Portland, ME Guide

[Brez071]

Bissell Brothers says on their website regarding cans that "CANS ARE NOT AVAILABLE ON SUNDAY UNLESS THERE IS ROLLOVER FROM THE PREVIOUS DAY." Does their stuff sell out super quick? Are cans ever available on Sunday or do they always sell out of their stash that day?

Depends on what the release is. Although lately I've been seeing things available on Sunday more often. Check their IG, they post quantity available every day just before open.

 

[TheeWalrusHunter]

In Portland Maine. This place is beautiful. Just grabbed a lobster roll at high roller. And drinking delicious Austin street beer.

Does anyone know where to pick up a bottle shipper?

 

[JBP]

In Portland Maine. This place is beautiful. Just grabbed a lobster roll at high roller. And drinking delicious Austin street beer.

Does anyone know where to pick up a bottle shipper?

Bier Cellar sometimes has some cardboard 6-bottle ones but they're a little pricey. Not sure if in stock now. Shippers seem pretty quality though.

 

[tylerk88]

Pretty hilarious that people are complaining. How dare MBC deny people the joy of waiting hours in line to buy a case of beer!

 

[JBP]

About damn time.

 

[TheeWalrusHunter]

Just wanted to thank people for the suggestions here. We did:

High roller lobster rolls.
Austin street brewery
Thirsty pig
Novare res
Even tide.

Plus drank some bissel and allagash. Austin street is the real deal. Some of the best ipas I had on our trip through New England.

 

[PurityControl88]

Planning a visit to Portland next year. After reading through the first page I'm even more excited. Thanks Brez07 for putting that list together!

 

[oldp0rt]

Hey guys,

I'll be in Portland jan 25th to 29th.

If you guys need anything from montreal, let me know and I'll try and bring it down.

 

[PubGrubTrub]

Was able to hit Portland for a few hours last week while visiting my in-laws who live about an hour outside of town. Was able to hit Bissell for Subby and Umbra and the Bier Cellar. Always wish I had more time to tool around Portland, especially out of season.

Was curious about people's thoughts about Portland/Freeport beer not named Bissell/Foundation/MBC. What's the general reputation of places like Rising Tide, Banded Horn, Liquid Riot, etc.? When I was up in the summer I fell in love with MITA and Pisces from RT and Headstash from LR. Banded Horn released Daikaiju right as we were leaving town last week so I didn't get to grab any, but I'd read in some places that it's pretty good and largely underrated because it's overshadowed by what else comes out of Portland. Wanted to toss that out there and get everybody's thoughts. Being from own of town I want to try as much as I can whenever I'm up.

 

[gregkoko]

I've enjoyed everything I've had from Austin Street.

 

[tylerk88]

Don't sleep on Oxbow. Rising Tide is a stone's throw away and their beers are different enough that the two compliment one another nicely.

 

[PubGrubTrub]

Don't sleep on Oxbow. Rising Tide is a stone's throw away and their beers are different enough that the two compliment one another nicely.

Visited Oxbow in August and really dug them as well before stopping by Rising Tide. We went in the middle of the week so both places were quiet and relaxed. I'm a sucker for saisons and funk so they were a nice treat.

 

[PubGrubTrub]

I've enjoyed everything I've had from Austin Street.

I've been to Foundation once to buy cans really quickly but didn't have time to walk back to visit Austin. Next trip I'm hopeful to do that. I did grab a bottle of something of theirs at Bier Cellar last week but the name of it escapes me at the moment.

 

[Brez071]

Was able to hit Portland for a few hours last week while visiting my in-laws who live about an hour outside of town. Was able to hit Bissell for Subby and Umbra and the Bier Cellar. Always wish I had more time to tool around Portland, especially out of season.

Was curious about people's thoughts about Portland/Freeport beer not named Bissell/Foundation/MBC. What's the general reputation of places like Rising Tide, Banded Horn, Liquid Riot, etc.? When I was up in the summer I fell in love with MITA and Pisces from RT and Headstash from LR. Banded Horn released Daikaiju right as we were leaving town last week so I didn't get to grab any, but I'd read in some places that it's pretty good and largely underrated because it's overshadowed by what else comes out of Portland. Wanted to toss that out there and get everybody's thoughts. Being from own of town I want to try as much as I can whenever I'm up.

I'm a big fan of Austin St and Barreled Souls is probably the most slept on brewery in the area. Liquid Riot tap offerings are always solid too, with a few that wow.

But really, compared to like 6-7 years ago this area is full of good beer. There's really only a few breweries I'd advise to skip.

 

[tehzachatak]

My three favorite Maine breweries (Austin St., Oxbow, and Allagash) are not MBC/Bissell/Foundation. The former two wouldn't crack my top five or six let alone top 3. My feelings on Bissell remain the same as they've always been: great branding, nice people, beer that I usually won't even go ten minutes out of my way for.

 

[tylerk88]

IMHO MBC is producing the best hoppy beer in Maine. I like a lot of Bissell and Foundation's output (Substance and Epiphany in particular) but between batch variation and too many duds I'll take MBC.

 

[Brez071]

IMHO MBC is producing the best hoppy beer in Maine. I like a lot of Bissell and Foundation's output (Substance and Epiphany in particular) but between batch variation and too many duds I'll take MBC.

