Planning to head up to portland next weekend. Out of the list below, what's the best breweries to hit up? Bunker Brewing, never had nor been Rising Tide - never been to brewery, but can get most beers locally Shipyard - went four years ago, can get locally Allagash - went four years ago, can get most of their beers locally Bissell Brothers - have had substance, never been to brewery Foundation - i've had epiphany, never been to brewery Marshall Wharf - had ace hole and can't dog last year
I'd say the Allagash, Foundation, Austin St, and Bissell area is best bang for your buck. Just have to make sure you are there when all are open. Also pretty sure Oxbow has a new place in portland and In'Finity makes good beers. Finally not sure if they brew it during winter but Rising Tide makes one of the best hoppy session beers IMO. Maine Island Trail Ale!
Marshall Wharf is in Belfast so it's a good hour and 45 minutes from Portland. I like MW a lot, but if time is an issue you should probably skip it. MVP09 pretty much hit it on the head and I'd add Maine Beer which is 20 minutes north of Portland and Banded Horn which is 25 minutes south of Portland.
I'm a big fan of Oxbow, which is connected to Maine Mead Works. That is some killer mead, and Oxbow has a sweet little operation going on as well. Maine Beer Company is right outside of Portland, probably worth the trip.
Agreed that Allagash, Foundation, Austin St, and Bissell Bros is a must. Saturday would be the best day to go since Bissell will have cans available. Allagash opens at 10:00 and the other three open at noon. The best course of action would be to hit Allagash first (the brewery tour is worth doing if you've got the time), walk accross the street to get cans at Bissell when they open at noon, then check out Foundation which is right next door, and after walk around to the back of the building to check out Austin Street. Rising Tide MITA is available in the summer but their DIPA, Calcutta Cutter, is available now. Rising Tide, Bunker, Oxbow's Portland tasting room, and Bier Cellar bottle shop are all within about a five minute radius. In'Finiti Fermentation & Distillation, which is now known as Liquid Riot Bottling Company, and Novare Res Bier Cafe are also nearby.
If you're at Allagash, go to Foundation, Bissel and the fourth on the street (Austin?) Rising Tide has a nice tasting room area, with some brewery only specials. plus there's a distillery next door that does some interesting things as well. Bunker is a tiny little place, but very good as well. For something different, Urban Farm Fermentorium does kombucha, mead, and ciders, also very interesting things and does them really well also. Maine Beer works is about 1/2 hour, 45 minutes from Portland, but is also worth the trip (plus Cold River Distilling is very close, making great vodka and gin. I would also suggest Tributary brewing (Tod Mott, formerly of Portsmouth Brewing among others) Do a few searches, there are some pretty fantastic things happening up there. BTW< if passing through Portsmouth, check our Earth Eagle brewing, about 5 minutes walk from Portsmouth Brewing. Really cool things going on there.
Another vote for Maine Beer Co in Freeport (though I'd say it's 25 min tops from Portland). Very chill tap room, friendly folks always willing to talk, and they usually have some pilot brews on tap. I'd pass on Shipyard and do Sebago. Of the Shipyard-SeaDog-Gritty's-Sebago group, I usually find Sebago to be by far the tastiest. I do have to credit SeaDog for having the coolest location for their Brunswick brewery, at the foot of an old bridge and hanging over the androscoggin River. That's always a fun stop. Lots of good beer bars in Portland. Lost Bear, Novare Res, and a little futher north (15 min from Maine Beer co) in Brunswick is Lions Pride.
Yes Calcutta Cutter is a great beer.l always forget about it. When RT first opened I though Zephyr was solid comparable to Lunch. But it sits on shelves for ever in MA and i have not had it fresh in forever.
Yes I always get a growler of fresh Zephyr when visiting Portland, just wish there were fresher bottles in Mass though.
If you're going to Maine Beer Co., might as well keep going another 15 min. on 295 to Ebenezer's Brewpub in Brunswick for a good meal and their diverse selection of house-brewed styles. They fill growlers, too.
Ditto all the suggestions about Austin/Foundation/Bissell/Allagash/Oxbow/Maine Beer. If you end up in Brinswick, Seadog is cool for a pint and Lions Pride has a great tap list. In addition, about 25-30 min from Brunswick is Baxter Brewing in Lewiston. Pretty sweet brewery and taproom there.
Seen a couple mentions of Lion's Pride in here . . . Just so you don't get confused, Lion's Pride is now Ebeneezer's Brewpub. Same place, same people, just a new name (to match the other, more famous Ebeneezer's, which they also own) . . . and they brew now, too (Lively Brewing).
Definitely make an Industrial Park trip to visit Allagash, Bissell Bros, & Foundation... Then park the car and tour around the great Portland bars to drink Maine Beer Co, Oxbow, Rising Tide, & Marshall Wharf pints for the rest of your time in town. The Freeport and Lewiston breweries are great, and loved Lion's Pride (haven't been since they started brewing and changed the name) - But I would take an afternoon/night out hopping around the Portland bar scene 100% of the time.
The industrial park breweries that everyone's mentioned make great beers and a worth a visit, but don't skip the in-town breweries too, which I think are actually more fun to visit because you can spend the day walking around between breweries, bars, restaurants and coffee shops. There's really nowhere else quite like it in New England (Portsmouth is partially there, but most of the breweries are farther afield). Rising Tide makes some beers that are definitely worth checking out, and just around the corner is Bunker, which has a very cool area "taproom" if you can call it that--really you're just drinking pints in their brewery and outside on a deck in nicer weather. Right between the two is an outstanding coffee roaster, Tandem, that offers a nice break from all the booze. On the waterfront is In'finiti, which despite its name, is another place that you shouldn't miss while in town. They make some very good beers in addition to their distillery, and again in good weather, the deck over the water is an excellent place to enjoy a beer.
Anyone have experience bringing their dog along to any of the aforementioned places? We'll be traveling through the area soon and we'd love to stop at a couple, but I don't want Fido to be an unwanted guest.
