TAP INTO PORTLAND
As Maine’s most populous city, Portland has a variety of activities for visitors and residents alike to enjoy from exploring local cuisine at the many downtown restaurants to boat chartering opportunities, harbor cruises, and trolley and walking tours. In addition to its picturesque coastal location on Casco Bay, Portland is also the home of several fantastic breweries where beer drinkers can kick back with family and friends over a pint or flight.
A few of the local breweries we visited and enjoyed on our recent trip to Portland include:
ALLAGASH BREWING COMPANY
A 15-minute drive north of downtown Portland will bring you to Industrial Way, home to Allagash Brewing and four other breweries (one of which I will touch on later). Famous for their witbier offering, Allagash White, the brewery and tasting room host a spacious outdoor seating area, two bars for ordering draft, can, and bottle pours, and lobster rolls and more from the Bite into Maine food truck. (And they are dog-friendly!)
The main bar features a selection of 10-15 beers to choose from, while the sidebar provides can and bottle pours and more limited run offerings. Inside the brewery store, visitors are presented with merchandise including wall signs, glassware, and apparel, and a wall of refrigerators housing many take-home can and bottle options.
On our visit, we decided to sample Once Upon an Orchard: Cherries & Raspberries, a sour ale aged with - as the name suggests - cherries and raspberries, and From Maine with Love #36, a gin barrel-aged saison. Once Upon an Orchard was tart-forward in taste, with the cherry sweetness coming first followed by a wave of sour raspberry. Light in mouthfeel and full in fruit flavor, it was the perfect choice for a warm June day. From Maine with Love #36 was floral on the nose, while drinking to a combination of citrus and spice flavors. The gin barrel-aging gave the beer smoothness and tamped down the typical “funk” one might expect with a saison. Refreshing and delicious!
DEFINITIVE BREWING COMPANY
Across Industrial Way from Allagash is where you can find Definitive Brewing Company. Another pet-friendly brewery, Definitive has outdoor seating in front and back of their building, as well as an inside seating area with couches.
Definitive regularly partners with local food trucks who park in front of the brewery where visitors can purchase food. On the day we went, the vendor was Ironclad Eats, a food truck whose menu included a variety of tacos, quesadillas, and salads. For beers at Definitive, we chose to sample Vanilla Superdome and a Fruit-Secco mixing Diamonds are Forever sour ale and Zardetto Prosecco.
Vanilla Superdome, a milkshake Double IPA conditioned on Madagascar vanilla, vanilla sugar, and lactose, packed sweetness and a strong hop profile without the hop flavor overpowering the vanilla. Diamonds are Forever, a pineapple key lime pie sour ale, also carried sweetness, specifically in the pineapple flavor, and drank easily mixed with the frothiness of the prosecco.
SHIPYARD BREWING COMPANY
Heading back downtown, located in the Old Port section of Portland is Shipyard Brewing. When we visited, the large menu boards behind the bar had 20 beers available to choose from including Export, Shipyard’s flagship golden ale, and several selections from their Sea Dog Brewing line. The tasting room offered plenty of seating and had a large brewery store where you can purchase Shipyard and Sea Dog glassware, apparel, and take-home beer.
We ordered two flights of four beers each to really explore the different options. Of the eight beers, the two that stuck out to me most were Sea Dog’s Sunfish and the Shipyard Hazelnut Porter. Sunfish, a fruited wheat beer, was smooth and crisp with a bright citrus flavor built on grapefruit and peach, a perfect combination for summer. The Hazelnut Porter was bursting with hazelnut flavor and went down very easy for a darker beer.
OXBOW BLENDING & BOTTLING (BREWING COMPANY)
A brief ten-minute walk from Shipyard on Washington Ave sits Oxbow Blending & Bottling. If a friend has ever recommended Portland to you as a destination, you have likely heard of Oxbow and their neighboring restaurant Duckfat Frites Shack. With indoor and outdoor seating available, a large beer menu, and later hours than many Portland breweries, Oxbow is a favorite for locals and visitors alike.
For beer to enjoy alongside some delectable poutine and sweet doughnut holes, I had Printemps, a farmhouse ale brewed with honey and herbs. It was floral on the nose and in flavor with the honey and red clover combining to produce a light, refreshing beer.