Christmas is almost here, and we have to admit that we’re feeling a little mushy and sentimental. We’ve really enjoyed bringing you all the latest and greatest beer releases from across the state, and hope that you’re digging our newsletter.
While you may be thinking, “What can I get for Maine Beer This Week,” we say, “OMG, we’re so flattered, but no need to get us anything for Christmas.” Instead, our Christmas wish is for you to go out and support our great state’s many breweries by buying beer, merch, and gift cards. Together, we can help our breweries survive this hellscape that was 2020 and have a safe and prosperous 2021!
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
We spy with our little eye(s) a LOT of serious IPAs coming out today, including Imperial, Double, and even TRIPLE IPAs all being released for your shopping and drinking pleasure. For those of you who prefer your beers a little less hoppy, we’ve also got a Pilsner, Sour Ale, Saison, and Bock to tell you about.
Wednesday, December 23
Definitive Brewing Company
35 Industrial Way, Portland and 318 US Route 1, Kittery
Power Tiles, Triple IPA (10.5%) and Late Nite: Raspberry Marshmallow Delight, Sour Ale (8.1%)
Power Tiles is a three-way Triple Dry Hopped TIPA collab with Definitive Brewing’s Ocean State friends from Long Live Beerworks and their New Hampshire neighbors from Deciduous Brewing Company. This smooth-sipper is bursting with big citrus and floral aromas from Citra, Mosaic, Talus, and Galaxy hop additions.
Late Nite: Raspberry Marshmallow Delight is a decadent variant in Definitive’s Imperial Pastry Sour series. This fruited kettle sour ale is treated with a delightful recipe of red raspberries, fluffy marshmallows, and heaps of graham crackers. It tastes like a festival of ripe berries, cool and creamy desserts, and marshmallow raspberry mousse!
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Spiffy, Imperial IPA (8%)
Spiffy, Epiphany’s badass cousin, is arriving in town for the holidays today. This beer has the same malt bill, hop varieties, and 8% ABV as Epiphany, then cranks up the hoppiness with a third dry hop and extra Citra and Mosaic. Spiffy is a hop lover’s dream, and we’re stoked Foundation is bringing it back. The tasting room will be open 12-5 p.m. on Wednesday, and 12-4 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Island Dog Brewing
125 John Roberts Rd., Unit 15, South Portland
Winter Red, Red Ale (7%)
Winter Red — a Red Ale brewed with dried apples, cranberries, and mulling spices — is back in cans for a very limited time! Island Dog is open today from 12-5 p.m. for last-minute gifts and your holiday beer stock-up run.
Lone Pine Brewing Company
219 Anderson Street, Portland & 48 Sanford Drive, Bldg. B, Gorham
CITRA DOUBLE DRY HOPPED OH-J, Double IPA (8.1%)
CITRA DOUBLE DRY HOPPED OH-J is a hammer of hops with structured haze, a brilliant gold color, and a glorious white head worthy of taking a place alongside its haze monster brothers. A beautiful citrus peel aroma is complemented by a mild orange creamsicle sweetness and a complex range of bright tropical fruit notes. Reminiscent of orange juice, CITRA DDH is accentuated by notes of subtle lime, mango, and grapefruit that culminates in slight alcohol spice. Available today in Portland, and Saturday in Gorham.
Mast Landing Brewing Company
920 Main St., Westbrook
The Good Light, Saison (4.7%)
For Mast Landing’s first bottled offering, their brewers crafted a complex yet drinkable mixed fermentation Saison. Aged for 17 months, The Good Light has enticing aromas of peach, apricot, and citrus that burst forward thanks to the mixed culture fermentation, and a dry hop featuring Simcoe & Motueka hops. An effervescent, subtle Brettanomyces funk pairs with a rounded, refreshing body.
Release Date TBD
Bath Brewing Company
141 Front St., Bath
Happy Pils, German Pilsner (4.8%)
Bath Brewing will be releasing Happy Pils on draft and in 16-ounce cans at some point this week. It’s a crisp refreshing Pils brewed simply with pilsner malt and hopped with Cascade.
Liquid Riot Bottling Company
250 Commercial St.
NSFW, Triple IPA (10%)
It’s back again by popular demand. More NSFW for all those Triple IPA heads out there. Funny how everyone says they don’t drink Triple IPA’s because it’s too much for them to handle, but Liquid Riot keeps selling out. Hmmmm? This quadruple dry-hopped Triple IPA features Cashmere, Mosaic, Citra, Southern Cross, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops.
Rising Tide Brewing Company
103 Fox St., Portland
Circumnavigator, Bock (6.7%)
Rich, smooth, and malty with notes of toast and hints of dark chocolate, Circumnavigator is perfect for getting cozy on a chilly winter afternoon. It should be available next week, so keep your eyes peeled…
New Releases
This past week saw the return of a couple of old favorites, including an Imperial Amber Ale, and one of our favorite beer odes to movies starring Bill Murray. We’re also pretty stoked about an IPA brewed with white grapes — perfect to help toast the new year.
