Wow, the brewers have been BUSY this month. We have a grand total of 32 new and recent beer releases to catch you up on. We’re not sure if that’s a record for us, but it feels pretty dang close. Hopefully you’ve paid off your holiday shopping bills so you can start prioritizing your spending on what really matters (in our humble opinion anyway), fresh, local Maine beer!
Here’s this week’s guide to upcoming brewery events, the latest beer releases, and a roundup of Maine beer news.
Sponsored by: Tigpro Stainless Fabrication
Upcoming Releases & Events
Banded is ready to welcome you to Breakfast Land (we want to go to there) while Maine Beer Company is getting ready to serve up Dinner, the folks at Bissell are doing Kickflips (gnarly, dude!), Foulmouthed is ready to reintroduce you to his eminence Sir Squirrel, and while Dusk has fallen at Blaze, it’s already Late Nite at Definitive.
Thursday, February 17
Banded Brewing Co.
32 Main St., Ste. 102, Biddeford and 82 Hanover St., Ste. 6, Portland
Breakfast Land Imperial Stout (8.2%) & Sorbet IPA (7.5%)
A collaboration with Palace Diner, Breakfast Land Imperial Stout is brewed with Palace flapjacks, Tandem coffee, and Maine maple syrup in an ode to a lumberjack breakfast.
Sorbet IPA is a hazy and invigorating IPA that is bright, fruity, and floral on the nose. The first sip hits with a full-bodied splash of ruby red grapefruit. Notes of cotton candy and melon lend a hint of sweetness quickly countered with a pithy, piney bite. Sorbet IPA was brewed in collaboration with Sweetcream Dairy.
Bissell Brothers Brewing
38 Resurgam Place, Portland & 157 Elm St., Milo
Kickflip, Cream Ale (5.5%)
This classic cream ale was dreamed up and designed by Bissell Brothers brewer (and resident skater) Seth Vigue. As clean and effortless as Andrew Reynolds on an 8-stair. (He’s a famous skateboarder. Yes, we looked it up.)
Blaze Brewing Company
28 Pearl St., Biddeford
Dusk, Imperial Milk Stout (8.7%) & The Narrows, Table Beer (3.8%)
Dusk is brewed with Ugandan vanilla beans and pours a beautiful jet black with intense aromas of affogato and cookie dough. The taste is reminiscent of dark chocolate truffles and rich vanilla custard. Dusk is packed full of flavor, but has a delicate carbonation that provides a latte-like mouthfeel.
The name The Narrows comes from the shared name of an island in Camden and a lake near Dover-Foxcroft. It’s brewed with wheat, oats, and barley, and possesses an excellent drinkability while maintaining a soft mouthfeel. The Narrows smells and tastes like country bread, Earl Grey tea, and citrus.
Foulmouthed Brewing
15 Ocean St., South Portland
Foulmouthed is gifting us with four beer releases today:
Damn It To Helles is a Helles lager (5.2%) destined to brighten up the darkness in your soul.
Golden Ambrosia Lager is a lager with rosewater (6%) inspired (in a silly, literal way) by the message of generosity in Kurt Vonnegut’s “God Bless You Mr. Rosewater.” To create this ode to Mr. Vonnegut, the brewers added a subtle splash of rose to accent the existing sweet, floral nose of this premium lager.
Sir Squirrel is a classic American version of an English brown ale (5.8%) so that you can feel simultaneously rustic and sophisticated. Now excuse us while we search for our errant monocle.
Persei Eight is an IPA (7%) brewed with Azacca and Motueka hops.
Liquid Riot Bottling Company
250 Commercial St., Portland
Head Stash, IPA (7%)
Originally an Oxbow Brewing Company collab, Head Stash is a bold, intensely hopped IPA with a dry, crisp finish.
Friday, February 18
Baxter Brewing Co.
130 Mill St., Lewiston
Chocolate & Charity at Après, 4-6 p.m.
Join Baxter Brewing at Après with Wilbur’s of Maine Chocolate Confections and The Root Cellar for a night of sweet treats and giving back! Not only will Baxter be celebrating their beer Cacao!, but Wilbur’s of Maine will be bringing some confections made specifically for this event, and The Root Cellar will be collecting donations of food and goods. If you decide to bring a donation, the organizers ask that you bring an item of need from the provided list. In return, you’ll receive $1 off of a pour of Cacao! or an Après seltzer.
