Whew, what a week! Are you as tired as we are from squinting at district maps and crunching numbers more complicated than how much to tip your tasting room staff? Add that to the fact that the resumption of indoor service at tasting rooms got pushed back indefinitely. It’s truly been a roller coaster.
The good news is that the weekend forecast is looking gor-geous, perfect for soaking up sun and suds on outdoor patios at breweries or your crib, if you’d rather take your beer to go. No matter which you choose, we hope you’ll have a chance to relax while sampling some of the latest beer-y goodness hitting taprooms and shelves.
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’re getting major fall vibes from this week’s upcoming releases, including a Spiced Red Ale from Island Dog Brewing, a Rye IPA from Tattooed Dad, and a coffee Brown Ale from Foundation Brewing Company. But fear not, IPA fans, Foulmouthed Brewing, Barreled Souls Brewing Company, and Liquid Riot Bottling Company have got you covered. And while we don’t like to play favorites, we’ve got to hand it to Definitive Brewing Company this week, with their upcoming release of a new Sour called — Walrus Music. Color us intrigued!
Thursday, November 5
Blaze Brewing Company
28 Pearl St., Biddeford
Dusk, Imperial Milk Stout (8.7%)
Dusk is an Imperial Milk Stout brewed with Ugandan vanilla beans. It pours a beautiful jet black with intense aromas of affogato and cookie dough. The taste is dark chocolate truffles and rich vanilla custard. Dusk is packed full of flavor but has a delicate carbonation that provides a latte-like mouthfeel.
Foulmouthed Brewing
15 Ocean St., South Portland
Communist Synthesizer, IPA (7%)
Communist Synthesizer, Foulmouthed Brewing’s newest IPA, is being released at their pub to provide a bit of un-American political humor alongside a much-needed drink. We’ll drink to that!
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Bold Type, Farmhouse Ale (9.5%)
This Farmhouse Ale was brewed in January 2017, then aged in stainless with Brettanomyces yeast before being bottled in July of the same year. Foundation Brewing has been keeping this one in the cellar for more than three years, allowing it to age to perfection!
Bold Type is a light gold beer with a dry, crisp finish. Aromas of grape, peaches, and marmalade leap from the glass. Layered flavors of fruit and pie crust make way for a notably funky finish. Available exclusively in the tasting room.
Island Dog Brewing
125 John Roberts Rd., Unit 15, South Portland
Winter Red, Spiced Red Ale
This spiced Red Ale is back on tap and in cans. Winter Red is a classic Red Ale, brewed with mulling spices, dried apples, and cranberries, and is malty with notes of winter spice.
Friday, November 6
Barreled Souls Brewing Company
743 Portland Rd., Saco
Paper Planes, DIPA (9%)
A fresh batch of Paper Planes, a DIPA with Mosaic, Ekuanot and Columbus hops, is ready to take flight!
Definitive Brewing Company
35 Industrial Way, Portland and 318 US Route 1, Kittery
Walrus Music, Sour (7.5%)
This fun and fruity beer is a Sour Ale brewed with mango, passionfruit, and pineapple, which harmonize nicely on the palate — it’s music to your taste buds! This collaboration with Tripping Animals Brewing is dropping in Portland on Friday and Kittery on Saturday and has our vote for best beer name/can art of the week.
Tattooed Dad
894 Moosehead Trail, Jackson
Rye Baby, Rye IPA
Lots of Rye goodness, with hints of chocolate.
Saturday, November 7
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Coffee Burnside, Brown Ale (5.1%) and Cran-Orange Jam, Sour (5%)
Coffee Burnside is the treat that gives us the best of both worlds — beer and coffee. The addition of locally roasted single origin coffee helps boost the OG Burnside to new levels of roasty toasty deliciousness, with amped up notes of coffee, chocolate, and burnt sugar.
The latest in Foundation Brewing’s My Jam lineup of tart fruit ales, Cran-Orange Jam was made to capture the flavors of the holidays. Brewed with lactose and fermented with cranberry and orange, Cran-Orange Jam is the perfect balance of tart and sweet. It’s great for making any day a cause for celebration, and the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving table.
