Portland trip itinerary feedback

Personally I would do your own trip to Allagash/BB/Austin/Foundation, that industrial park is a home run. You have to hit Maine Beer Co, Freeport is 15-20 min up the highway. Besides Bier Cellar, swing into RSVP for bottles, very large selection and competitively priced. Also, try to hit Urban Farm Fermentory, they honestly make the best wild cider I've ever had.

 

New taproom opening this week next door to Infiniti. Owned by our VT ex-pat Rick Binet, formerly of The Blackback in Waterbury, it's called Kings Head. Also, a lunch-run up to Ebenezers Brewpub in Brunswick is in order for great beers & sustenance. PS: Outliers is purely awesome!

 

not really into the beer bus/tour thing myself. when i visited allagash, the bus was leaving and i was relieved. allagash was one of my favorite tours/visits & i would recommend doing it on your own time.

freeport for llbean. and while you're there, maine beer co is well liked/loved. the space is new & staff were a little frigid when i visited, but to each their own.

if you care to venture farther up north on route 1 to newcastle, oxbow is producing some really incredible beers in the maine woods. very authentic & one of my favorites, as well.

enjoy your trip. nothing better than maine in summer.

 

Honestly, skip the tours and go at your own pace. There is so much beer stuff going on in the city, you won't have to worry about it. Here is the run down of what good options are for you from someone who lives in the city:

Breweries:

- 1 Industrial Park is an absolute must. This is the complex that has Foundation, Bissell and Austin St. Make sure to go on Friday/Saturday, as I don't think any of them are open during the week. Portland is very liberal about pourings at bars, so you can hang out at these places for hours, shooting the shit with the brewers. Just a heads up, Bissell is the only brewery in the complex that is currently canning, but Austin St and Foundation do supply their own growlers, fresh off the tap, so keep that in mind if you want to pick any up to go.

- If you are arriving on Thursday, I'd hit up Allagash first, although you could make hit it up the same ay as the other breweries as it's literally across the street! They have a beautiful tasting room, often with brews on tap that are not bottled outside of the brewery (they might even have a Brett on tap). This is a great start!

- Hit up Geary's on your trip. It's in the same area as the other mentioned breweries. You can taste some fresh HSA on tap there. This is the very first New England micro brewery, so it's good to get some history during your weekend.

- Bunker Brewing. This is in downtown Portland as well, and they have delicious offerings.

- Maine Mead Works. Excellent, excellent mead. They have a dry hopped varietal, along with flavored options, such as blueberry, lavender, cranberry, etc. Also right downtown!

- Rising Tide Brewery. Again, right downtown. A lot of great stuff on tap!

It sounds like you had your itinerary pretty well mapped out for breweries, but that is my two cents.

For eateries/pubs:

All of the ones you mentioned are excellent places that you simply cannot go wrong with. However, here are some additional choices with great beer menus.

Nosh - World famous for their bacon busted home made fries and original gourmet American style tapas and burgers. A fantastic lunch option. As a side note, the founder of Nosh used to run the kitchen at Novare Res.

http://images.talkingphonebook.com/images/timesunion/media_library/305/523/media28.pdf

Duckfat - Best poutine and paninis in the city! Another fantastic lunch destination. Their fries are fried in duck fat. *drool*

http://www.duckfat.com/

Otto Pizza - Best pizza joint in town, that just happens to always have a great tap and wine list.

http://ottoportland.com/

I could keep going, as most places in Portland have local brews on tap.There is Salvage BBQ, Central Provisions, Miyake Sushi, etc. All of the above are well known for food pairings with local beer.

I'd skip Sebago realistically. It's decent food and decent beer, but it's much more like an Applebees than a brewpub, and for folks like you who are just here for the weekend, take advantage of better offerings. Stick with the more humble restaurants in the area.

 

+1 to Duckfat (there will be a wait... it is worth it). I'm partial to the "Rooms" restaurants (Front Room, Grill Room, Corner Room) although I lived about 50 ft from the Front Room... so take that as you will. Munjoy Hill is a great section of the city to walk around too with the Eastern Promenade (the road and the trail).

