They say April is the cruelest month, but whoever “they” are (were?) clearly just didn’t have enough good craft beer. Sure, the weather can be kind of iffy, but it’s nothing that a couple of quality Maine beers can’t fix. Plus, this is the time of year when we get an occasional taste of warm weather before the tourists arrive. It makes it feel all the more special like it’s just for us. Does that sound too hippy-dippy? Maybe we’re still feeling the effects of this week’s 4/20 celebrations. Anyhoo…
Here’s this week’s guide to the latest beer releases, rundowns of what’s on tap, upcoming brewery events, and a roundup of Maine beer news.
Beer This Week is Sponsored by: Tigpro Stainless Fabrication
Tigpro specializes in the design, fabrication, and installation of high-quality, custom-built brewing systems, tanks, process piping, and supporting equipment to the brewing industry. With more than a decade of experience, the Tigpro team can design a brewing system to meet your brewery’s unique needs.
Upcoming Releases & Events
Fogtown’s being a Wise Guy, Maine Beer has something to tide you over Post Ride, The Thirsty Pig’s throwing a party big enough for the whole planet (kind of), Corner Point Brewing is ready for Prime Time, York Beach Brewing is ready to Dance the Night Away, and Blaze Brewing is ready to go (almost all the way) to Funtown. Keep reading to untangle the word salad that was that preceding sentence, and find out what upcoming beer releases you need to know about this week.
Thursday, April 22
Allagash Brewing Company
50 Industrial Way, Portland
Nowaday, Belgian-style Blonde Ale (5.5%)
Take time today to lean way back in your chair and relax with Nowaday. This refined Belgian-style blonde ale is brewed like a lager. The result is crisp and dry—an even balance of flavor and refreshment.
Blaze Brewing Co.
28 Pearl St., Biddeford
Blinded By the Colors, Double IPA (8%)
At Blaze, they try to be balanced and mindful with their hoppy beers to try and provide drinkability with a gentle and soft hop punch. Welp, they threw the rule book out the window on this one and turned it into a full-on juice bomb. Blinded By the Colors was brewed with Citra, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops and smells and tastes like orange juice, mango juice, and passionfruit juice.
Corner Point Brewing Company
1 Sullivan St., Berwick
Prime Time Porter
Prime Time Porter is an American porter brewed with Mexican vanilla beans.
SoMe Brewing Company
1 York St., #3, York
Agamenticus, Amber Ale (5.4%) & Nubble Weiss, Berliner Style Sour Wheat (4.2%)
Go for a hike. Have an Aggie. This classic American amber ale is the perfect companion for a cooler day and is named for the nearby mountain.
Lightly tart, refreshingly fruity, and infinitely crushable, Nubble Weiss is a Berliner-Weiss style sour with raspberries.
The Thirsty Pig
37 Exchange St., Portland
Earth Day Party
Celebrate Earth Day with Foundation Brewing Company and Orono Brewing Company at The Thirsty Pig! They’ll be raising a pint to Mother Earth with Love Your Planet IPA and Pale Blue Dot DIPA, the breweries’ double collab brewed to benefit our home planet. It’s going to be a full-on tap takeover, with Orono and Foundation beers pouring all day. Join them on the back deck for killer food specials, excellent beer, and a socially distanced celebration to remember.
Love Your Planet IPA (7.1%) is brewed in support of the Maine Brewshed Alliance. Pale Blue Dot DIPA (8.4%) is brewed in support of Sebago Clean Waters.
York Beach Beer Company
33 Railroad Ave., York
Dance the Night Away, Double IPA (8%)
This New England style IPA riffs on York Beach Beer’s flagship ale, Dancing Madly Backwards, featuring the familiar twists and twirls of Vic Secret and Cashmere, but boosts the juice with the addition of Citra to the dry hop.
