Portland recommendations

Made it to Belflower brewing behind UF. Excellent out the gate set of beers. Enjoyed the ipa, pale and both the coffee/cinn imperial stout and the vanilla.

Great little spot but man were we lucky going early. That line was fucking huge after. Portland in general will be a shot show this summer with social distancing still being needed but twice to three times people going out compared to last summer.

 

This is a huge concern of mine. We were thinking of an anniversary thing in Maine (it’s in May). Thinking vaxxed, etc, but even still why not wait until post-Labor Day.

 

we did Austin first a little after opening for Real and it was busy af but we got in almost right away. Enjoyed our drinks but that line also went fucking nuts. Moved over to Bellflower after and there was small wait so we walked to coffee by design and brought coffee back for our two friends and basically were in. Then that line became a shit show. Moved on from there to Terlingua BBQ and a small wait for walk in. Walked to oxbow and got a table top pretty quick. As soon as we got our beer we had to split back to Terilingua. Food was fucking amazing. Lady got a margarita which was damn good and I was just enjoying my water ha. Ended at Urban Fermentory for some Kombucha she loves. Moral of the story is go early and pick where you wanna go. Open seems to be the best times here in the Portsmouth area or Portland and industrial way. We’ve almost given up on evenings.

We’re not looking forward to the friggin crowds at our beach this summer either! But...Bissell is opening back up, which I’m excited for.

Though, all of this is pretty selfish. I am happy my friends in the service industry will be busy as hell and paid well this summer!

 

I love terlinga!

 

That was some legit brisket taco

 

Can anyone help me out with the corner echo right outside of the flatbread company? Am I the only one who knows this reference? There must be one local in here

Seriously people, if you have been to Portland and don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to check this out.

 

It's the end of March. Things have been improving steadily, by summer I imagine things will be drastically different and capacity will be increased.

 

Capacity maybe. But with distancing that’s a moot point. That won’t change for quite sometime. It’s the 6 feet that kills space. Austin said they have a little more space to use in the next few week which will help.

 

Was wondering about crowds related to regulations. Was thinking this may be a good time to travel a little outside Portland proper to visit other breweries. Maine Beer Co, Mast Landing, may be chiller as outside 'city limits'? Anyone else with some recs. for breweries to visit outside Portland, but still relatively close?

 

True, this is a good point. But by the summer things should be drastically different. I could see the six foot distancing going away, but not masks.

I feel as if every two months that go by there's more changes...fans at Fenway tomorrow!

Also, how much outdoor seating was there when you went? I largely sit outside at breweries when I visit in the summer, so capacity can and will be greatly increased that way. Same for restaurants with the "parklets" set up.

 

Surprised there aren’t more recommendations for Bunker. I’m a fan of their lagers and plenty of outdoor seating, usually with a good food truck.

 

Just over the bridge basically in South Portland are both Fore River and Foulmouthed Brewing. Sea Dog also recently opened another brewpub in the old Easy Day bowling alley location which is also in the same general area in SP.

 

Barreled Souls just reopened yesterday.

 

planning on being in Portland in early July. Any updates from locals on reopening(s)?

 

Heading up for an overnight Saturday for a friends bday and able to do both industrial way and downtown. Will be four of us.

I’ll add some updates after on our stay since people have been asking. We enjoyed our trip last weekend and stoked to go to Bellflower again.

if anyone wants to chime in any stuff happening this weekend we’ll certainly try to get to it

 

I’ve planted the seed of a day trip to portland (both vaccinated) this weekend. I need to know more about Bellflower.

 

From everything I've seen they look to be your typical IPA and Pastry Stout type brewery (maybe not Pastry Stouts per se but Stouts with lots of cacao, cinnamon, vanilla, etc.). They'll throw in a few lagers and other styles here or there, probably make them very well, but people will come for their IPA's and Pastry stouts and they will grow and soon have only IPA's and Pastry Stouts. By next summer they will have grown into either a larger location or a second location. They'll grow and grow, maybe open more locations and in about 3-5 years will be big enough to start making lagers again here or there. That's probably not what they plan, they probably think they will make a ton of variety (based on their website) but these guys cut their teeth at Trillium. They already have a decent hype and people are going to come expecting IPA's and Pastry Stouts. I could be way off but that's the vibe I get from them. I'll definitely check them out when I'm up there but I think they'll be a lot like Definitive.

 

which sounds fucking awesome and lucrative. You have it figured out, why wouldn’t you open one now?

 

I wish I could, if I could brew like that and opened a brewery I'd probably follow that exact model. Maybe my post sounded snotty (maybe it was), I was just commenting more on what is bound to happen (in my opinion). They've got families to support and from what I can tell the majority of people still want IPA's and flavored stouts. More power to them and I will visit them, I probably won't drive only to visit them but if they are as good as what I've heard I'll probably stop by whenever I'm up there.

 

Watching this thread with great interest. Our 25th anniversary Italy trip is in the toilet, so we’re heading up to ME and NH on April 30. We have an AirBnb in downtown Portland, near Congress and High Street for the 30th and 1st.

We’d ideally like to park the car and not get back in it until we leave for the White Mountains on the 2nd. At least one of the nights we hope to do our own walking brewery tour, visiting at least three and hopefully getting dinner at one of them or somewhere along the way. Walking distance isn’t that important, and if necessary we’ll get a ride back to the AirBnB. Four to five miles by the end of the night, through safe and walkable areas is ideal.

So for such a plan, I would appreciate suggestions. More important than the beer type is the vibe at the brewery, assuming their taprooms are open for visiting. I’m fond of most styles, but my wife has a one-track NEIPA mind, which I imagine won’t be too tough to find.

As an aside, I’m bringing a large cooler to fill with beers to take back to CT. I’ll very likely be stopping at Treehouse on the way up to partially fill it. Wink, wink.