Austin Street Brewery
1 Industrial Way, #8, Portland & 115 Fox St., Portland
The Light & The Glass, Imperial Amber Ale (8%)
The Light & The Glass is back for its annual showcase and we welcome it with open arms. Pummeled with Citra and Simcoe, this Imperial Amber balances big dry-hop characteristics and a malt base that’s never late to work. Grapefruit, stone fruit, and berry on the nose followed by flavors of toasted malt, citrus pith, and a barely bitter finish.
Flight Deck Brewing
11 Atlantic Ave., Brunswick
Brut Camp, IPA (7%)
Brewed to celebrate the year we’re (finally) leaving behind, and to look forward to the year ahead. This vivacious India Pale Ale combines a dry, bubbly body with refreshing flavors of white grapes and hops creating a beer lover’s perfect beverage for New Year celebrations. Pack your seabag — you’re headed to Brut Camp.
Fogtown Brewing Company
25 Pine St, Ellsworth
Thai Hot, Ale (4.7%) & Bold Coast, Double IPA (7%)
Thai Hot is a spicy ale brewed with Maine-grown grains, rice, lemongrass, Thai basil, toasted coconut, lime, and Thai chilis.
Fogtown Brewing took their flagship Maine Coast Session IPA (made with Maine-grown grains) and double-dry hopped it with Ella, Mosaic, and Citra to craft the juicy, hazy brew known as Bold Coast.
Geary Brewing Co.
38 Evergreen Dr., Portland
Doppelgänger, Doppelbock (8%)
This Doppelbock, a dark lager, is rich and full yet crisp and approachable. Weighing in at a robust 8% with ripe flavors of dark chocolate and fruit, Doppelgänger is sure to elicit visions of sugar plums dancing in your head.
Sebago Brewing Co.
Gorham, Kennebunk, Portland, & Scarborough
NED IPA+ (7%)
It’s two days until Christmas, but the folks at Sebago Brewing are already getting a jump on Groundhog Day! NED IPA+ is now on shelves and on draft at all Sebago brewpubs and the Tasting Room. And if it feels like déjà vu, it’s because they initially brewed Ned Ryerson back in 2016 in honor of Portland Beer Week (and Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day”). They re-released it in 2018 as NED IPA+ with a re-worked recipe using Mosaic, Columbus, El Dorado, and Simcoe™ hops, plus Simcoe™ Lupulin Powder, and Thomas Fawcett malts, Golden Promise, Pale Crystal, and Rye — and with a fun new can. We hear it pairs well with flapjacks.
Woodland Farms Brewery
306 US Route 1, Suite C, Kittery
Cherry Lime Slippers, Sour Ale (4.8%)
Cherry Lime Slippers, Woodland Farms Brewery’s newest sour offering, is nice and tart with lots of Key lime and Montmorency cherry flavor! The festive cans are perfect for all Holiday parties, whether they’re socially distanced or virtual.
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.
Allagash Brewing Company
50 Industrial Way, Portland
Growlers:
- Fox Leap, Sour Ale (8.3%)
- Four, Belgian Quadruple (8.4%)
- Little Sal, Red Sour (6%)
- Nocturna, Imperial Stout (9%)
- Dubbel, Belgian Dubbel (6.8%)
Austin Street Brewery
1 Industrial Way, #8, Portland
- Patina, Pale Ale (5.3%)
- Six Grain, Milk Stout (6.4%)
- Neverender, DIPA (8.0%)
- Walcott, Smoked Brown Ale (5.7%)
- Anodyne, IPA (6%)
Baxter Brewing Co.
120 Mill St., Lewiston
- Stowaway IPA (6.9%)
- Couple More Miles, IPA (5.9%)
- Project 871 (4.9%)
- Pink Fruits for Pink Boots, IPA (6.9%)
- Parks and Rec, Blond Ale (4.6%)
Maine Beer in the News
Finally, some good news for Maine brewers is on the horizon if the new federal stimulus package gets passed. Also, a whole lotta love for Maine Beer Company in the news this week. Guess they’ve been EXTRA good this year! Santa, please take note.
Maine Beer Company Is Powered by the Sun
By maximizing its solar arrays and participating in community solar programs, Maine Beer Company is taking environmental stewardship seriously—and it’s a model that other breweries could follow.
Tap Lines: 39 Maine breweries come together to release Collaboration Beer
Each brewery put its own spin on the recipe to release unique beers under one label for the benefit of the Maine Brewers’ Guild.
Doing What’s Right Should be Good for Business. Is It?
At Maine Beer Company’s (MBC) industrial tasting room in Freeport, beer pilgrims and local fans queue in socially distanced lines to pick up cases of two of the brewery’s popular beers, Lunch and Dinner.
Maine brewers, loggers get relief in federal stimulus package
Maine craft breweries are getting two important tax breaks in the federal stimulus package.
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.
Know someone who loves beer? Do your friend a solid and share this newsletter with them!
Want more beer? Follow us on the socials to stay in-the-know on all the latest beer-y goodness.
