Maine Pretty Much Owns The New England Beer Scene
- jeremyisafarmer
- Oct 10, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 26, 2021
You can throw a rock in Portland, ME, and hit 4 or 5 of the best breweries on the East Coast.
Man...Maine has it all. Unbelievably beautiful nature all around you? Check. All the fresh seafood you could ever want? Check. Possibly the best beer in New England? Check! Everything we experienced in this state made us start planning out being here again next year before we even left and a HUGE part of that was the beer. Similar to Oregon and Washington, this place just cranks out creative, interesting, and super tasty beers. Mast Landing - Bissell Brothers - Oxbow Blending - Belleflower
The New England-est of NEIPAs
After we went to The Alchemist and Foam Brewers in Vermont, we knew our adventure into the hazy world of the Northeast was underway, but we had no idea that we would end up finding some of the best versions of this style that we've had while out on the road. Once you get to Portland, ME, it feels like being in the Ballard area of Seattle - you're just crisscrossing the street from one ridiculously good brewery to another.
Where to go first for some beers?!?
So when we were in Stowe, VT, we hiked the Pinnacle Overlook and met a couple at the top who were as into beer as we are. Craft beer never fails to connect us to people and cool shit wherever we are, even at the top of a mountain. When we mentioned that we were headed to Maine, they told us Mast Landing was an absolute must. They gained a ton of notoriety for making one of the best peanut butter stouts, Gunner's Daughter, which definitely lived up to the hype. Obviously, we're both hop heads, but coming from drinking our fair share of Ten FIDY shots at Oskar Blues, we don't shy away from dark, rich stouts. Their Freeport location (just around the corner from the unreal L.L. Bean flagship store) is gorgeous and has Night Hawk food truck pumping out killer burgers. Every hazy we had here had just the right amount of tropical fruit flavor mixed with a smooth mouthfeel, the perfect primer for the next few days. Maine Brewing is just up the street as well, and while we didn't stop in there, we had their Lunch IPA, which was another great tropical hop IPA from this region.
Onto even more heavy hitters
You can't mention Portland to the craft beer crowd without the conversation steering to Bissell Brothers, and for good reason. Bissell Brothers is located outside of the downtown area in this secluded peninsula called Thompson's Point. It's a total destination and worth the little extra effort since the beers are some of the greats in this city. Of course, we went in on the hazys and were rewarded with some super smooth, juicy NEIPAs like Here's To Feeling Good All The Time and Assume Positive Intent (two of our favorites there) all served up in an absolutely stunning taproom housed inside a 100-year-old building. The staff there unloaded some suggestions on us and pointed us to what felt like a Miracle Mile of amazing breweries in the East Bayside area of Portland, and we couldn't be more thankful cause it steered us to our reining champ of the Portland, ME beer scene.
Walking around East Bayside
The first stop we made in this neighborhood was Oxbow Blending & Bottling - known for their mixed-fermentation and sour beers that do more than just cram 50 different berries into a sour beer or try to recreate Warheads-style tartness. This crew makes deceptively subtle and almost delicate beers that I really wish were a more regular take on the category. Once we sat down with a sampling of everything from a clean, crisp Italian Pilsner - Luppolo, a grisette doing its best cocktail impression - Paloma Daydream, to two truly incredible farmhouse ales - Wilde Moon and Frambiovese, we were taken back by how refreshingly approachable all of these beers were. We're so used to everyone trying to blast everyone out of the water with over-the-top smoothie sours or pastry sours or whatever the new trend is, that just having straight forward, elegant flavors threw us off. Bekah's not usually into spontaneous or mixed-ferm beers and she was as down for all these as I was. Not to mention they share a space with a Frites spinoff of the James Beard Award-winning Portland restaurant, Duckfat. With some fries in our bellies and a list of breweries to visit, it was on to the next stop.
THE Portland brewery for us... Like we said, take a quick walk in this neighborhood and you're going to run across some great spots - Urban Farm Fermentory has some really cool savory hard kombuchas and a beautiful taproom - but the real show-stealer for us was Belleflower Brewing. Not knowing what we were in for besides having been told to come here by every brewery we stopped at, we couldn't have been more amazed. Official Champs of Maine in our minds. We grabbed a Double NEIPA, Barn Hex (Enigma and Vic Secret version), and a good ol NEIPA, Hexology, snagged a seat on the patio, and then took our first sips. Both of us looked at each other and widened our eyes in excitement. Whenever this happens, we know we've hit gold. Barn Hex has all the tropical fruit smoothie hop flavor you could want on a warm day - papaya, pineapple, and grapefruit - all mixing together with the smoothest mouthfeel that still finishes dry and refreshing - basically a perfect beer for us. Not to be outdone, the Hexology comes kicking in with the pineapple, orange, and lychee; while there's that smoothness that New England has infused in their IPAs like nowhere else, there's just the slightest bit of hop bite to give it a jolt that's always a welcome surprise in the NEIPA world. Sometimes expectations in the craft beer world set you up for disappointment when you stop at the hypiest spots, and then there are times like this where all the locals in the scene are telling you to stop and you couldn't have been happier you did. Have we been trying to make our Belleflower beers last as long as possible in the van fridge? Hell yes. Will be heartbroken when they're gone? Of course, but it just makes Maine head to the top of our Must Go Back beer lists.
Where should we stay?
Freeport, ME (right by the 24hr L.L. Bean flagship store)
Without a question, this spot rules all others! It's FREE, specifically for RVs/vans, and is right by the 24hr L.L. Bean so late night bathrooms are no issue. Mast Landing and Maine Brewing Co are right around the corner, it really doesn't get better than this for boondocking. Sure, you might be like 20 min from downtown Portland, but it's awesome! 43.85486, -70.10465 #craftbeer #portland #freeport #maine #mastlanding #bissellbrothers #oxbowbrewing #belleflowerbrewing
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