The blue crab is Maryland’s state crustacean. Maryland also has, what I believe, one of the nation’s ugliest flags. Put them together and you have the image at the top of the page.

As a side note, Michigan does not have a state crustacean. Maybe we should have one. We do have crayfish in the inland lakes, some belong here and some do not. Some, unfortunately, are invasive species.

I do love Maryland, by the way, despite its state flag. And I love Maryland blue crab. Our road trip to the Maryland Irish Festival was a quick one, though. My crab eating was limited to one bowl of Maryland  crab soup at An Poitin Stil.

Delightful Irish pub, by the way. I love the name, although it certainly needs translating for most Americans. “An” is “the”, “stil” is “still”, and “poitin” is “poitín”. So, in English, it’s The Poitíin Still. Poitín is sometimes pronounced “poe-tin” and sometimes “poe-teen”, but either way, it is a beverage distilled from whatever the distiller has handy. This is a major contrast with Irish whiskey, distilled from barley and barley only.

Poitín is often called Irish moonshine or mountain dew, and is typically very high in alcohol content.

I did not study the drink menu, but I doubt An Poitin Stil actually serves poitín.