Definitive Brewing Company
35 Industrial Way, Portland; 318 US Rte. 1, Kittery; and 8 Timberline Dr., Newry (Sunday River)
The Big Picture, Double Dry Hopped Double IPA (8%) & Late Nite: Blueberry Waffles, Imperial Sour Ale (8.1%)
Get ready for a look at The Big Picture. This collaboration with Modest Man Brewing is packed with El Dorado Incognito, Citra, Topaz and Bru-1 Lupomax, with flavors that run the gamut from citrus-forward to deep resinous undertones.
Late Nite: Blueberry Waffles is brewed with blueberries, maple, and vanilla. This strong and sultry sour is inspired by after-hours adventures and desserts after dark. Pleasantly tart, it tastes and smells like macerated blueberries, stacks of fluffy waffles, and joy rides after midnight.
Both beers will be available Friday in Portland, and Saturday at Kittery and Sunday River.
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Mangos Don’t Cry, Berliner Weisse (6%)
This new beer is a super fruited smoothie-style Berliner weisse that takes the fruit addition of Foundation’s My Jam series to the final level. Introducing the Smooth Jamz series!
Thick and rich while also being lactose-free, the huge fruit additions plus vanilla beans take these little 12-ounce cans into absolute flavor bomb territory. Mangos Don’t Cry is packed with mountains of mangos, a bright splash of pineapple, and vanilla. This beer is an absolute tropical dream and will be available exclusively at the tasting room.
Maine Beer Company
525 US Route 1, Freeport
Dinner, Double IPA (8.2%)
Dinner is Maine Beer Company’s original Double IPA. It has notes of intense mango, passion fruit, and pineapple, undertones of garlic, onion, and pine, and sweet aromatics of malt and caramel. Dinner features Citra, Falconer’s Flight, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops.
Tuesday, February 22
Maine Beer Company
525 US Route 1, Freeport
Zoe, Amber Ale (7.2%)
Brewed with Centennial, Simcoe, and Columbus hops, Zoe has aromas of pine and raisin, with notes of citrus and ripe dark berries. It finishes with a malty backbone of toasted bread, dark chocolate, and caramel.
New Releases
Barreled Souls wants you to Put a Bird on It, they’re real and they’re Spectacular at Foundation, Mast Landing is Spinning in Circles, and Rising Tide is manning the Watchroom.
Bangor Beer Co.
330 Bangor Mall Blvd., Bangor
Maine Brewers’ Guild Collab IPA V2 (6.6%)
This beer recipe represents a collaborative effort amongst brewers, hop vendors, and maltsters, with a portion of the proceeds from every beer going to the Maine Brewers’ Guild. Bangor Beer’s version is made with Idaho 7 cryo, Loral cryo, and Belma hops.
Barreled Souls Brewing
743 Portland Rd., Saco
Put a Bird on It, Imperial Stout (15.6%); I Choo Choo Choose You, Imperial Stout (11%); & I Looooooove Chocolate, Sour (6%)
Put a Bird on It was aged for 11 months and 25 days in some amazing 13-year-old Barton Bourbon barrels.
I Choo Choo Choose You is brewed with strawberry, strawberry fluff, and cacao nibs and I Looooooove Chocolate was infused with strawberry and white chocolate. Both are perfect if you need to get a belated Valentine’s Day gift for that special someone.
Foundation Brewing Company
1 Industrial Way #5, Portland
Torte Spectacular, Milk Stout (6.3%) & Mahaffey’s Finest, Dry Irish Stout (4.4%)
Torte Spectacular is a classic love story, told in milk stout form. Once upon a time, bright, sparkling raspberry met dark and broody chocolate. They fell in love while twirling together across a shimmering dance floor of sweet vanilla. And then? Well, they lived happily ever after, of course!
‘Tis the season for one of our favorites—Mahaffey’s Finest! This one is a tip of the cap to one of our favorite beer styles, the dry Irish stout. The bright, coffee-like flavor of roasted barley sits over a light malt base. Finishing crisp and dry, this is a beer brewed to be enjoyed pint after pint. Slainte!
Maine Beer Company
525 US Route 1, Freeport
Woods & Waters, IPA (6.2%)
First brewed in 2016 in honor of the designation of Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, Woods & Waters celebrates Maine Beer Company’s passion for enjoying and preserving the outdoors. Woods & Waters utilizes local pale, wheat, and Vienna malts from Blue Ox Malthouse in Lisbon Falls.
Mast Landing Brewing Company
920 Main St., Westbrook and 200 Lower Main St., Freeport
Spinning in Circles, Double IPA (8.5%) & Weatherproof, English Dark Mild Ale (4%)
Spinning in Circles is a luscious, bold double IPA that utilizes the dry hopping process to a T. A vortex of Amarillo, Mosaic, and New Zealand Cascade hops will send your taste buds into orbit. The result is an expressive and hazy treat that drinks with a pleasant juicy quality.
