Hey guys, been back reading the last few pages and got some great suggestions on beers to try. We're taking a family trip to York Beach in less than 2 weeks and although with a 3 and 6 year old I probably can't do the breweries, i would like to bring home some good beers to try. I live in PA, so I'm trying to find stuff that normally wouldn't be distributed there and bring it back, so my questions are: a) what should I be bringing back home? I've about the Maine Beer Lunch, is that around this time a year and is it hard to get? b) what are some decent microbrew shops that sell 6-packs/22's, have good selection, etc around the York Beach area (we might get up to Portland too but i'm not 100% sure), but maybe somewhere within an hour or so is doable. Not looking exclusive to Maine as I read about a great number of superb VT, NH, MA beers too that I cant get back home. Just to give you my tastes, I love IPA's and all sorts of Ales, Belgians, saisons, also like a good summer beer as does my wife (who also likes hefe's) Not a big fan of really dark stuff or nutty particularly, but of course, will try about anything. Thanks for any help and appreciate all of you that have already helped me out in my backreading. Cheers!
Call Allagash and see if Coolships are available, otherwise go to Bier Cellar in Portland- best selection in the state.
Listing of which breweries distribute to Maine and not PA: http://www.seekabrew.com/distro/?s=PA&p=ME&sort=alpha
If you're driving up from PA your best bet probably won't be around the York Beach area. A trip to Portland would be well worth your while (should be less than an hour) from both a beer and a vacationing standpoint. You'll have access to a much better selection there. Portland is one of my favorite cities anywhere and it's great to just walk around. In addition, you may want to stop at a place like Julio's just off Route 90 in MA where the selection is huge and you could probably pick up some additional MA offerings. If that happens to be too big a detour I'm sure there are other shops along your route where someone could direct you.
Another recommendation for Portland - it's a fun town to just walk around. Get lunch at Duck Fat - good beer and amazing fries and dessert at Standard Baking Co. If you want the taste of Hill Farmstead, check out Blue Lobster in NH - it's right off 95. The head brewer there worked at HF and his stuff is top notch. Another "right off 95" detour is Redstone Liquors in MA. Hands down my favorite MA bottle shop with a great selection.
If you can find some fresh Can't Dog from Marshall Wharf, I'd snag that. More expensive than Heady though, still very good.
Don't count on Lunch, Craft Beer Guild prefers to send it out of state. Thanks a lot. On the other hand, Maine is a great place to vacation with an amazing amont of great beer. If you get to Portland,RSVP is a must and The Great Lost Bear has a huge tap list of many Maine beers. Have a great time.
Bier cellar is great but definitely hit RSVP for a bottle store, huge selection and they always have fresh MW and MBC.
$4/can in retail markets for Cant Dog vs $3 at the brewery for Heady, and they are both cheaper than $6 for Lunch at the brewery. Edit: I had a bad experience at the brewery, so now I'm pissy. That said, Oxbow is a nice ride, beautiful location, great beer.
If you're committed to the York Beach area, look at Tully's in Wells, Carl's in Kittery, and Gary's in Portsmouth. For food and drink, When Pigs Fly and Black Birch in Kittery. WPF is more kid friendly.
