After the past few days, it’s hard to believe that it’s not officially summer yet, but we’re inching closer and closer. There’s no need to fret if you haven’t been digging the heat. Not only is the weather cooling off, but there are plenty of local breweries pouring and canning warm-weather beers guaranteed to cool you down.
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.
Upcoming Releases & Events
We’re a bit light this week with upcoming releases. If you work at (or online stalk) a brewery, feel free to reach out to us on the socials and let us know about upcoming beer releases so we can keep everyone else in the know. In the meantime, you can look forward to new releases from Allagash, Definitive Brewing, and Norway Brewing over the next few days. Cheers!
Thursday, June 10
Allagash Brewing Company
50 Industrial Way, Portland
From Maine, With Love #05, Pale Ale
From Maine, With Love #05 is the latest in Allagash’s brewery-only, small-batch series of beers. Juniper and sea salt blend into the flavor of this crisp, herbal, and lightly tart Pale Ale that begs to be sipped on a warm summer day. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of beers in the From Maine, With Love series, goes to protect Casco Bay.
Friday, June 11
Definitive Brewing Company
35 Industrial Way, Portland and 318 US Route 1, Kittery
Camp Beer, Session Ale (4.2%) & Portals, Sour (6.3%) 
This crisp Session Ale is designed to be your quintessential campfire beer. Clean and crispy, floral on the nose with a satiating bready finish, this beer will hit the spot all day long from the trails to your campsite. It’s Camp Beer!
This iteration of Portals (brewed with dragon fruit, passionfruit, and vanilla) is a bright and festive beer, erupting with flavors and aromas of vibrant exotic fruits, açai bowls, and hibiscus petals. Both are available on Friday in Portland and Saturday in Kittery.
Norway Brewing Company
237 Main St., Norway
Maine Mountain Haze, IPA
Maine Mountain Haze is a New England-style IPA brewed with all Maine-grown grains. The brewers used Maine Malt House pilsner malt, Blue Ox Malthouse oat malt, and Maine Grains flaked oats for a light and fluffy base, then added 15 gallons of oat milk made from the same Maine Grains oats to the boil. Four pounds of Mosaic hops went into the whirlpool, and they dry-hopped the beer with around three pounds per barrel of Vic Secret and Hallertau Blanc. With super dank notes of pineapple and tropical fruit, this haze bomb is light, bright, and zippy with a dry, uber-hoppy finish.
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New Releases
We’ve got a lot of variety comin’ at ya in this week’s new releases. Do you want IPAs? I mean, duh, we’ll always have IPAs to hip you to. But this week we also have Pale Ales, Pilsners, Sours, a Saison, Imperial Stout, Kölsch, Wit, and even a Radler! No matter what you’re craving, we can practically guarantee there’s a beer (or two) we’ve included that’s perfect for you.
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Atlantic Brewing Company
15 Knox Rd., Bar Harbor and 52 Cottage St., Bar Harbor
Dad Jokes, IPA (5.4%)
When does a joke become a dad joke? It’s Apparent! (Groan). Named for new dad Alex, this double dry-hopped IPA is brewed with Citra and Idaho 7 hops.
Bangor Beer Co.
330 Bangor Mall Blvd., Bangor
Nomad, Czech Pilsner (5.2%)
Nomad is back just in time for all your summer adventures! This classic Czech Pilsner is crisp and refreshing and brewed in collaboration with Mainiacal Yeast Labs.
Barreled Souls Brewing Company
743 Portland Rd., Saco
Speakeasy Tequila Sunrise, Sour (8%)
Speakeasy Tequila Sunrise is a tequila barrel-aged Gose with orange and pomegranate, inspired by the classic cocktail of the same name.
Bissell Brothers Brewing
38 Resurgam Place, Portland
Reciprocal, IPA (7.3%)
This Australian IPA was hopped with all Australian grown hops – Vic Secret, Ella, and Summer. After a few sips of this hoppy gem, you’re sure to have a g’day.
Black Pug Brewing
30 Bath Rd., Brunswick
Guanlong, Saison (6.2%)
Attention, attention, there’s a fresh bottle drop of one of our new summer favorites, Guanlong! This Saison blends lemon, ginger, and green tea to make an Arnold Palmer-like experience we can all get behind.
Flight Deck Brewing
11 Atlantic Ave., Brunswick
Wings, IPA (6.5%)
Wings, a New England IPA, has safely landed at Flight Deck Brewing. This hazy IPA is full of tropical citrus notes that start bold but finish mellow. It clocks in with a 6.5% ABV and is ready for all your summer cookouts and boat days.
Fogtown Brewing Company
25 Pine St., Ellsworth and 33 Cottage St., Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor Pride, Pale Ale (6.5%)
Made with Maine-grown barley and wheat and single hopped with German Hallertau Blanc, Bar Harbor Pride is a classic Pale Ale, ultra-refreshing with just a bit of malt and grassiness provided by the Maine-grown barley and wheat. Pale gold in color with a soft and pillowy head, there is enough complexity to keep you coming back sip after sip. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Bar Harbor Pride, a grassroots project that supports the visibility, livelihood, and resiliency of the LGBTQ2IA+ community of Mount Desert Island and surrounding areas.
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Bocce Pils, Italian-Style Pilsner (4.5%)
Meet your new favorite summertime beer, Bocce Pils! During the depths of a long Maine winter, we looked forward to the warmer months, dreaming of the beers we’d have in hand, like this Italian-style Pilsner – delicately dry-hopped, refreshingly light, and incredibly crispy. This 4.5% crusher pairs well with sunshine, day drinking, and, of course, yard games!