And I couldn't agree more to skip Sebago. Gritty's can be skipped (imho) if you are lacking time.

Fore St is another spot I haven't seen mentioned yet (reservation required). There are so many other places - hard to go wrong.

 

Fore St. is my ultimate fave but more wine-centric than beer. Hard to get a res but you can line up at the door by 5pm for a bar seat - done that many times. Always at least one Oxbow on tap!

 

Can't skip the deck at Novare Res!

 

When I lived in portland a couple of years ago, you could pretty much always walk in and get a seat at Duckfat. Has it blown up that much? At least every time I ate there I didn't wait. Those fries are delicious.

I'll third skip sebego. I'd also skip gritty's. They are both decent for cheap eats, but hardly a good representation of what portland has to offer

 

If you want to get fancy, the best meal I ever had in my life was at Four st. Not a beer place at all, but amazing food.

 

Four Street is incredible. Cannot say enough good things about the food there. The beer list, while short, had some good local offerings from Oxbox and others the two times I was there.

Another awesome spot is http://www.miyakerestaurants.com/pai-men-miyake/ - delicious food a very solid beer list. Had Substance on draft when I was there a month or so ago.

 

Few places that come to mind...

Fisherman's Grill is numero uno if you seek classic fish shack, recently voted #1 seafood in NE according to Yelp.

Mama's Crowbar is one of my fav spots for local draughts.

Would vote 555 over Fore St if you're lookin to drop coin on a meal. Vinland is new, but they are getting lots of buzz too. Same w/ Central Provisions and Piccolo. Can never go wrong w/ Vignola Cinque Terra either.

Ribollita or Paciarino will deliver the goods if you seek Italian flavor.

Blue Rooster great late-night food.

Scratch Baking Co in South Portland is outstanding for pastries, or bomb sandwiches/salads for lunch.

 

I moved in 2011, and even back then during the summer you could hit times of 30 to 45 mins. I guess what makes it worse is that they pack the place, so if you are waiting, you are generally standing on the sidewalk. If it is a Holiday or a boat is in, it can get hr +. Those fries have gotten them a lot of press.

Boat coming in sucks if you are visiting...

Oh one place I forgot to mention... which is an absolute must. Big Sky Bakery. I'd drive the 4~ hrs and back just for a pop-over and a loaf of English Muffin bread.

 

I guess I got lucky every time I went. I only went for lunch.

 

You may not hve the time, but: Run-of-the-Mill Brewerpub in nearby Saco; it is in a refurbished 19th Century mill that sits on its own island. Great deck overlooking the river. Novare Res excells in evrery way imaginable.

 

Both of the beer bus/brew tour companies do a great job. Highly reccomend the one with bissells included. There is even one that takes you up to oxbow as well.

If you have to choose one place to absolutely not miss, its Novare Res.

 

IMO Sebago's beers are about 100x better than anything Gritty's. And Sebago Simmer Down is the best summer beer in ME. I agree that the food leaves something to be desired, but definitely not the beer. Very solid stuff, aside from the Saddleback.

 

I agree that sebago's beer is better than gritty's, but I'm still not a big fan. I wasn't trying to trash the place. If you're looking for a low key place for a beer and a burger, it's as good as any. I was more saying if you're traveling to maine from a distance, you can do better. Plenty of stuff going on in Maine that will be more impressive, IMHO.

 

I thought In'finiti was pretty solid. We stopped in for a drink at the end of the night and got a seat at the bar. I had a collaboration stout they brewed with Oxbow, which was delicious. I forget what my fiancee had, but she enjoyed her beer as well (although we both preferred the stout). We had better beers elsewhere earlier in the evening at Pai Men Miyake and Novare Res, but it was the perfect place to stop on the walk back to the hotel (it's just across the way from the Portland Harbor Hotel where we were staying). Have a great trip!