Baltimore's National Bohemian lager (Natty Boh) on its own, or in the Maryland shandy half-and-half mix with lemonade. The city's signature working-class beer culture, now an icon of Baltimore identity.

National Bohemian, brewed in Baltimore since 1885 under the National Brewing Company, became the city's identity beer through the 20th century, with the one-eyed Mr. Boh mascot painted on Brewer's Hill warehouses. Pabst now brews Natty Boh in North Carolina, but Baltimore drinks the beer with the same fierce loyalty. The customer practice of mixing Natty Boh half-and-half with lemonade is the canonical Maryland shandy bar order, since formalised as a sister product. Max's Taphouse, Of Love and Regret and Chaps Pit Beef all pour Natty Boh on draft.

Where to eat Natty Boh and the Maryland shandy in Baltimore

4 editor picks for Natty Boh and the Maryland shandy in Baltimore, ranked by editorial score. All Baltimore signature dishes · Natty Boh and the Maryland shandy across every city.

  • Chaps Pit Beef

    Order The pit beef on a kaiser, rare, with tiger sauce and raw onion.

    Chaps Pit Beef on Pulaski Highway is the benchmark for Baltimore pit beef, charcoal-grilling top round rare and piling it on a kaiser with tiger sauce.

    DetailsDirections

  • Mama's on the Half Shell

    Order A dozen steamed crabs in season, or the crab cake the rest of the year.

    Mama's on the Half Shell on Canton Square is a neighbourhood crab-and-oyster house, working steamed crabs, oysters and a crab cake across two busy floors.

    DetailsDirections

  • Max's Taphouse

    Drink Hundreds of taps and bottles

    Max's Taphouse on Fells Point's Broadway is a beer hall with more than a hundred taps and a deep bottle list, a Baltimore craft-beer institution.

    DetailsDirections

  • Of Love and Regret

    Order Whatever Stillwater or rare Belgian is on draft, with the seasonal plates.

    Of Love and Regret in Brewers Hill is a gastropub from the Stillwater beer team, pairing a tight craft tap list with seasonal plates and Belgian.

    DetailsDirections

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Make it at home

Serves 210 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 2 cans (12 oz / 355ml) cold National Bohemian, Pabst Blue Ribbon or any clean American lager
  • For the lemonade: 4 lemons juiced (around 240ml), 100g caster sugar, 250ml cold water
  • Ice cubes
  • Lemon slices for garnish
  • Old Bay on the rim (optional)

Method

  1. Make the lemonade: combine the lemon juice, sugar and water in a jug. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Refrigerate cold.
  2. If using the Old Bay rim: pour a tablespoon of Old Bay onto a plate. Run a lemon slice around the rim of two pint glasses and dip the rim in the Old Bay.
  3. Fill the glasses with ice.
  4. Pour the cold lager to fill each glass halfway.
  5. Top up with the cold lemonade.
  6. Stir gently. Garnish with a lemon slice.
  7. Serve immediately; the shandy goes flat quickly.
  8. For the canonical Baltimore order, drink alongside steamed blue crabs heavily dusted in Old Bay.

Editor tip. Natty Boh is hard to find outside the mid-Atlantic; PBR is the closest national substitute. Pair the shandy with crab boil for the full experience.

Common allergens: Gluten.