Maine Beer Co. Dinner

Yeah, I was trying to figure their rationalization when they thought that getting in line at 7:30 would be a smart move. Guaranteed they waited longer in line than anyone else.

 

Agreed. When i heard that I thought it was a little nuts. I came from just outside of Boston both times. I was at #2 release and arrived at 11. We were top 45. Today arrived at 10:40 and was around the same, maybe a little deeper. It was a long day, but the weather was great and ran into some friends from home and other cool BAs @ocl1536 and @beefsquatch. No complaints from me.

 

When they release a specific beer like this with limits do it away from the retail operations. Set up a truck or area for just Dinner- in and out. If you want to have a taster or two and buy Lunch etc head over to the main building. I had a great time, but it did take a while. Folks just enjoying themselves inside while people waited outside for others to leave.

 

Hey, more power to 'em, I say. Just no need. But as long as they had as much fun as everyone else all is good...

 

I asked them about this, and they said the additional liscence for the POS system is expensive, and if they were to setup multiple cashiers it would have to be indoors.

My original thought was to go to home depot and the apple store and get 4 folding tables, 4 easy up tents, and 4 iPads and go buck gnar in the parking lot slanging dinner but I guess its more complicated than that

 

No complaints from me either! In my opinion, Dinner is a world class beer and it makes it tough for me to even drink Lunch after having it. I'll still have Another One with no complaints though.

I arrived today at 11:05, was probably around 90th in line (+/- 10) and checked out at 1:30. As @MattOC said, the weather was great and that helped pass the time during the long wait.

 

I drove up last night from about 2.5 hours away and camped at the local state park. Grabbed an awesome breakfast in downtown Freeport and got in line at 10:50. Good vibes up where we were and the time flew by until noon. But then the line crawled and I was checked out at 1pm; I was guess it would be 12:30. So overall it wasn't bad and I'd definitely do it again. Sounds like they improved from the chaos I kept hearing about the first release, but it was a slow process this time. Just do cash only and do a truck sale.

 

Where did you go to breakfast smashy smash? I'm always on the hunt for quality grub

 

fantastic release! great meeting some of you BAs @MattOC you are a true stud! hope everyone got some and enjoyed their sick day

 

This is nuts! Do people really need a case of one IPA, let alone two? Really? When pretty much every week some special IPA gets released. How much beer do you consume?! It seems that people don't just buy beer anymore, or any "hot" liquor for that matter, they grab it! And as much as possible because... well, there is no tomorrow!

 

I believe it was called Stickey Buns Cafe. Nothing fancy, but super friendly staff, solid breakfast burrito, and yeah the sticky buns were unreal - but I did happen to catch them right out of the oven. I know this is out of the blue and slightly random, but I have to plug my favorite breakfast joint of all time should you ever find yourself in coastal-ish NH. The Big Bean in Newmarket. Unreal. If only they had a liquor license...

 

So I'm guessing the going price is ~$300 for the case?

 

I was gonna mule 10 bottles for my buddies, trade 3 for a Cantillon, drink maybe 3, and throw the the rest as extras for a few of my regular trading bros... But I only got four bottles. Sorry guys! Next time I'll get there stupid early. Or just go to HF. The slow line at MBC made me appreciate every other moderately paced line I've ever been in. But like everyone said, at least the weather was solid and everyone seemed cool. After this I couldn't score any ofThe Substance and got the last growler fill of Wanderlust at Foundation... 4 fills would have be great. So, a somewhat rough day in Maine as far as a beer haul goes, which is usually not the case. I'll get you next time Maine.

 

How long does Dinner usually stick around on draft, will it still be available Sunday afternoon? Thinking this would be a nice stop during a Portland to Brunswick trip before turning around for the long traffic-filled drive home...

 

Thanks for the heads up, didn't realize they stopped selling them!

 

@kevdemers it should hold on draft all weekend, you should be good. Kegs will be getting distro'ed also this week so keep an eye out at novare, and slab.

 

anyone have an update if its still available at the brewery

 

@muskiesman Bottles sold out yesterday, but you can still get it on draft at the brewery. Plus there will be select locations throughout the area to get it on draft as well.

 

You were like two or three people behind me and my buddy (in the camo shorts) ! Met some cool people in line and everybody was awesome, glad I decided to make the trip

 

Had it on draft this afternoon at the taproom, and it was quite good! Had never been, and wow it does look like a big bottle release would be problematic based on lot/taproom space.