Ebenezer's vs. Novare Res

Do Novare Res and Lively Brewing (same owners at Ebenezers). IIRC it's about 30 minutes north of Portland and has reasonable hours.

 

I've been to Novare many times and Ebenezer's once, which turned out to be a sub par experience. Novare has a more limited cellar, but the staff is far friendlier (especially if they get the idea you are really about to nerd out on the bottle list). I've never left Novare feeling like they were short on special options. Ebenezer's made it incredibly difficult to order from their cellar, the staff was straight up rude. For my money, I'll be sticking to Novare every time from now on.

 

Ebenezer's is legendary.

 

I have been to Ebenezer's countless times and to Novare 3 times. I would never say never but at this point I would not go back to Novare. My experience has been just the opposite of rocksteady726. Everybody has a bad day. I would advise that you try to go to both and make your own judgment.
Ebenezer's is legendary and for good reason.
Cheers

 

I can echo this experience with Ebenezer's. I have been to both Ebenezer's and Res Novare one time. At Ebenezer's the beer selection was pretty thin, they didn't have any decent beer on tap. Two of the house brew that actually sounded good had just kicked a few hours before arrival. Another frustrating situation was that Ebenezers website lists a ton of Cantillion and 3F wilds; well those were off limits because we were either not regulars, didn't spend enough or were not very important people. What ever the case, if you have never visited Ebenezer's do not plan on getting to sample anything from the cellar because the bar keep will pretend that they don't know what you are talking about and be rude as well. They even have empty Cantillion bottles used as flower vases on every since table. Food was even mediocre. We gave the place a chance, but after not so great food and a super skunked bottle of saison. I was very unimpressed by Ebenezer's. That place used to be good, but it is one the way downhill and picking up momentum fast.

Res Novare was nice, they had some nice selections of sour beer(this was the focus because my friend that I made the trip to maine with loves sour beers), and also had a few really limited Oxbow beers, an excellent draft beer selection and friendly waitstaff. Res Novare is definitely the easy choice here.

 

I have only been to the Ebenezer's in Brunswick (not the original in Lovell) after they transitioned from the Lion's Pride. The new version was primarily featuring their own brews (Lively Brewing) which were decent but not what we were expecting. It was disappointing to see their original ~25 taps and only 6 in use. It seemed like they were not restocking their bottle cellar either (and they didn't have a printed list). The food was decent though.

We would go back to the one in Brunswick since we pass by it whenever we go up to Maine, but we wouldn't make a special trip for it.

Our last visit to Novare was good, though the food menu was disappointing. We ended up getting a few drinks there and then making our way to Duckfat.

 

Haven't made it to Ebenezer's yet. Very sad to hear. Been to Novare loads of times and have liked the experience each time. Tough sell now for me to drive all the way to Lovell to hear I might not be treated well. Sad since I work in Maine and it's not "that far" of a trip for my wife and I. My though is a bar that is that remote and far out there should probably be greatful for the beer geeks that come into their establishment that hope for an experience.

 

My experience at Ebenezer's (Lovell) was quite good. Service was excellent and catered very nicely to my 12-person beer geek needs. Food was OUTSTANDING and the beer list was virtually endless. Only disappointment was the owner was hung-over from the night before (big party) and wasn't available for a tour of his cellar. Tap list was loaded with vintage stuff that I couldn't believe anyone had (SN Bigfoot 1999, 2000, etc).

Made for a memorable trip and the staff went out of their way to take group pictures and even had local recommendations for the group.

Again, just my single experience but would not hesitate to go back.

 

Ebenezer's and Novare Res are both awesome. However, in this situation, I'd go to Novare. There are so many other places you can hit up in Portland during your visit. For example, Allagash will be releasing Midnight Brett on Black Friday (and Bissell Brothers, Austin Street, and Foundation are across the street), and Oxbow recently opened their new tasting room in Portland. You could go to Eb's Friday and Portland on Saturday, but it's tough to hit all the great spots in Portland in one day.

