We don’t know about you, but we’ve been glued to the Red Sox/Astros all this week. That Commissioner’s Trophy sure would be nice to bring back home again to Boston! If you’re looking for the perfect beer to quaff while cheering on the Sox we’ve got 22 suggestions for you this week that are guaranteed to hit the spot.
Here’s this week’s guide to the latest beer releases, upcoming brewery events, and a roundup of Maine beer news.
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Upcoming Releases & Events
We’re cuckoo for coconuts (don’t @ us, coconut haters!), and we like them even better when they come in stout form (thanks, Ambition Brewing!). One of our favorite coffee stouts, Jolly Woodsman, is making its annual return to Banded Brewing, and Blaze Brewing has a new imperial milk stout, High Tide, out today that they’re telling us tastes like a chocolate milkshake (so you know where to find us this afternoon).
Thursday, October 21
Allagash Brewing Co.
50 Industrial Way, Portland
Vintage Ghoulschip
Ghoulschip is here to bring your taste buds back to life! Allagash’s wild take on a pumpkin beer, brewed with fresh, local pumpkins that they smash themselves right at the brewery, and toasted pumpkin seeds, rests in their coolship on Halloween night and followed by fermentation in oak barrels for up to three years. The result is earthy, mildly tart, deliciously caramelized, and frighteningly tasty. This year, they have pulled two different vintages from their cellars, and both are available only in their tasting room for a limited time. Find them before they vanish into October’s ghoulish chill.
Ambition Brewing
295 Main St., Wilton
High Tide, Imperial Milk Stout (8.2%)
Blaze Brewing took their beloved stout recipe for Low Tide and amped it up. The result, High Tide, smells and tastes like dark roast coffee, cocoa powder, and a chocolate milkshake.
Friday, October 22
Definitive Brewing Company
35 Industrial Way, Portland and 318 US Route 1, Kittery
35 Industrial Way, Portland and 318 US Route 1, Kittery
Cellar Echoes, Double IPA (8.2%) & Spirals, Double IPA (8.2%)
Cellar Echoes is reverberating back into our lives! This double dry hopped Double IPA is brewed with Mosaic, Simcoe, Mosaic Cryo, and Simcoe Cryo hop varieties. The saturated hop bill lends intense flavors of ripe melon and sticky mango—with a soft mouthfeel that brings everything into balance.
Featuring traditional Citra hops and Citra cryo hops, Spirals is on the way to twist your weekend! This beer is a real hazy powerhouse. It tastes and smells like lemon-lime meringue and yellow cantaloupes. Both beers will be available Friday in Portland, Saturday in Kittery.
Saturday, October 23
Banded Brewing
32 Main St., Ste. 102, Biddeford and 82 Hanover St., Ste. 6, Portland
Jolly Woodsman Release Party
Jolly Woodsman (7.5%) is Banded Brewing’s seasonal coffee stout brewed with Speckled Ax Kenyan espresso beans. This beer is a robust stout with lots of boozy coffee and malt character. Confectionary notes of dark chocolate and maple syrup are complemented by brighter notes of orange and cranberry.
While the beer is out now, the official release party will be held starting at noon at the Portland location. Banded will have the fire pits going, as well as some small treats and a Speckled Axe pop-up in the early afternoon.
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Favorite Flannel Release Party
Favorite Flannel IPA (6.5%) is a beer made for chilly days and good times. Simcoe, Idaho 7, and Citra present a fruit-forward profile, with a hint of satisfyingly dank pine on the back. Easy-drinking and smooth, this approachable IPA is the beer equivalent of your favorite flannel—a no-brainer, no matter the weather!
Favorite Flannel IPA comes out this Friday in the tasting room. BUT, Foundation will be officially celebrating the release on the patio this Saturday. Expect all-day fall fun, including a seasonal photo booth, sandwiches from The Muthah Truckah, and a special giveaway for everyone who shows up in their own favorite flannel and buys a 4-pack of Favorite Flannel IPA. Sounds like they’ll be doing a lot of giving away. I mean, are you even a Mainer if you don’t own at least five flannel shirts?
Wednesday, October 27
Flight Deck Brewing
11 Atlantic Ave., Brunswick
Breaking The Sour Barrier, Sour
Flight Deck’s popular rotating sour series, Breaking the Sour Barrier, is returning with a new spin. This time, BSB is fruited with blackberry and banana, with a little lactose to balance the tartness perfectly.
New Releases
Now, for some IPA love. There are EIGHT IPAs out now to please your palate, from Fogtown Brewing’s Maine Coast IPA to Side By Each’s Humble Brag Double IPA. We’ve also got a pair of sours, and did we mention…stouts? ‘Cuz we’ve got three MORE to tell you about, with ingredients ranging from chili to marshmallow fluff, mmmm!
Austin Street Brewery
1 Industrial Way, #8, Portland & 115 Fox St., Portland
Neverender, Double IPA (8%)
Neverender is an Australian hopped Double IPA. A flavor profile dominated by tropical fruit is balanced with Pilsen malt and malted wheat. At 8%, this hugely aromatic beer is still very drinkable for the style.
Battery Steele Brewing
1 Industrial Way, Units 12 & 14, Portland
Avalon, Double IPA (7.5%)
This beer doesn’t get into Battery’s rotation very often, so we’re always psyched when it makes an appearance. It’s hopped with El Dorado, Amarillo, and Mosaic, which lend huge notes of peach, mango, and ripe melon. A perfect IPA for the crisp nights ahead!
Bigelow Brewing Company
473 Bigelow Hill Rd., Skowhegan,
Jailbreak Chocolate Chili Stout (7.6%)
Jailbreak Chocolate Chili Stout is full-bodied, midnight in color, and possess a creamy off-white head. This smooth stout has notes of rich chocolate, roasted coffee, and a smoky sweetness imparted from the roasted malts and chocolate nibs used in the brew. Chimayo chili offers a slight heat to the finish.