Waterman’s Beach Brewery
362 Waterman Beach Rd., South Thomaston
Fall Craft Fair
Are you missing all the craft fairs this year? Then you’ll want to plan a trip to Waterman’s Beach Brewery. They’re hosting some local vendors for an outdoor, safely distanced, pop-up craft fair from 12-3 p.m. Come on down for some shopping and brews.
Release Date TBD
Foulmouthed Brewing
15 Ocean St., South Portland
Malcontent, DIPA (8.5%), Grawlix, IPA (6%), Dammit to Helles, Lager (5%), & Knightvillain, Schwarzbier (5%)
The team at Foulmouthed Brewing has been busy! Last week they canned Malcontent, a West Coast-style DIPA for the bitter types who are not content with enough hops. And today they are planning on canning three more beers for your drinking pleasure: Grawlix, a West Coast-style IPA made with hops from The Hop Yard in Gorham; Damnit to Helles, a beer to brighten up the darkness in your soul (their words not ours, we think your soul is swell); and Knightvillain, an American Black Ale inspired by the class German Schwarzbier style with chocolate and roasty notes.
Liquid Riot Bottling Company
250 Commercial St., Portland
All Is Illusion, DIPA (7.8%)
This Double IPA was brewed using exclusively Citra and Mosaic lupulin powder. Fruity and juicy.
Sebago Brewing Company
616 Main St., Gorham
Barleywine (9.5%)
Keep your eyes peeled for Sebago Brewing’s 2020 Barleywine. It’s fresh off the canning line and sporting new labeling gear.
New Releases
We hope you like Stouts, because we’ve got a LOT of them to tell you about this week, with new releases from Bangor to Bath to Portland to Lewiston to, well, you get the idea. But don’t worry, we’ve also got some other beer releases to share, including a Black Lager, a Blonde Ale, a pair of Sours and a DIPA that will make you say, “Vroom, vroom!” Not to be confused with, “Zoom, zoom.” This isn’t a Mazda commercial.
Bangor Beer Co.
330 Bangor Mall Blvd., Bangor
Pumpkin Spiced Derailed, White Stout (4.9%)
This is Bangor Beer’s take on a Blonde Iced Coffee Milk Stout, but with a fall twist.
Bath Brewing Company
141 Front St., Bath
Maritime Milk Stout (5.1%) & Dead Reckoning, Russian Imperial Stout (8.5%)
Bath Brewing is rolling out their Maritime Milk Stout in cans. It’s smooth and easy drinking, with chocolate notes and a hint of coffee. Their Russian Imperial Stout Dead Reckoning is also available on draft this week. It has a robust flavor of roasted coffee and toffee with a hint of floral English hops.
Battery Steele Brewing
1 Industrial Way Units 12 and 14, Portland
Small City, Stout (5.1%)
Small City is an easy-drinking English Style Stout clocking in at 5.1% ABV. Roasty and chocolatey with subtle notes of dark fruit and biscuits, this beer was made for cozying up by Battery Steele’s patio fire pits.
Baxter Brewing Co.
130 Mill St., Lewiston
Innuendo, White Russian Stout (9.5%)
Dude. This beer is a complicated case. Originally released in 2018, Innuendo has become a regional fan favorite due in part to its golden color, strong ABV, and notable can art. Brewed with cacao, lactose, and cold brewed coffee, Innuendo was made to offer imbibers an easy-sipping stout that merges copious amounts of malt with robust chocolate flavor.
Bunker Brewing Co.
17 Westfield St., Unit D, Portland
Chick-A-Dee, English Style Bitter (4.3%)
Named after Maine’s state bird, Chick-A-Dee uses 100% English floor malted barley and is lightly hopped with East Kent Goldings. It has a fantastic full-body flavor with a light sweet note and creamy nitro character.
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Vroom Vroom, DIPA (8%)
There’s something so exhilarating about a zippy little car that you can take on rides through the backwoods of Maine, letting the wind carry your cares away. Hopped with Amarillo, Mosaic, and Idaho 7, with notes of ripe melon, juicy pineapple, and red Starbursts – Vroom Vroom is raring to go. Available now through distribution and coming to the tasting room this week.
