Hey all, We're taking a little family trip up to Portland, starting today. We've got "tickets" to Allagash on Saturday, and we're going to see Maine Beer on Sunday. I've got a list of great beer spots for lunches and dinners, but I don't know what's kid friendly. I have a four-year-old toddler and an infant. They're well-behaved, but not all bars work for families. Any advice on what spots have good tap lists and are supportive of families (seating and aura more than menu)? Any area near Portland (~30 minutes of drive time) would work. Appreciated in advance! -Rog
My kids are now 6 and 7, but as long as you go early in the day, most of the bars are pretty kid friendly. Navare is a little dark, but Infinity should not be a problem. They do growler fills too, a rarity in Maine.
Maine Beer is great for kids. They actually have games for kids to play. Gritty's is also fine for kids.
Awesome! At Great Lost Bear now, and this works great for the kids. I definitely would like to hit up Novare Res.
Excellent advice; I plan on purchasing some bottles while I'm in the area. Had a Fluxus on tap, and one of the cask beers: Geary's Hampshire Special. Both very cool beers. The Geary's was more interesting, but not in my wheelhouse.
Great little trip. We did dinner at Great Lost Bear on Friday. Allagash on Saturday was awesome; great folks there. Picked up some Midnight Brett, Tiarna, Interlude, and Curieux ($15 is a solid price for Curieux). Interlude was absolutely fantastic. We did dinner at Sebago; had their IPA and their quad, "M", on tap. The IPA was really good; the quad very good but not great. Solid food, good environment. I also hit up the Bier Cellar, as I hadn't yet dropped enough money on beer. Some very good stuff; I was most excited to pick up some Mikkeller brews and a Drie Fonteinen kriek. I was sad, though, in that I was specifically hoping for a bottle of Pannepot to complete my quad tasting lineup for next month. No dice. Maine Beer on Sunday was excellent; I had a full 8-beer flight, which included a couple beers I hadn't yet tried (Weez and Lil' One). The place was great for the toddler to play around, the people were great, the beer was excellent. Sadly, the bottle selection was very limited; no Lunch or Weez. I did grab a couple bottles of Lil' One, though. On our way out, we stopped at random convenience store for pizza. On the way out, I perused their little craft beer section, and...a 2011 bottle of Pannepot! Talk about completely random. So all in all, it was a great trip. The B&B was cozy and comfortable, and there was plenty of snow on the ground but not the roads. Beer was great, people were great, and I got to visit three breweries. Cheers, Mainites! Mainers! Mainians! Mainiacs?
Picture time! Flight at MBC this afternoon. Yummy! Pilot 5, Weez, and Lil' One were all new to me, and they were all very, very good. Fluxus at Great Lost Bear. For some reason, it didn't click that this was a Belgian porter until it arrived. Very, very tasty, although I didn't really get any of the "blood orange" flavor. Very nice porter, though. No pictures of Allagash at the brewery, because I am stupid, but man everything was awesome. I almost bought a case of the house beer, it was so good. Now, on to the pictures of my bottle shop finds: Cheers, friends!
