Beercation Portland, ME

Use uber. Oxbow, novare, and kings head are amazing. Hit rising tide and liquid riot while in the area. Hit industrial way. For foundation bissell austin st and allagash. Beir cellar if you want a bottle shop. Have fun.

 

A recent thread asking the same question: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/one-day-in-portland-maine.370347/
Other than getting to some of the breweries, Portland is very walkable. Great town.

 

Here's my Google Doc I hand off to people coming into town. I've gone ahead and mapped out the stuff in Portland-proper that's a quick walk/uber around. Red=brewery, Green=restaurant/bar and blue=bottle shop. This list is FAR from complete, I opted to go with my favorites over an all-inclusive list.



Do not miss a trip out to Industrial Way for Allagash, Bissell Brothers, Foundation and Austin Street -- you'll kick yourself for it. It's like a 15-20$ Uber.

 

This is pretty awesome! I thought Bunker was the coolest setting of all the breweries I hit. I also enjoyed Urban Farm and Maine Craft Distillery for a little change of pace(thankfully all within a minutes walk of each other and where I stayed). Can't wait to get back out there one day.

 

The beer suggestions on here are all sound. Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream is across the street from Novare Res, though it's apparently closed until February - depending on when you're going, it's worth a stop if it's open. Duckfat and East Ender are next to each other, the former offering amazing milkshakes and the latter lobster nachos (and both have some solid beer of course). And I'm a sucker for Leroux Kitchen, a few doors down from Craft Beer Cellar. It's a cooking shop with a huge selection of delicious oils and balsamic vinegars, and you can sample all of them. All of these are around downtown and easily walkable.

 

Just like this, but add bunker and between rising tide and liquid riot.

 

Fill up on local seafood at J's Oyster House and then walk to Novare Res.

 

Had a great meal and a few pretty good local beers at The Little Tap House last weekend. Just a bit up the hill away from some of the crowds. King's Head is my favorite place downtown to grab a few beers.

 

Pan Miyake gets my money every time in Portland. Great atmosphere, solid tap list, and fun food. The brussle sprouts are life changing.

 

Every time someone mentions that spot in one of these threads it makes me want to go back for noodles, especially as the weather in Boston is getting colder. Great place.

 

They also have great tap-takeovers every so often too. Tuesday 1/19 starting @ 5pm is Oxbowzakya... super stoked.

 

Don't forget the Oxbow tasting room. IIRC, easy walking distance from the waterfront and lousy parking which won't matter if you are sans vehicle anyway. Definitely in the "now for something a little different" category.

Bissell hasn't moved yet, have they? That industrial park corner is a great spot and the food trucks on weekends are generally pretty awesome. Four good to great breweries within a 100 yards or so of each other - definitely worth the Uber cost in my opinion. Agree about the Bier Cellar - solid shop and friendly, knowledgeable folks.

 

I wish I could clone Pai Men Miyake and put one in Boston. Its hard to find a place with good beer and Asian food.

 

I would frequent such an establishment all the damn time. I know this isn't RamenAdvocate, but if anyone has any suggestions for good vegetarian ramen in Boston, I'd love to hear them. All the better if there's good beer.

 

I'm heading up in a couple weeks. Anyone have any idea what time people show up to get swish?

 

My personal favorite is the Thirsty Pig. Love the homemade sausages. Great taps and almost always have something from MBC and Bissell on. Right near Novare too.

 

I've had a couple different types of vegetarian ramen at Shojo in Chinatown. They seem to mix up the styles depending on season/mood. Solid noodles made in house. They usually have Hitachino beers and something local like Notch. Good cocktails. The Noodle Lab in Boston Public Market has made vegetarian ramen before but it hasn't been available on the days I've been. Totto Ramen in Allston makes it too but I haven't had it yet.

 

Was there for the recent release. Got there at 10AM for a 12PM opening. There was about 60 people in line at 10AM. By 10:30 maybe 100 and after that it was a ton more. The earlier the better.

 

Snappy Ramen in Davis is decent. I used to love their sushi, but we went there the day it changed over to ramen. We were initially pretty bummed about it, but, turns out, it's a good, affordable place without the lines of Sapporo in Porter exchange and the other one in Porter that just does one kind of ramen that I am forgetting the name of...