Brian Shane

Staff Writer

A Berlin restaurant and distillery is making plans to extend its footprint to a new family-friendly and expansive outdoor space.

Forgotten 50 Distilling, located on Old Ocean City Boulevard, on Oct. 16 received approval from Worcester County’s Board of License Commissioners to expand its licensed premises to include 54,450 square feet of existing backyard.

Dotted by old-growth trees, the fenced-in acreage would be home to live entertainment on a small stage, cornhole, picnic tables, and an outdoor bar, according to owner Eric Fiori.

“When we built the original building, we got a bunch of rocks from the Adirondacks, and we re-used them. We made some tables out of them. Our idea is to do as much natural seating and kind of natural setting as we can in that area,” Fiori said.

The 3,500 square foot restaurant opened about a year ago. Its interior décor, with the look and feel of a cozy village square, evokes a sense of the past – and that’s on purpose, Fiori said.

“This was a 1940s Plymouth car dealership,” he said. “The front area where the bar is, that was the actual showroom. It was important that we stayed with the ‘40s, ‘50s theme, that we capture that.”

The restaurant already has a patio with outdoor seating. For this new outdoor space, which will be kid-friendly and dog-friendly, Fiori said he’ll start soliciting ideas from his guests as to its details.

“We are going to let our customer base decide what they want it to be,” he said. “We’re excited about the outdoor area and the potential that’s going to have.”

The outdoor space at Forgotten 50 will be open from April through October, from 11:30 a.m. to dusk. A sliding gate will separate the parking area from the outdoor area when it’s not in use.

Fiori, who is also an elected member of the Worcester County Board of Commissioners, also runs two local boat dealerships.

Also at the Oct. 16 Board of License Commissioners meeting, the board granted a liquor license expansion to Ember Restaurant and Blue Crabhouse in Ocean City.

Owner Cole Taustin came before the board asking to include an existing 6,000 square foot arcade into the liquor license footprint, so dinner guests can legally walk through the gaming space with drinks in hand.

“This isn’t like an arcade on the boardwalk where kids walk in off the street – every single person who goes to this arcade is with their family eating dinner,” said attorney Mark Cropper, representing Embers before the board.

“It is incredibly cumbersome that folks with an alcoholic beverage, let their children go play, (and) have to stop and leave it on a windowsill to grab their kids,” he said.

The board also cited three establishments for selling alcohol to a minor: Sello’s Oven & Bar, Lighthouse Sound Restaurant, and Leon’s at the Beach. Sello’s and Lighthouse Sound both received letters of reprimand for their file. Leon’s at the Beach had its liquor license suspended until Nov. 1.