Portland Maine?

Hi, I'm taking a trip to Portland Maine tomorrow with my wife and was wondering if anyone here could give me a couple suggestions for pubs and places to get lunch that have a nice beer selection. I would also like to get some fish while I'm up there, so if anyone knows a decent fish market I would be forever grateful.

FermentusMaximus said:

Hi, I'm taking a trip to Portland Maine tomorrow with my wife and was wondering if anyone here could give me a couple suggestions for pubs and places to get lunch that have a nice beer selection. I would also like to get some fish while I'm up there, so if anyone knows a decent fish market I would be forever grateful.

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Great Lost Bear has great food and a decent beer selection. Located on Forest Ave.

$3 Deweys down by the water is good too.

GLB is the place to go if you had to pick one. You also want to go to Harbor Fish Market for the fish...super place, alot of people go in there just to see it. That is in the old port. A bunch of other restaurant and bar options there as well.

I am going to Portland in a month. I hope you find something good and report back too!

broadbill said:

GLB is the place to go if you had to pick one. You also want to go to Harbor Fish Market for the fish...super place, alot of people go in there just to see it. That is in the old port. A bunch of other restaurant and bar options there as well.

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After looking at reviews on Yelp and Beer Advocate, I was looking towards both of these places. Novare Res sounds like it has a great beer selection but the menu is too limited. Looking forward to the fish market. Gonna try to hit up Allagash, Maine Mead Works, GLB, Fish Market, and shops in Old Port. Have to stop in Ipswich, MA on the way up to get some cider for a cyser I'm making this week too. We have a lot on the menu for tomorrow lol.

forstmeister said:

I am going to Portland in a month. I hope you find something good and report back too!

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I'll let you know how my day went some time later this week.

FermentusMaximus said:

I'll let you know how my day went some time later this week.

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Awesome! I plan on hitting Allagash, Ommegang, Great Lakes and a few others on my trip. My wife is a big fan of brew pubs and eating local so it's a win/win for me.

I second Novare Res. Loved that place. Gritty McDuff's is a decent brewpub if you want to visit somewhere smaller than Allagash, Shipyard, etc. I loved Maine Mead Works - the owner is a great guy and you can sample about a dozen or so excellent meads there.

Have a good trip.

The trip was great, I wish we had more time to spend in Portland. Both tours were really interesting. Allagash had a brewery exclusive Golden Brett on tap that was REALLY good. It had very smooth tropical fruit flavors. I was surprised at how much they do there that never even gets distributed. They do a lot of experimentation with wild yeasts as well. The tour guide said they even do one beer where they take the wort and pour it into a gigantic oversized brownie pan and open all the windows. I definitely recommend this brewery tour if anyone is in that area. The Mead Works was cool too! They let you sample a lot of different flavors although the tour is much shorter because they are a much smaller operation. Went to a nice store in Portland too called the Bier Cellar. I picked up a Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9897/45723
I also bought some of these bad boys...
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24300/72592
The Great Lost Bear was OK. Decent beer selection and food was better than average. I am now less likely to take for granted what we have here in Providence though. The bar tender was nice, I ordered a cocktail from their menu that had a rum from New England Distilling (which by the way is right down the road from Allagash and highly recommended by our tour guide). On accident, I received a collaboration IPA from in'finity Fermentation (brews from the owner of Novare Res from what I was told?) and someplace else I cant remember the name now. It was the best mistake she could have made, I enjoyed it. She also let me try some End of the Line Pale Ale from Funky Bow brewery that was excellent. So although they don't have the largest selection of beers, they definitely have some really good quality brews from the area.