “So, it seemed appropriate to name my brewery The Other One.”

Todd will be brewing all of his beers on site. Patrons will be able to see the process through the large picture window behind the bar, where the four fermenters and the brite tank are all housed.

He’ll have eight beers on tap, specialty cocktails and a selection of wines picked out by his wife, Gina Todd, including Josh, Prosecco and Kim Crawford.

He’ll also serve non-alcoholic drinks and a limited food menu, including flatbread pizzas and nacho platters, made right there on site.

The tap room vibe is rustic boutique: big couches to hang out and relax with friends, bar seating and some tables to seat 30.

A few big screen televisions will feature the surfing channel, movies, the pet channel and Fuel TV.

Board games and table size ring tosses are at every table.

Todd is running his business in an environmentally conscious fashion.

He used wood pallets to decorate the ceiling of the bar. He takes the spent grain from the brewing process home to make dog treats, pretzels and bread. Sometimes, he uses it as mulch in his garden.

He will have a regularly rotating tap list of eight brews. Patrons can count on quaffing his Bayside Blond.

He will launch a limited run of It’s Paddy Time! for St. Patrick’s Day, a silky dry Irish stout. He is also making a coffee porter using coffee from his next door neighbor, Jay’s Cafe.

He gets dried orange peels from the local shop Bulk More for his Jack Straw wheat beer, which gives it a citrus aroma along with a bittersweet finish.

“I would love to talk to other businesses to create other signature flavors from the area,” Todd said.

The Other One is on the first floor of the Embers Center on 24th Street.

The Ember’s Center includes BluCrab House, Surf’s Up Arcade, Embers Mini Golf, and Jay’s Cafe. It will also feature a new Embers Restaurant, the original having been demolished to create the Embers Center. Embers will open its doors again this spring.

The brewery shares an outdoor patio with BluCrab. Todd says there will be parties on the patio on Fridays this summer from 1-3 p.m. with entertainment.

Todd says patrons can expect good tunes, happy faces and a welcoming atmosphere at the grand opening at noon this Friday.

“This is a place you’ll have to come back to, like Cheers,” Todd said. “It will be your new favorite chill spot when you come to Ocean City.”