Friday, April 23
Definitive Brewing Company
35 Industrial Way, Portland and 318 US Route 1, Kittery
TWILIGHT JUICE, Double Fruited Sour Ale (9%) & PORTALS, Fruited Kettle Sour (6.3%)
This week’s release of TWILIGHT JUICE has been fruited to the max with the flesh of many dragon fruits, tropical golden berries, and zesty orange. It’s a tropical-icious mouthful of flavor.
PORTALS (Pomegranate) is a new addition to Definitive’s repertoire of fruit with this eighth version of their Fruited Kettle Sour with vanilla series. It tastes and smells like handfuls of ruby red pomegranate seeds and cracked vanilla beans. Both are available Friday in Portland and Saturday in Kittery.
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Cosmic Bloom, Pale Ale (5.5%)
Cosmic Bloom has a soft, smooth body from the touch of wheat and a bright citrus/white grape/tropical punch from the Azacca and Galaxy hops. Together, it combines to make a consummate summer crusher.
Maine Beer Company
525 US-1, Freeport
Dinner, Double IPA (8.2%)
Dinner is Maine Beer Company’s original Double India Pale Ale and has notes of intense mango, passion fruit, and pineapple; undertones of garlic, onion, and pine; and sweet aromatics of malt and caramel. It features Citra, Falconer’s Flight, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops.
Maine Beer will be joined by their friends at the Center for Wildlife for their monthly visit from their animal ambassadors from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. You’ll get a chance to see wildlife up close and learn more about the Center and what we can all do to help protect the animals around us.
Saturday, April 24
Barreled Souls Brewing Company
743 Portland Rd, Saco
Waffle Haus, Imperial Stout
New beer alert! Waffle Haus was inspired by delicious treats enjoyed by the Barreled Souls team on their trip to Belgium just over a year ago. This imperial stout was conditioned on chocolate, hazelnut, and waffle.
Tuesday, April 27
Maine Beer Company
525 US-1, Freeport
Post Ride Snack, Session India Pale Ale (4.9%)
Maine Beer Company brewed this session IPA as a refreshing post-ride snack with notes and aromas of tropical fruits, citrus, mixed berries, and grassy pine. Enjoy after a ride, hike, run, errands, or any celebration of the end of a long day, you deserve it!
Saturday, May 1
Fore River Brewing Company
45 Huntress Ave., South Portland
Let’s Taco ‘Bout 2021, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Two tacos. Two beers. Two sides. Chips and salsa, rice and beans, and churros for dessert. Locally sourced and locally made, from two of your favorite Maine small businesses, Fore River Brewing and The Black Tie Company. We can’t think of a better way to spend the first Saturday in May. Grab your tickets now, sales end Wednesday, April 28.
Release Date TBD
Fogtown Brewing Company
33 Cottage St., Bar Harbor
Wise Guy, Lager (5%)
A domestic lager brewed with Maine Pilsner Malt and Saaz Hops, Wise Guy is light and refreshing with just a touch of malt and should be available sometime this weekend.
New Releases
There are a lot of fruit-forward beers just begging to be imbibed this week, including a gose brewed with blackberries, an IPA with notes of mango and coconut, a sour ale with passionfruit and tangerine, and a mojito-inspired IPA that already has us dreaming of warm summer days out on the patio.
Bissell Brothers Brewing
38 Resurgam Place, Portland
Baby Genius, Blonde Ale (4%)
The days are getting longer, the temperature is ticking up, the trees are budding… it must be Baby G season! Baby Genius is the BB’s easy-drinking blonde ale, and the brewery donates 5% of all sales to benefit the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center, which provides top-quality care to young patients and their families.
Island Dog Brewing
125 John Roberts Rd., Unit 15, South Portland
St. Hubbins, Gose (4.2%)
St. Hubbins is a wheat ale with blackberries that comes with mild sour and salty notes and a crisp smooth finish. Perfect for a rainy, snowy, cold, sunny, or whatever kind of spring day Maine throws our way.
Liquid Riot Bottling Co.
250 Commercial St., Portland
Lagerbier, Classic German Helles (5%)
Lagerbier is blond in color with a light, bready maltiness, and subtle hopping; perfect for quaffing.