Which is ironic because that (along with a few other reasons) was why I quit buying MBC altogether a few years back.

 

[PubGrubTrub]

My three favorite Maine breweries (Austin St., Oxbow, and Allagash) are not MBC/Bissell/Foundation. The former two wouldn't crack my top five or six let alone top 3. My feelings on Bissell remain the same as they've always been: great branding, nice people, beer that I usually won't even go ten minutes out of my way for.

I listed MBC, Bissell and Foundation specifically since, as an out-of-towner, those are the three that I probably hear about the most in NJ/NYC. We do get MBC here in fits and starts, while Bissell and Foundation beers (typically Epiphany) are highly sought after down here in trades. I know some Oxbow makes it to NYC now but outside of them, MBC and Allagash, we don't see a whole lot of Maine beer here in general.

You raise an interesting perspective on Bissell because I'd say down here some people have a very similar viewpoint of Other Half.

 

[tehzachatak]

Which is ironic because that (along with a few other reasons) was why I quit buying MBC altogether a few years back.

Ditto

 

[tehzachatak]

I listed MBC, Bissell and Foundation specifically since, as an out-of-towner, those are the three that I probably hear about the most in NJ/NYC. We do get MBC here in fits and starts, while Bissell and Foundation beers (typically Epiphany) are highly sought after down here in trades. I know some Oxbow makes it to NYC now but outside of them, MBC and Allagash, we don't see a whole lot of Maine beer here in general.

You raise an interesting perspective on Bissell because I'd say down here some people have a very similar viewpoint of Other Half.

Nothing wrong with Bissell. I hate on plenty of breweries and I'll never hate on them. I think their beer is fine. I just don't understand why people freak out about it when there's like a half dozen small breweries in each other northeast state making IPA better than them.

 

[gregkoko]

I listed MBC, Bissell and Foundation specifically since, as an out-of-towner, those are the three that I probably hear about the most in NJ/NYC. We do get MBC here in fits and starts, while Bissell and Foundation beers (typically Epiphany) are highly sought after down here in trades. I know some Oxbow makes it to NYC now but outside of them, MBC and Allagash, we don't see a whole lot of Maine beer here in general.

You raise an interesting perspective on Bissell because I'd say down here some people have a very similar viewpoint of Other Half.

I would take Reciprocal over anything Other Half makes

 

[PubGrubTrub]

I would take Reciprocal over anything Other Half makes

Same. I don't go into what I've discussed about OH with my friends in an effort not to hijack, but I agree with you.

 

[PubGrubTrub]

Appreciate the feedback everyone. I try to make an effort to drink local whenever I travel so the input and discussion is greatly appreciated. If anybody finds themselves down in north Jersey or NYC and wants to grab a beer, let me know. First round is on me.

 

[tylerk88]

I went to the last ticketed release and it was, without a doubt, the easiest/quickest beer release I've been to. Glad they're sticking with the tickets.

 

[JBP]

And now if they just stopped charging the equivalent of $32 per 4-pack we'd have a decent beer release on our hands...

 

[mixylplik4]

I decided to try the ticketed system for this Dinner release. I was due, MBC is barely 15 minutes from my house. Everything went smoothly, yet it still took 90 minutes to snake through the line and pay via the 2 manned (out of 4) registers. I haven't done a "release" of any kind in years and figured that since people were given time slots, things should move right along. This is a totally asinine thing to complain about in the grand scheme of things but after all these years and iPad/smart phone POS systems there is just no reason it needs to take this long. But I had a few nice conversations. No complaints about the crowd. Some couple drove up from North Carolina just for this release, which I think is amazing. The most I've ever traveled for beer specifically was a 7 hour drive for Le Bleu in Ithaca back in 2011, which was literally the last beer release I went to.

But I will admit this beer is tasty as ****.

 

[Brez071]

I decided to try the ticketed system for this Dinner release. I was due, MBC is barely 15 minutes from my house. Everything went smoothly, yet it still took 90 minutes to snake through the line and pay via the 2 manned (out of 4) registers. I haven't done a "release" of any kind in years and figured that since people were given time slots, things should move right along. This is a totally asinine thing to complain about in the grand scheme of things but after all these years and iPad/smart phone POS systems there is just no reason it needs to take this long. But I had a few nice conversations. No complaints about the crowd. Some couple drove up from North Carolina just for this release, which I think is amazing. The most I've ever traveled for beer specifically was a 7 hour drive for Le Bleu in Ithaca back in 2011, which was literally the last beer release I went to.

But I will admit this beer is tasty as ****.

My disdain for MBC is well documented, but it sounds like yesterday was a one-off issue. I ran into a friend who works there yesterday after the release who said they were having computer/network issues.

 

[Doc1]

I will be in Portland with my wife this weekend. So excite.

 

[Doc1]

Loved it up here. Did Swish release at Bissell yesterday, also visited Allagash, Foundations 2nd anniversary event, as well as one other right around the corner that I can't recall.

 

[CoinStarChange]

I'm headed up to Portland tomorrow and I can't ******* wait. Second time, but this time it's for pure leisure.

I just saw someone developed a Bissell Brother app that I intend on using often.

On the average, what time does one need to get to Bissell in order to be assured a release like Reciprocal? Follow up question but with the daily canned Substance?

Thanks.