Bissell Brothers Brewing
38 Resurgam Place, Portland
Swish, Double IPA (8%)
Swish is brewed with a Golden Promise malt base, then hopped generously with Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe. It has notes of citrus pulp and tropical fruit. Only about 190 cases of Swish are available as of noon Wednesday, with plenty more in cans and on draft. Limit is 1 case per person.
Federal Jack’s
8 Western Ave., Kennebunk
KBC Berliner Weisse Beer, Sour (2.95%)
KBC Berliner Weisse Beer is a light, crisp, tart, refreshing sour ale with a hint of cranberry.
Fogtown Brewing Company
25 Pine St., Ellsworth
Maine Coast IPA (5%) & Second Thought Double IPA (8.3%)
Released yesterday, just in time for International Sloth Day (it’s a thing, look it up if you don’t believe us), two Fogtown favorites are back. Maine Coast IPA is packed with flavor, Maine-grown grains, and is well-balanced and dry. Second Thought Double IPA is delicious and juicy, featuring heaps of Maine-grown organic oats, and triple dry-hopped with Ekuanot, El Dorado, and Lemondrop.
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Kangaroo Crossing, New England Double IPA (8%) & S’more Fluffernutter, Milk Stout (6.5%)
Kangaroo Crossing is an all-Australian hopped New England DIPA. Galaxy, Vic Secret, and Ella hops come together to deliver a super fruit-forward experience all the way through, with sticky sweet pineapple juice and strawberry candy notes bursting from the glass, little to no bitterness, and a grabby citrus pith on the back. It’s an Aussie-hopped fruit bomb that’s got us contemplating a move down under!
Foundation’s newest milk stout, S’more Fluffernutter, was inspired by those innovative souls who make their s’mores using peanut butter cups as the chocolate layer—taking our favorite fireside treat to the next level! Or you could think of it as a Fluffernutter sandwich with added chocolate. Either way you look at it, S’more Fluffernutter is a sweet tooth’s delight, made with graham crackers in the mash and aged with cocoa, vanilla beans, gobs of marshmallow fluff, and peanut butter flavor. Just in time for Halloween, it’s liquid candy for us grownups.
Funky Bow Brewery & Beer Company
21 Ledgewood Ln., Lyman
Five String, Oatmeal Vanilla Milk Stout (6.2%)
This delicious, easy-drinking stout is velvety smooth, with chocolate and vanilla flavors that tantalize the tongue.
Liquid Riot Bottling Company
250 Commercial St., Portland
The Killing, Sour (5%)
The Killing is tart, fruity, and dry (and with a kinda dark name if you ask us). It was brewed using lactobacillus and 200 pounds of fresh Maine cranberries, giving the beer a natural red (blood?) hue.
Lone Pine Brewing Company
219 Anderson St., Portland and 48 Sanford Dr., Gorham
Strig, Oktoberfest Märzen (5.4%) & Dark Truce Blackberry, Wild Dark Wheat Ale (7.5%)
Strig is part of Lone Pine’s continually evolving fresh-hopped beer series using minutes-old hops from The Hop Yard. This year, they jumped on the Oktoberfest bandwagon and designed a malt-forward and crispy fresh-hopped Oktoberfest Märzen, made with freshly picked Maine hops and showcasing the local flavor of our community. This year, Strig is a copper-bodied, traditional German lager synchronizing the crushable OG malt character with the crisp, drying texture of fresh, whole cone hops.
Dark Truce Blackberry, their barrel-aged wild dark wheat ale, was finished with a healthy dose of blackberry to round out the acidity and barrel texture, joining the ranks alongside the other Dark Truce variants. Coming in at 7.5% ABV, this beer was blended from various oak casks, some as old as 28 months(!). Featuring a jammy, ripe nose of fresh blackberry and stone fruit, a gentle balsamic tartness and a subtle oaken finish, Dark Truce Blackberry is a delicious and complex offering.
Mast Landing Brewing Company
920 Main St., Westbrook and 200 Lower Main St., Freeport
Lazy Lighting, IPA (6.8%)
This West Coast IPA explores the balance of crisp refreshing hop character and bright drinkability. Chinook, Simcoe, Amarillo, and Ekuanot hops contribute notes of citrus zest, mellow floral notes, and a touch of tropical juiciness.
Nonesuch River Brewing
201 Gorham Rd., Scarborough
Endless Summer Kölsch (5.2%)
Endless Summer is a Kölsch-style ale—smooth and full-bodied, yet light and refreshing. It’s a beer that is very much an ale, but also moonlights as a lager. A slightly heavy hand in the whirlpool brought out ample notes of citrus from a blend of traditional and non-traditional hops: Hallertau, Mittlefruh, Wakatu, and Sterling.
Side By Each Brewing
1110 Minot Ave., Auburn
Humble Brag, Double IPA (8.4%)
Brewed with Maine-grown and malted barley and oats, Humble Brag is a big, New England-style IPA, double dry hopped with Australian Vic Secret, New Zealand Rakau, and West Coast Zythos.
Maine Beer in the News
Learn how Allagash’s commitment to using locally grown ingredients is helping Maine farms, and about the former brewer Tom Bull’s continued influence on the Maine beer scene.
Making It to a Million — How Allagash Helped Grow Maine’s Grain Economy
Nobody realizes how large Maine is until they drive up to its northernmost county: Aroostook, or simply The County, as Mainers call it.
Tap Lines: In these local lagers, you’ll find something borrowed, something Bull
A heart transplant put an end to Tom Bull’s career in beer, but other Maine breweries are riffing on his recipes.
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 or call us to learn more at [email protected] (207) 209-2094
