It feels like the weekend just ended and BAM, now we’ve got another one barreling towards us, THIS time with the promise of sun and warm weather, huzzah! Not only that but there are lots of exciting new beer releases and re-releases to look forward to this weekend.
And, for those interested in trying to keep it light, there are a growing number of breweries expanding their lineup to include hard seltzers. Our first love will always be beer, but when it’s a real scorcher, sometimes a hard seltzer can really hit the spot.
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
Flight Deck Brewing is celebrating turning 4, Rising Tide is honoring love in its many forms with a Pride-inspired beer, and Foulmouthed Brewing and SoMe Brewing Company are each dropping multiple new releases, including one of our favoritely named beers (spellcheck tells us favoritely isn’t a word, but just roll with us here), Sir Squirrel Brown Ale.
Thursday, June 3
Blaze Brewing Company
28 Pearl St., Biddeford
Polarity, Sour Ale (4.8%) & Looking at The Clouds, Blonde Ale (4.8%)
Polarity is Blaze Brewing’s collaboration with Amherst Brewing Company. It’s a Sour Ale with salt, lemon, and prickly pear brewed to celebrate the changing of the seasons. This summer sipper is bright and refreshing with a rich mouthfeel. It’s the perfect beer to take with you on a hike or enjoy with a lobster bake.
Looking at The Clouds is dry-hopped gently with Simcoe and Cascade. The soft malt base and delicate dry hop provide the perfect beer for a late summer Saturday. It smells and tastes like mandarin oranges, cantaloupe from the farmer’s market, and a long day’s work.
Foulmouthed Brewing
15 Ocean St., South Portland
Local Beer (5%) is everything you love about beer, but with all local hops and malts. Yuzu Kosho Gose (4.5%) is brewed with yuzu lemon and chili peppers and is slightly spicy. Sir Squirrel Brown Ale (5.8%) is light in body but not flavor. This Brown Ale will satisfy your malty cravings all summer long. Malcontent DIPA (8.5%) is a West Coast-style DIPA for the bitter types who are not content with enough hops.
Rising Tide Brewing Company
103 Fox St., Portland
Cheers to Love, Rosé Inspired Ale (6.7%)
This Rosé Inspired Ale notes a subtle sweetness with a fruity and wine-like character. Dry, crisp, and refreshing, it’s the perfect drink to enjoy on a beautiful June day. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this beer benefits Equality Maine.
Friday, June 4
Flight Deck Brewing
11 Atlantic Ave., Brunswick
Sea Beast, Belgian Style Quad & Breaking The Sour Barrier, Sour
Sea Beast is a Belgian Style Quad with Maine blueberries and honey brewed in honor of Flight Deck’s fourth anniversary. Sea Beast is a malt-forward brew with notes of stone fruit and caramel with a pop of honey on the finish.
Breaking The Sour Barrier, Flight Deck’s rotating Sour series returns — this time fruited with strawberry and guanabana. Guanabana adds tropical flavors of pineapple and banana which pairs perfectly with the strawberry. Brewed with a little bit of lactose, this beer has some serious tropical smoothie vibes.
Saturday, June 5
Definitive Brewing Company
35 Industrial Way, Portland and 318 US Route 1, Kittery
35, IPA (3.5%)
35 is back in a fresh new batch to enjoy during the warm June weather. This delicate session IPA clocks in at a modest 3.5% ABV. It presents a hop flavor and aroma profile that suggests a gathering of peach rings, tiny melons, and fresh produce.
Fogtown Brewing Company
25 Pine St., Ellsworth and 33 Cottage St., Bar Harbor
Craft CBD Shimmer Seltzers
This Saturday, the fine folks from Shimmer Beverages will be offering draft tastings of their three flavors from 3-7 p.m., including:
- Razz Lime: raspberry shrub and lime bitters
- Ginger Orange: ginger shrub and orange bitters
- Just Hemp: simple with CBD
These relaxing seltzers are made with real ingredients and Fogtown Brewing will have a rotating selection on tap for the upcoming dog days of summer.
