Portland trip itinerary feedback

Did the Maine Brew Bus tour as part of a bachelor party last weekend and it was pretty fantastic. I was pretty apprehensive at first, in part because I've been to these before, but it turned out to be quite fun. Ours was the Casco Fiasco tour that dropped us off at Allagash, Bissel, Sebago and Rising Tide. The bus dropped us off at Sebago for lunch, and it was great having flights awaiting us! The guides were hilarious and upbeat and I was very pleased they gave me extra time to check out Austin Street and Foundation when we visited Bissel.

Looks like your weekend is pretty booked, but if there is space I do suggest you try it out! If not, spending a few hours on Industrial Way and Novare Res is all the beer time you will need!

 

Good luck with the trip tomorrow, however you choose to spend you time I'm sure you'll have a blast. I'm only two hours away and every time I go there I feel like I missed out on something I wanted to do. I'm always looking forward to my next visit.

 

When in doubt, always dress like an adult, which means wearing pants to dinner.

 

Some great info on this list already, but wanted to weigh in here on the food options. Portland & Rochester is great, but outside the Old Port a bit, so plan on driving if you head over there. Local 188 is great - all of Jay Villani's restaurants are worth a mention, and if you like BBQ, you should definitely check out Salvage - fantastic food and a great tap list. In'finiti is worth a stop, and while you're there, stroll across the parking lot to check out The King's Head.

I've found Little Tap House to be a bit inconsistent. If you're in town for the weekend, I'd give it a pass - there are other, better options. Check out Central Provisions or East Ender instead maybe? Both have (imo) better food and very good taplists.

Also, with a little bit of luck I think Slab, the new venture from Jason Loring of Nosh is going to be open this weekend, also with a pretty killer taplist. I'm keeping an eye on their Facebook page, and will be there as soon as they open up.

 

Heading to a bachelor party in August as well. We have all day Friday/Saturday for activities. Staying in Falmouth, about ten miles from Portland (are there cabs?). There appears to be a bus that goes directly to Portland, but it's a 40 minute bus ride.

-Anyways, as appealing as the bus tours seem, it looks like it might be more efficient to make reservations at Allagash, and then hit up the breweries across the street.

-My buddy's been to Duckfat, maybe try to grab reservations at Fore Street? That seems to be a general consensus home run in this thread.

-Hit up Novare Res

Am I missing anything? (Obviously there's a lot more, but this seems to be the bulk of it. We also want to spend some time hanging at the house we got on the beach).

 

Heading up to Portland this Friday to spend the day with the wife. Thanks for this great thread, lots of things I didn't know about.

 

Am I the only person who finds the beer bus companies annoying? They seem to attract folks who don't know a lot and just want to get drunk and one arriving instantly make a brewery overcrowded. We are trying to avoid visiting breweries when they are there. JMHO.

 

A great thing they are doing now is running a regular route around town weekdays so that people can get on & off at any stop they choose - it just keeps circling around on a 30min. loop. A great benefit to people who want to pub/brewery crawl but are not into an organized itinerary.

 

Is there a link for the schedule? I wouldn't mind trying to do this during the day on a Friday.

 

http://www.themainebrewbus.com/hopandgo/

 

Wow that is useful, just a way to stop any drunk driving - I totally take back anything negative about this idea it rocks. Double like the post above.

 

looks like its not on Friday
FREE shuttle service along a set route through Portland4
pm-7pm every Tuesday & Wednesday

 

Got back from Portland recently...it was an anniversary trip, so I obviously couldn't go all-in on the beer scene (though the wife was down for a trip to Allagash, great tour). Did the anniversary dinner at Fore St. Damn, excellent meal, indeed a home run IMO. We sat right next to the open kitchen and really enjoyed that. Mussels and hanger steak were both outstanding. Not a huge beer list, but Oxbow FPA did the trick nicely, and we followed up with a celebratory Loon in a basket at Novare Res. We also dug Duckfat's poutine with the Oxbow grisette on tap.

 

Thanks for the link!

This sounds pretty awesome, I think we'll follow a similar agenda with other bachelor party activities thrown in.

 

Sorry to revive any old thread, but I had a quick question. We'll be stopping by the Seadog Brewpub in Topsham to start the trip. Any recommendations for food and beer there?

 

Unfortunately, I don't think I can recommend any Seadog beer. Maybe a bottle of Bud?

 

Not a big Sea Dog fan, but the brown is palatable ~ the IPA is not (you would think with SY's Monkey Fist, Sea Dog could make a 1/2 way decent IPA, nope). Wife likes the fruity beers like their blueberry, raspberry, or this year's new Sun Fish (peach and grapefruit).

Food is pub fare, but the seared Brussel's sprout salad is very good (or was when I had it).

 

Go to frontier cafe instead, its just a stones throw up the road from sea dog. Awesome beers including the subtstance always on tap, and awesome infused cocktails. Unless you have your heart set on seadog, I'd check out frontier.

 

If you're gonna be in Topsham, you are so close to Lion's Pride (or whatever it's called now that they are brewing) in Brunswick - Same owners as Ebenezer's in Lovell and a heck of a place. I'd recommend putting your efforts into a venue-shift it at all possible.

But if you're locked into SeaDog, I guess stick to their Browns/Stouts/Fruit as mentioned above, and away from anything Hoppy. Best of luck,