Great American Beers...

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Stone IPA, Founders Porter, Left Hand Milk Stout, Brooklyn Lager, Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale

These should all be available in Maine. Figured I'd recommend all different styles as well.

 

Since you'll be in Maine, leave one of your slots for something nice by Alagash; one of the sours or spontaneously fermented beers.

 

Just FYI, you might check further into the restrictions on what you can bring back. I went to Montreal last year and looked into this and my memory is the limit is closer to a case.

 

Permit me to name the Maine breweries that I am fond of:

• Maine Brewing Co. (e.g., Lunch, Dinner)
• Peak Organic (e.g., Fresh Cut, Crush IPA)
• Allagash (e.g., White)

I have also heard good things about Bissell Brothers.

Cheers!

 

I like @TongoRad 's suggestion that takes the state of production into account. If you were to make a mix-six of Maine beers you can go with:

- Bar Harbor Cadillac Mountain Stout

- Geary's Hampshire Special (HSA)

- a Maine Beer Co. pale ale or IPA

- a Bissell Brothers beer

- whatever Allagash strikes your fancy the most

In the last spot you can either go with the store worker's suggestion, a second choice from one of the above brewers, or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale if you never had it.

Cheers.

 

Limits are set by the provinces when it comes to non-exempt amounts. If someone is in the USA for 48 hours or greater they are allowed a case of beer duty free. If they are in the USA for less than the required 48 hours for exemption (i.e. a day trip) the limits are set by the province. Unfortunately for PorterPro125, he lives in one of the most restrictive provinces in Canada. This is due to protectionism from the province (New Brunswick) which has Moosehead Breweries based there. Moosehead has colluded with the government of NB to keep limits low to avoid competition that would affect their bottom line.

So, if PorterPro125 is only going on a day trip, he is limited to six imperial pints of beer, and even then he has to pay duty, which in that province is about 100%. If he stays for a weekend, then he can bring back 8.5 liters (24x355 ml) of beer without facing a ridiculous amount of duty and the archaic restrictions of a protectionist province.

 

Man, that's harsh! Thanks for the info.

 

I feel your pain here in that in my home state of PA we have an government institution called the PLCB (Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board) which runs state owned liquor stores. This is the government owned retailer where we buy spirits and wine.

Beer is sold by privately owned retailers and we fortunate that we have an excellent choice of beers to select from. So, when it comes to beer we are lucky.

Cheers!

 

Stone IPA; SN Bigfoot; Founders Breakfast Stout; something from Great Divide (either Old Ruffian or Yeti IS); Stone Arrogant Bastard (or preferably Double Bastard but I don't think thats in season yet); Weyerbacher Insanity.

Not sure what Maine's distribution is but those are all widely distributed beers that are currently sitting on the shelf in my home state and are IMO a good representation of the spectrum of American craft.

 

Counting Bastard once, 4 out of 7 of those are strong ales/barley wines... and 2 are imperial stouts. That's a spectrum of really big to biggest.

 

Fair point. But he did say AMERICAN beers. Thats what I think of when I think of American beers. If he would have said German beers I would have listed a Kolsch, a Hefe, probably a Pilsner. When I think of American craft beer I think stouts, barleywines, and aggressive IPAs.