Maryland's craft beverage producers now number in the hundreds, and their economic footprint extends well beyond the taproom. Each production facility anchors suppliers, distributors, and hospitality jobs around it.

The more interesting effect is civic: in several towns, a brewery or distillery opening on a struggling block preceded the coffee shop, the restaurant, and the renovated apartments. Taprooms became the new town squares.

Challenges remain, from distribution law to ingredient costs. But as an anchor-tenant strategy for main streets, few bets have paid off as consistently.