Funky Bow Brewery
21 Ledgewood Ln., Lyman
Mainely Haze, IPA (5.7%)
Coming in with an ABV of 5.7%, Funky Bow Brewery’s new Mainely Haze juicy IPA was released just in time for summer!
Gneiss Brewing Company
94 Patterson Rd., Limerick
Gneiss Radler (2.3%)
With an easy-drinking 2.3% ABV, this rad bevy will leave you feeling refreshed every time. Gneiss Radler is the summertime beverage you need to add to your drinking rotation. This effervescent delight is everything you could desire on a hot summer day.
Grateful Grain Brewing Company
26 Route 126, Monmouth
Lilith’s Last Kiss, Imperial Stout (11%)
There’s a new lady in town! Lilith’s Last Kiss is an Imperial Stout aged in bourbon and rye barrels and named for Lilith, a sinister figure and Adam’s first wife, who left Adam after she would not submit to him. Frankly, she sounds like our kind of gal. Lilith was brewed with the same malts as Lucifer’s Last Call, but Grateful Grain used maple syrup while brewing Lucifer, and raw local honey for Lilith. While Lilith has the same malt structure as Lucifer, the addition of honey in place of maple syrup makes this a completely different beer. Sweet, bold, immaculate flavors of whiskey mix with notes of chocolate and, of course, honey.
Gritty McDuff’s Brewing Company
396 Fore St., Portland; 187 Lower Main St., Freeport; and 68 Main St., Auburn
Pride Lager (5.5%) & Slice, IPA (7%)
Gritty’s is overflowing with pride this month as they celebrate the contributions and successes of the LGBT+ community. To give back this year, $1 from every pint of Pride Lager poured will be donated to a local LGBT+ nonprofit.
Also on tap now at Gritty’s is Slice IPA, brewed with 100% locally malted pale malts from Blue Ox Malthouse, pilsner malts, and flaked wheat, and hopped with Mosaic, CTZ, and Citra hops.
Kennebec River Brewery
1771 US-201, West Forks
Let ‘er Drift Summer Ale, Blonde Ale (4.5%)
Brewed with 100% Blue Ox Malthouse and lightly hopped with Hallertau Blanc, a German variety of hop that provides a mild citrus flavor. It’s a light, crisp, refreshing ale.
Lake St. George Brewing Company
4 Marshall Shore Rd., Liberty
Headwaters Kölsch (4.9%)
Light in color and body, Headwaters is a delicate top-fermented lager beer. A simple yet high-quality malt bill and yeast showcase a soft mouthfeel with a slightly sweet, honey-like finish.
Mast Landing Brewing Company
920 Main St., Westbrook
Tropical Fruit Factory, Sour Ale (7%)
Tropical Fruit Factory is a fruited Sour Ale brewed with (deep breath in) strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, mangos, pineapples, lemons, and (pause to catch breath) limes.
Phew, that fruit lineup is no joke. This beer tastes just like a [insert name of childhood snack that we bet you can guess] in a glass!
Shipyard Brewing Company
86 Newbury St., Portland
Super Lemon Haze Wit (4.6%)
This light, refreshing Witbier was created using Orange and Lemon peels, along with 56 pounds of “My Grandma’s Coffee Cake.” Perfect for the hot summer days we’ve been experiencing lately in Portland and available exclusively on draft in the Shipyard Tasting Room.
SoMe Brewing Company
1 York St., Unit 3, York
Raspberry Whoopie Pie, Stout (6.3%)
This is SoMe’s summertime version of their popular Whoopie Pie Stout. The addition of raspberries to the cocoa and vanilla creates a refreshing but still delectable Milk Stout.
York Beach Beer Company
33 Railroad Ave., York
Boom Box, Pilsner (5.3%)
This Keller Pils lager is raw, unfiltered and naturally cloudy, and dry-hopped with Hull Melon and Citra hops.
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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.
Geary Brewing Co.
38 Evergreen Dr., Portland
- Haze Trip, IPA (5.5%)
- Welcome Home, Stout (6%)
- Razzle Dazzle, Sour (4.8%)
- Geary’s Pale Ale (5.2%)
- Brown Ale (5.5%)
- Fort Knight, Pale Ale (5.3%)
Mast Landing Brewing Company
920 Main St., Westbrook
- Front Flips, IPA (6.1%)
- Windbreaker, IPA (6.5%)
- Little Choppy, Hoppy Session Ale (4.3%)
- Weekend Plans, IPA (6%)
- Strong Feelings, Imperial Stout (10%)
- Find Me Dreaming, IPA (6%)
Rising Tide Brewing Company
103 Fox St., Portland
- Ishmael, American Copper Ale (4.9%)
- Daymark, American Pale Ale (5.5%)
- Nature’s Gold, Maple Golden Ale (6%)
- Dockside, Light Lager (4.2%)
- Sea Crow, Schwarzbier (5.1%)
- Taste of Maine, Maibock (7%)
- Strawberry & Apricot Squadron, Sour Ale (5.7%)
Maine Beer in the News
Sushi and beer are joining forces for a new mashup in Freeport and Tributary is expanding its distribution footprint, making it easier for people from away to get their hands on their delicious beer.
Sushi and beer partnership coming to Freeport
Mr. Tuna and GoodFire Brewing have teamed up to buy the Route 1 building that previously housed El Jefe and Conundrum.
Tributary Pale Ale to Distribute in MA, RI, and Midcoast Maine
Tributary Brewing Company has partnered with the distributor Craft Collective to distribute their legendary Pale Ale, vastly expanding their reach across New England.
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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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