What Breweries should I visit in Maine (Portland)?

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seanybubbles

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I'm driving from Montreal through vermont/NH and eventually down to Portland. Just wondering what is a "must see" in the Portland area. I will be there for a week. Thanks in advance.
 
I've never been to any of these places, but I have a slowly growing list of brew pubs & restaurants to try in a few places. These are on my list for Portland, ME:

Great Lost Bear in Portland- 65 beers on tap. most from the northeast

Three Dollar Deweys - 35 beers on tap - most $4

Breweries in Portland - Allagash, D.L. Geary, Gritty McDuffs, Sebago, Shipyard
 
+1 to the Great Lost Bear....pick up a bumper sticker (they are iconic)...beer is awesome and food is good too.

I like Gritty McDuffs-there is location in the Old Port and in Freeport. Also, Sebago brewing is just down the street from Gritty's in the Old Port.

Alot of other restaurants/bars in the Old Port as well...a must see even if you aren't checking out the brew pubs, especially this time of year!

As for brewery tours, I haven't done allagash but have heard good things. Shipyard haa brewery tour, but you don't see much but get some free samples. Not sure if any of the other breweries do tours.

PM me if you want more details....I'm local (FWIW).

:off:
Cranky, you are living in JP? Before moving to the portland area, we were living there for a number of years. How do you like it
 
Don't skip the Allagash tour. It's short and sweet, but you'll see some cool stuff that you don't typically see on brewery tours (or at least I haven't). Plus their beers are awesome and the staff is more than willing to answer your questions even long after the tour is over. I've never been on any other tours, but have eaten at Sebago and Seadog a number of times and the beers are decent and the food is good, for what it is. Sebago has seemed to be doing a much better job (more interesting/higher quality beers) these days than when I first went there 3 years ago or so. I've never been a huge fan of Gritty's, but it has a lot of history so you should probably at least check it out.

I'll agree the Great Lost Bear is a good place, although it might be just me, but I prefer Novare Res, which is off of Exchange Street. They "only" have 25 taps, but they always have some really unique stuff, plus 2 casks and a huge bottle list. If you hit it at the right time they usually do some cool promotions too.

I'll leave it at that, but let me know if you want to hear more.

Edit: When I said I'd never been on other tours I meant in Portland - in case that discredited me.
 
I visited all the breweries last year (Allagash, Shipyard, Geary's, Sebago, and Grittys). Allagash was definitely the best of the bunch, but I loved the sebago one. They just let us hang around and drink as much as we wanted, showed us everything, and answered anything.

Great Lost Bear is good, but I'm with drewski on prefering Novare Res.
 
:off:
Cranky, you are living in JP? Before moving to the portland area, we were living there for a number of years. How do you like it


I've been in JP for about 12 years now. Used to live on Green St., now I'm off South St., right by James's Gate. With the Gate, Behan, the greasy Gallway House, amazing cheap Latino food, being right by the bus & train, I don't know if/when I will leave JP. I just wish that it wasn't so cold for 2/3 of the year!
 
I've been in JP for about 12 years now. Used to live on Green St., now I'm off South St., right by James's Gate. With the Gate, Behan, the greasy Gallway House, amazing cheap Latino food, being right by the bus & train, I don't know if/when I will leave JP. I just wish that it wasn't so cold for 2/3 of the year!

We left JP a couple of years ago, but when we did we first lived down the street from James Gate and then a block away from Doyles. James Gate is my favorite pub with Doyles being a distant second. Never spent my time in the Behan. Talking about Latino Food made me go want to hit Tacos el Charro! I'll be down in a couple of hours!:mug:
 
so how close are you to the sam adams building with the belt sander races in the cabinet shop?
 
Six words:

Novare Res, Novare Res, Novare Res.

Also, as everyone else has mentioned, Great Lost Bear is a must do.

And don't forget to try Peeper Ale from the Maine Beer Company.
 
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