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F
rom growing up on a dairy
farm in Frederick County,
Katie Albaugh has been
involved in agriculture for as
long as she can remember.
She works as an advocate for Frederick
County agriculture, working for the
Agriculture Business Development
Specialist for Frederick County’s
office of Economic Development.
As part of her job she gets to work
with all the breweries in the area!
Katie loves to spend time outside on
the farms and has always found herself
driven to support and promote Maryland
Agriculture and local small business.
Before her current job for Frederick
County, she worked for the University
of Maryland as an Assistant Herdsman
on a dairy farm for five years before
coming to Frederick County in August
of 2015. Even with her new job, she
still finds time on the weekend to be
out on the farm working in the fields.
“Being on a tractor is peaceful after
long days in the office,” said Katie.
Her goal is to see agriculture viable
in the future for Frederick County.
Katie spends a lot of time working with
planning and zoning staff to make the
process smoother for breweries, visit
and assist farmers with challenges and
help start-ups develop business plans
or expand on them. Most recently,
Katie helped launch the new Frederick
County Agriculture Website. The
website features an interactive map
that consumers can search for local
breweries in real time, and it’s mobile-
friendly! The goal of this website
is to see people support local small
businesses, Katie said. She loves how
much the breweries in the area are
working together to all grow, not just
compete against one another. Katie
hopes to see the breweries in the area
continue to grow and be so successful!
Beyond working with Frederick
County agriculture, Katie is a beer
lover herself. She says she was a
boring beer drinker until last year
when she really got into craft beers.
When she got her job with Frederick
County, she had the time to go around
and actually find out what kind of craft
beers she liked. “I started trying to
support local breweries and now I’m
hooked!” Katie said. In the last year
she has really gotten into “farm-to-
beer” styles. She enjoys a light beer
such as Dollyhyde Petite Farmhouse
Ale from Milkhouse Brewery. With
Katie’s office being right next door to
Brewer’s Alley in Downtown Frederick,
it is one of her favorite local bars.
“Their beer is very good but they have
such a nice atmosphere; whether it’s
happy hour or for a night out with
friends, it’s always the place to be.”
For all her hard work for local
agriculture and support for the
area’s breweries, Katie Albaugh is
a great Beer Ambassador. Thanks
for all your hard work! We can’t
wait to see what is to come with
breweries in western Maryland.
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S P OT L I GH T: WE S T E R N MA RY L AND