Monday, June 7
Maine Beer Company
525 US-1, Freeport
Prince Percy, Pilsner (5.1%)
Hopped with Grüngeist hops and featuring local Maine malted grains, this Lager represents a shift from Maine Beer Company’s classic Ale lineup, with a nod to their hop-forward focus. Prince Percy is named in honor of Percy, the spotted turtle, who serves as an animal ambassador for the Center for Wildlife, one of Maine Beer’s 1% for the Planet nonprofit partners.
Coming Soon
SoMe Brewing Company
1 York St., Unit 3, York
Denthead, Hefeweizen (5.7%)
This classic Hefeweizen-style Wheat Ale features notes of banana and clove derived from the yeast in a smooth and easy-drinking summer sipper.
SoMe is also in the midst of canning fresh batches of:
- Apostrophe IPA (6.7%): Their flagship ale featuring 100% Mosaic hops.
- Peanut Butter Whoopie Pie, Stout (6.3%): A delectable peanut butter twist on their Whoopie Pie milk stout.
- Nubble Weiss, Sour (4%): Lightly tart, refreshingly fruity, and infinitely crushable, this Berliner Weiss-style Sour is perfect for hot days.
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New Releases
Did you celebrate a little too hard at Sebago Brewing after getting your 2nd Dose? Island Dog Brewery is standing by, ready to offer a little Pear of the Dog, and Banded Brewing is Here for it. If you have a #1 DAD in your life we recommend getting a jump on Father’s Day by taking him to Liquid Riot and buying him a beer. Or, if he’s more of a Homer, then perhaps swing by Foundation Brewing for some Donut Delite. Mmmmm, donuts (drool noise).
Banded Brewing Co.
32 Main St., Bldg. 13-W, Suite 102, Biddeford and 82 Hanover St., Suite 6, Portland
HERE, New England Pale Ale
This New England Pale Ale was brewed with Idaho and Citra hops. Banded Brewing added lavender, hibiscus, and jasmine to give it lovely, balanced notes of sweet cherry, applewood, rose water, and herbal tea. A portion of the sales for HERE will go to support EqualityMaine.
Belleflower Brewing Company
66 Cove St., Portland
Barn Hex, Double IPA (8.5%)
Featuring Rakau, Moutere, and Nelson Sauvin in the dry hop, Barn Hex pours a light straw color with heavy haze and the aroma features mango, peach, and ripe papaya. On the palate, you’ll taste white grape, grapefruit juice, and other light citrus flavors, rounded out with a light minerality.
Bissell Brothers Brewing
38 Resurgam Place, Portland
Tile Cutter, Double IPA (8%)
Tile Cutter is a Trillium Brewing Company classic reimagined through a Bissell Brothers lens. Trillium’s recipe, Bissell’s yeast — hopped with Simcoe — and topped off with a drizzle of Maine honey. The added touch of floral sweetness perfectly highlights the Simcoe.
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Donut Delite, Pastry Beer (6.5%)
Donut Delite was inspired by the heavenly creation that is the coconut donut. Milk sugar gives this beer a rich, smooth body, and coconut, nutmeg, and brown sugar team up to bring forth the deliciousness of a freshly cooked coconut donut.
Gritty McDuff’s Brewing Company
396 Fore St., Portland; 187 Lower Main St., Freeport; and 68 Main St., Auburn
Blueberry Ale (5%)
Just in time for summer, Blueberry Ale is back! It’s been a favorite at the Portland pub for many years. For malt, Gritty’s used Munton’s 2-row pale malt and added caramel and malted wheat flour. They then added Centennial & Saaz hops to the kettle and finally fermented the beer with American ale yeast for a clean finish. The beer was then allowed to condition on over 84 pounds of blueberry puree, giving it a lovely purple color you can admire with every pour.
Island Dog Brewing
125 John Roberts Rd., Unit 15, South Portland
Pear of the Dog, Imperial Gose Sour Ale (7%)
This wheat ale with prickly pear fruit has an earthy aroma and is fruity and sour with a crisp smooth finish.
