Beercation to Maine vs Vermont.

If you don't drive then the decision is easy: Portland over Vermont. You can take a train(the Amtrak Downeaster) or a bus from Boston to Portland. Takes about 2 hours. Portland is a great little city with a number of excellent breweries.

 

Go to Portland... great town. Tons of great restaurants and amazing breweries (all types of beer) and you can take the Amtrak from Boston. Easy decision.

 

You posted this question just the other day, right? http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-england-beercation-question.400394/

I just can't imagine doing Vermont without a car. Yes you will miss out on Heady Topper and Sip of Sunshine (unless you bring something interesting from home and set up an IP trade) but to me the difficulty of a no-car VT trip makes the decision easy. Plus, I think Portland is a way better city than Burlington, for food and bars, and honestly I am not sure that I agree with the notion that Vermont has the best breweries. Make sure you track down Hill Farmstead in NY or Worcester, though.

 

The only gotcha is three of those breweries are not walking distance from downtown. Would be a cheap enough Uber though. Totally do Portland if you're not driving.

Save Vermont for when you can stop at all of the good stops like Worthy Burger, Downtown Waterbury, Hill Farmstead, Three Penny, Von Trapp, The Crop, Downtown Burlington, etc.

 

Bissell Brothers and Foundation are right next to each other, with Allagash right down the road, in the same industrial complex. Would recommend hitting them all.

 

Look for Maine Beer Co around town, but as many have stated in other threads, it probably isn't going to be worth it to get up to the brewery. Hit the Industrial Way breweries - Foundation, Austin Street, Allagash. Bissell is there now, but I take it from their release schedule that they will be closing up the original brewery in May and moving to their new spot at Thompson's point.
Other breweries in Portland include Oxbow (blending and bottling room), Rising Tide, and Liquid Riot. Take your girl to Fore Street, Central Provisions, or Eventide Oyster, and get sandwiches at Duckfat. Great great city for eating.

 

I would also recommend OTTO pizza. The mashed potato, bacon, and chive pizza may sound weird, but it is amazing.

 

Portland, ME

 

For a little while longer

 

True, wasn't sure when his vacation was scheduled, and I believe they aren't closing their current location immediately after the new one opens, correct me if I'm wrong.

Glad they're expanding, but will miss being footsteps away from Foundation after hitting Bissell.

 

Blow out the Foundation walls!

 

Visiting MBC (In Freeport) from Portland would probably be an expensive ride since it's about 15-20 min on the highway, the Craft Beer Cellar in Portland should carry most of the MBC line up and most of the better bars/restaurants will usually have MBC on tap (But if you do go to Freeport to visit MBC, stop at Gritty McDuff's, great food and decent beers). Foundation, Bissel Brothers, and Allagash are a must, Oxbow beers (for me) are hit or miss. Also check out Banded Horn (Saco, ME) and Barreled Souls (Biddeford, ME) on your way north, they are just south of Portland. Shelf beers worthy of trying from Maine Breweries are Sebago Brewing Fryes Leap IPA and Runabout Red (they have a brew pub in Portland and the beer is definitely fresher there), Baxter Brewing Stowaway IPA and Tarnation, Peak Organic IPA and Hop Noir. There are almost 60 breweries in Maine so your only challenge is figuring out which ones you want to try (and what you can travel to). With all this talk of Maine Breweries I think I need to go get that can of Foundation Epiphany out of the fridge now.

 

MBC will distribute most beers, they do have some beers that are brewery only and usually special release (Dinner, Pilot 9, Red Wheelbarrow). But beers like Lunch, Another One, Zoe, Weez, Peeper, those can all be bought at bottle shops (Check the Date! sometimes MBC sits in stores to long). Weez is ten times better at the brewery on tap, the hops are much stronger than in the bottles.

 

Freeport is also home to Llbean and other shopping outlets that may help keep the girlfriend happy while you hit MBC

 

Quick question, anyone recommend a campground in the Portland, ME area that is within reasonable walking distance to beer ?