 

I like both. I ordered a bottle of Cantillion at Ebenezers no problem. I asked what they had and the owner brought up a couple options. Pricey, obviously. The guy had a rude/cocky affect, but that just seemed his style. Kind of set me off, but I would go back if I was in the area. Especially for the Beglian fest. Great tap list when I was there, and really great sausage and cheese platters.

 

For me the debate is more "Ebenezer's vs. Many Portland options". Hard to pass up Lovell if you're already in the area, and my experiences there have been pretty awesome. But Portland has so many great options.

Given this same choice to make, I'd probably do Novare and then parlay it with stops at 5-6 of my other favorite Portland beer options (e.g. Thirsty Pig, Mama's Crowbar, East-Ender, Pai Men Miyake, Nosh or Slab, Salvage BBQ, In'Finiti, King's Head, etc etc etc)

 

I usually bring out of towers to the thirst pig, to novare and then to Infiniti

The pig is great for cheap eats, always have bissell and rising tide on draft

 

People have to understand that what makes Ebenezer's so spectacular is Chris Lively. The ridiculous cellar is Chris's personal cellar, so you shouldn't ever expect to automatically have access to the holy grail. Chris isn't always at the Lovell location, so if you want that special experience, call ahead, and still realize that you might not get access, things happen. Brunswick location doesn't have too much in the area of bottles, but the tap list is generally very good and I can say from experience that Lively Brewing is top-notch.

The best way to experience Ebenezer's: Belgian Beer fest in August (will be the Night of the Great Thirst again this coming summer!). It's hands down the best lambic fest in the US (last year was De Struise centered with Urbain present. It was totally insane, they had freaken Dirty Horse again!)

 

Just to give an idea, when Chris is around, the standard Cantillons can almost become an after thought. Id say pricing for those is about on par with other high-end bars. For the rarer stuff, well, 'standard' price pretty much goes out the window. You pay for age/rarity and really, even if it might be high, where else will you ever see it in a bar/shelf/anywhere?

 

I frequent the Brunswick brew pub quite often (since I live there) but also hit up Novare when I'm in the Old Port. They're separated by about a 25 minute drive on the interstate (hooray for increased speed limit!). Going to the original location in Lovell is more of a detour and if time is tight it might be worth hitting up more places closer together than taking the trek there.

For food: Eb's Brunswick > Novare
For bottle list: Eb's Brunswick < Novare
For tap selection: Eb's Brunswick < Novare
For tap rarity: Eb's Brunswick > Novare (Eb's is a brewpub so of course you can only get their beers there)
For atmosphere: Eb's Brunswick = Novare (they're different though, Eb's is more restaurant, Novare more bar)

 

Yes but not every one wants to play the game of giving him a reach around. Sometimes you just want to pick something off the list and enjoy yourself. We want a couple years back for a friends bachelor weekend. When we arrived we were treated similiar to rocksteadys experience where the bartender gave us the 'fake' cellar list full of shelf stuff. It wasnt until Chris was around and he realized we were there to camp for the night and offered to open some of our own whales that he dipped into his cellar. Im not complaining, like you said its his cellar and we actually had an amazing time as the night went on, and woke up to Chris personally making us breakfast with a bottle of cuvee de champions on our table, it just depends on what youre looking for and what kind of personality you have as well(willing to shoot the shit with this guy for hrs).

 

I think the question is what's best to maximize your time...driving to Lovell to hit one location (however incredible) or have the ability to hit at least 5 or 6 great places in portland. My vote would be for a day/evening of : Novare Res, King's Head, Rising Tide, UFF, Maine Craft Distillery, Duckfat, Infinity.

 

750 of Champions, I think $50. I wouldn't pay that much again, but was happy with myself. He also offered me Rose de Gambrinus. As he was serving it he said something like "Cantillion is the worst of the best lambic" and that he only gets 12 bottles a year. That last claim I have heard from a lot of places, but kinda doubt it here.