Lone Pine Brewing
219 Anderson St., Portland, and 48 Sanford Dr., Gorham
TIE DYE T-SHIRT CANNON IPA (7.7%)
If reggae is playing at Anderson Street, it’s because a fresh batch of TIE DYE T-SHIRT CANNON IPA just rolled up at the tasting room. Vigorously dank with subtle aromas of overripe mango, mixed candied fruit, and coconut, TIE DYE T-SHIRT CANNON will spank you with a 7.7% ABV hit to add a little extra lift to your day. Generously flavorful with notes of tropical fruit and stone fruit followed by a slightly bitter finish, this IPA is made to keep you as hazy as the beer in your can.
Mast Landing Brewing Company
920 Main St., Westbrook
Shake Up Your Bones, Double IPA (8%)
The bones are back! Shake Up Your Bones is a burst of Nelson, Simcoe, and Citra energy, with a smooth body and major drinkability at 8% ABV.
Nonesuch River Brewing
201 Gorham Road, Scarborough
Mojito IPA (5.2%)
A sub-lime minty salute to the start of summer.
Rising Tide Brewing Company
103 Fox St., Portland
Passionfruit Tangerine Squadron, Sour Ale
Passionfruit Tangerine Squadron is a draft, tasting-room-only release of Rising Tide’s new sour ale, and (as the name implies) is brewed with passionfruit and tangerine.
Trinken Brewing Co.
144 State Rd., West Bath
Frühling IPA (6.5%)
Frühling (springtime) IPA is a 6.5% citrus-forward, not bitter, light-bodied IPA made with Citra, Simcoe, and Amarillo hops.
On Draft
Help support local breweries while sampling these flagship beers and rising stars. Here’s a taste of what you’ll be able to enjoy at select breweries this week.
Baxter Brewing Co.
120 Mill St., Lewiston
- Lotsa Notes, Kolsch (5.7%)
- Window Seat, Porter (6%)
- Muddy Boots, Brown Ale (7%)
- Hal-Apeno, IPA (6.5%)
- Old Salty Dog, Lager (5.1%)
- Logger Road, Lager (3.9%)
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
- Vigor, Double IPA (8%)
- Afterglow, IPA (7%)
- Coffee Burnside, Brown Ale (5.1%)
- La Luz, Lager (4.8%)
- Mango Tango Jam, Sour (5%)
- Riverton Flyer, Pilsner (5.1%)
Lone Pine Brewing
219 Anderson St., Portland
- Stucco, Pale Ale (4.5%)
- World’s Best Boss, Imperial Stout (7.7%)
- Tiny Tess, IPA (4.05%)
- Choco Tuesday, Pastry Stout (8%)
- Walk Off, IPA (4.2%)
- Quantum Cuddle Kitten, Imperial IPA (7.8%)
Maine Beer in the News
A new brewery is looking to cater to the ladies, pilsners are having a moment, and there is a debate if Maine actually has more breweries per capita than Vermont (sigh, just let it go, Vermont!). All that and more in this week’s rundown of Maine beer news.
Woman-owned brewery to open in Lisbon
Olive Pit Brewing Co., the town’s first brewery, will cater to the growing female beer consumer, according to owner Christy Cain.
Is Maine Beating Vermont in the US Breweries Battle? We Crunched the Numbers
Whoever is first or second does not necessarily matter as much as how New England’s beer industry is doing as a whole, both states’ beer industry groups and businesses say
Tap Lines: Pilsners of all styles are popular again
And Maine breweries are making great examples of them.
‘A Piece of Your City’ kicks off in Portland
Remember the guy who did 50 jobs in 50 states and wrote a book about it? Well, he’s traveling the country once again, this time he started in Portland.
Allagash Expands Distribution of Truepenny Pilsner
Belgian-style pilsner with a hint of wild beer available throughout the brewery’s national distribution footprint.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Maine Beer This Week! If you own a brewery or other beer business and would like to be featured in upcoming issues, please email us to learn more.
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