Taken from the brewing traditions of England, English Dark Mild Ale is a comfortable and familiar beer. Whether the weather is beautiful or not, your glass will hold a delicious and refreshing treat. Weatherproof is a beer informed by years and years of history. Fads and trends haven’t blown the style off course, and for good reason.
Nonesuch River Brewing Company
201 Gorham Rd., Scarborough
Brew By Numbers, Double New England IPA (7.8%)
Nonesuch used only experital hops along with a modern yeast strain designed to push thiols to the outer limits in creating Brew By Numbers. Lush pineapple and passionfruit up front finish crisp and dry with a hint of lemon zest.
Rising Tide Brewing Company
103 Fox St., Portland
Alba, Smoked Wheat Ale (3%); Red Sea Gray Sky, West Coast IPA (7%); Watchroom, Pecan Oatmeal Stout (6.5%); and Maine Brewers’ Guild Collaboration Volume II, Black IPA (6.2%)
Alba was brewed in collaboration with Oxbow Brewing Company. Think Brut Champagne meets scotch with this Old World Polish beer. Big notes of smoke upfront that mellow out into notes of dry white wine, oak, rice crackers, with a hint of lemon pith. So crisp and so refreshing.
Red Sea Gray Sky is a classic west coast IPA balancing bitterness, malt body, and citrus and pine aromas.
Watchroom is a pecan pie-inspired beer that was developed as part of Rising Tide’s Sputnik Series by Tasting Room ambassador Morgan. It has big notes of vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, with a roasty backbone, rounded out with some nuttiness from the pecans. Perfect for sipping by the fire on a cold night.
Maine Brewers’ Guild Collaboration Volume II is part of the statewide collaboration supporting the Maine Brewers’ Guild. This beer represents a collaborative effort amongst brewers, hop vendors, and maltsters from one of the best beer communities in the world: Maine. While each participating brewery received the same ingredients, each beer is unique. A portion of proceeds from every beer sold goes to Maine Brewers’ Guild, the nonprofit trade association representing Maine’s brewers.
Rising Tide’s version features notes of papaya, citrus, strawberry, orange, and grapefruit rind balanced with characters of toasted malt, roasted coffee, a hint of chocolate, and caramel.
Sebago Brewing
Multiple locations
Streets of Rome, Italian-style Pilsner (5.9%)
Streets of Rome is an Italian-style pilsner created by Sebago Brewing’s head brewer Rusty Packer who loves hops, Italy, and the Grateful Dead. (Streets of Rome references the Bob Dylan song, “When I Paint my Masterpiece” which the Dead famously covered: “Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble/Ancient footprints are everywhere.”)
Stylistically, Italian pilsners are a hop-forward, less malty version of a German pilsner, with the addition of some restrained dry hopping, which is uncommon in the world of pilsners. According to Rusty: “As with most culinary applications in Italy, balance and simplicity remain key factors, so the hops come from only classic German or Czech varieties.
Streets of Rome is currently only available at the Sebago Brewing Tasting Room. If you’d like to go on a vicarious virtual vacation, you can read more about Rusty’s Rome adventures here.
SoMe Brewing Company
1 York St., #3, York
Big Old Toboggan, Baltic Porter (7.8%)
Big Old Toboggan is making its return after a multi-year hiatus. Featuring crisp notes of caramel and light roast and coming in at 7.8%, this Baltic porter will keep you warm out on the hill all day long.
Maine Beer in the News
Learn more about the impetus behind the Maine Brewers’ Guild collaboration beers you’ve been reading about (and hopefully drinking), why this is an excellent time to matriculate at USM, and the upcoming collab between a Maine brewery and…Coolio? We can’t make this stuff up!
Maine beer makers team up for a good cause — their own
In a competitive market where Maine breweries are always working to differentiate themselves, 52 of them have teamed up to release the same beer under the same name
University of Southern Maine team up to try to diversify craft beer business
The program, set to launch this spring, will create a pilot program that includes a paid internship with Maine Beer Company.
Is a Maine Brewery Teaming Up with Coolio For a New Beer?
Odd by Nature Brewing in Cape Neddick posted a photo on Facebook of owner Jay Grey posing with the one and only Coolio who is holding a pink-colored can of 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 or call us to learn more at beerthisweek@gmail.com (207) 209-2094