Gneiss Brewing Company
94 Patterson Rd., Limerick
Toasted, Black Lager (5%)
Toasted is a roasty Black Lager that finishes with a delicate undertone of toasted coconut. Let the flavor build with this treat and you’ll soon be back for seconds … or even thirds. Don’t worry, we won’t tell.
Goodfire Brewing
219 Anderson St., Portland
Caramel Jack, Imperial Stout (8.5%)
This Halloween, Goodfire Brewing decided to let the beer dress up, and it chose to masquerade as it’s favorite caramel popcorn and peanut snack and so far no one has had the heart to tell the beer that Halloween is over. Caramel Jack was brewed in collaboration with Barreled Souls Brewing Company.
Kennebec River Brewery
1771 U.S. Route 201, The Forks
Deer in the HeadLite, Blonde Ale (4.1%)
Deer in the HeadLite is made with 100% Blue Ox Malthouse malt and a light hop flavor using Hallertau blanc. It’s the perfect way to wind down after a day spent wandering in the woods.
Marsh Island Brewing
2 Main St., Orono
Puckercrush Blue Raz, Sour (5.7%)
Marsh Island has released Puckercrush Blue Raz before, but now it’s debuting some new can art. This blueberry-raspberry kettle Sour is packed with fruit and a nice Blue-razz flavor and a tart finish. It will be available in cans this week in the tasting room, and next week throughout our wonderful state.
Mast Landing Brewing Co.
920 Main St., Westbrook
All the Way Up, Sour (4.8%)
Cherries and blackberries might be distant cousins in the world of fruit, but their luscious balance of sweetness and a touch of tartness makes them the perfect teammates in this crushable sour. All the joy of picking right off the plant is packed into this beer, and the beautiful color of a pour brings the whole experience together.
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.
Austin Street Brewery
115 Fox St., Portland
- Pactolian, German Pilsner (5%)
- Lawnmower, Brett Saison (4.5%)
- Neverender, DIPA (8%)
- Walcott, Smoked Brown Ale (5.7%)
- Six Grain, Milk Stout, (6.4%)
- Anodyne, IPA (6%)
Geaghan Brothers Brewing (Tasting Room)
34 Abbott Street, Brewer
- Stein Song, Light Lager (4.0%)
- Presque Isle Honey Blonde, American Blonde Ale (5.3%)
- The Dark Night, Baltic Porter (8.1%)
- Dad’s Oatmeal Stout, Nitro Stout (5.5%)
- Captain Kool, American IPA (7.5%)
- King’s Pine IPA, American IPA (6.3%)
Lone Pine Brewing Company
219 Anderson St., Portland
- Table Beer, Table Beer (5.2%)
- Blueberry Sparkler, Sour (4.8%)
- Home Team, IPA (4%)
- Seahorse Seashell Party, Pale Ale (5.1%)
- Chocolate Brittle, Imperial Stout (13%)
- Laser Show, Pale Ale (5%)
Maine Beer in the News
We kinda already covered this, but here are some of the updates regarding the delay of indoor service in bars and tasting rooms, including an interview with Bissell Brothers. And, a nice nod to a new barrel-aged Stout from Barreled Souls Brewing Company honoring the late, but still notorious, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Bar owners and tasting rooms will have to wait to open indoor service
Indoor opening for bars and tasting rooms, set for today after being postponed this summer, has been put off indefinitely, as Gov. Janet Mills Sunday took measures to slow the spread of the state’s rising COVID-19 caseload.
Maine businesses react to delayed bar reopenings, reduced indoor gathering limits
Following a recent rise in COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, the Mills administration announced changes to Maine’s reopening plan.
Tap Lines: Drink up the flavors of fall with these seasonal brews
Malt, maple syrup and even sweet potato make these local beers perfect for sweater season.
Maine Brewery Creates Beer Dedicated to the Late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
There have a lot of different tributes to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg since her passing in September. And while Justice Ginsburg may have preferred a good glass of wine, one Maine brewery is set to release a new beer that will be dedicated to the notorious RBG.
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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