Liquid Riot Bottling Company
250 Commercial St., Portland
#1 DAD, Quadruple IPA (12%)
This monstrous hop bomb is big and bad, with citrus fruits, flowers, and various tropical fruit flavors, and an assertive smooth body.
Marsh Island Brewing
2 Main St., Orono
Cranked, Kettle Sour (8%)
Coming in at 8%, Cranked has a higher ABV than Marsh Island’s popular Puckercrush Kettle Sour series. The first edition of Cranked is blue Raz.
Mast Landing Brewing Company
920 Main St., Westbrook
Everybody/Everywhere, Kölsch (4.8%)
A beer for all horizons that is approachable, refreshing, and crisp. This Kölsch-style ale expands on Mast Landing’s past experiments with the style, adding American Simcoe Noble hops. There are notes of cracker, vanilla wafer, and lemon, with a floral and bright finish.
Nonesuch River Brewing
201 Gorham Road, Scarborough
Double Pivot, Double IPA (7.5%)
Double Pivot is brewed with Citra, Amarillo and El Dorado hops, which accentuate this smooth and hazy New England-style Double IPA.
Sebago Brewing Company
616 Main St., Gorham
2nd Dose, Double IPA (8.2%)
2nd Dose is a big bold double dry-hopped New England double IPA. The brewers used double the brewhouses, double the brewers, and double the dry hop. It has a hazy topaz appearance and a juicy mouthfeel. It features tropical fruit and melon aromas and a hint of strawberry candy and piña colada flavors.
Side By Each Brewing Company
1110 Minot Ave, Auburn
Heffalumps & Woozles, Belgian IPA (8%)
Dangerously drinkable, this beer strikes a delicate balance between a Belgian Ale and an IPA. With the soft Belgian malt backbone comes the fruity complexity of Belgian yeast, and American and German hops provide aromas of citrus and tropical fruit along with a gentle bitterness.
van der Brew
30 Summer St., Winthrop
Drink Me Amadeus, Vienna Ale (5%)
This Vienna-style beer has a melody of malty flavors and a crisp finish that is sure to rock you.
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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.
Battery Steele Brewing
1 Industrial Way, Units 12 & 14, Portland
- Kineo, Triple Dry Hopped IPA (6.5%)
- 12 oz. Triple IPA, Triple IPA (10.5%)
- Abstract Object, Milk Stout Series (7.2%)
- Avalon, Double IPA (7.5%)
- Looming Illusion, Blueberry, Apricot, Lime & Vanilla Gose (7.4%)
- Vagabond Dreamer, IPA (7.2%)
Mast Landing Brewing Company
920 Main St., Westbrook
- The Good Light, Farmhouse Ale (4.7%)
- Weekend Plans IPA (6%)
- Neon Sails, IPA (6.3%)
- Green to Green to Green, Double IPA (8%)
- Whomper, Double IPA (7.8%)
- Arts & Entertainment, IPA (6.4%)
van der Brew
30 Summer St., Winthrop
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- I’m All Set, Double IPA (8.5%)
- 2 Dog Porter (8%)
- Henley’s Honey Brown (5.5%)
- Lily Bay IPA (5.5%)
- Czech It Out, Pilsner (5%)
- Helles Bell, German Helle (5.3%)
Maine Beer in the News
Maine’s burgeoning hard seltzer scene is making headlines, and doughnuts in beer are having a moment.
Tap Lines: Doughnuts claim their rightful place in these craft beers
Brewing with pastries might not be as gimmicky as it seems.
Orono Brewing Company launches ‘Wild Maine Hard Seltzer’
The Orono-based brewery released its blueberry flavored seltzer Wednesday after releasing the mango pineapple flavor last week.
Maine breweries are joining the hard seltzer craze
Love it or not, hard seltzer is here to stay – and Maine breweries and alcohol makers are looking to cash in on the craze for a less sweet, lower-calorie alternative to beer.
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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