Bottle Shops in Portland, ME
- Bier Cellar: Forest Ave - they know their stuff
- RSVP: Forest Ave
- Whole Foods: Somerset St
- Maine Brewing Supply: Forest Ave
- Old Port Spirits: Old Port. Used to be Downeast Beverage. More focused on wine/spirits but still a good beer selection
- Maine Beer & Beverage: Monument Square
- Craft Beer Cellar: It's a chain with standard inventory, standard prices. Right downtown, so convenient if you're staying in the Old Port
- Friendly Discount: Forest Ave (near RSVP)
Bottle Shops Near Portland
- Lois' Natural Marketplace (Scarborough). They also have a Portland location now (India St)
- Oak Hill Beverage (Scarborough)
- Bootleggers (Topsham and Lisbon)
Breweries within 15min of Portland
(NOTE: Maine Law dictates breweries can only fill their own logo'd growlers)
- Allagash (Portland)
- Tours: Sign up using link. (Hourly. Free samples are separate and don't require signing up online.)
- Growlers: No
- Maine Beer Co (Freeport)
- Tour: No
- Growler Fills: No
- Rising Tide (Portland)
- Tours: Yes, see website for times
- Growler Fills: Yes
- Bunker Brewing (Portland)
- Tours: No
- Growler Fills: Yes
- Bissell Brothers (Portland)
- Tours: No
- Growler Fills: no
- Foundation (Portland)
- Tours: Yes
- Growler Fills: Yes
- Austin Street (Portland)
- Tours: No
- Growler Fills: Yes (32oz)
- Oxbow Tasting Room (Portland)
- Tours: No
- Growler Fills: Prefilled bottles available
- Fore River (South Portland)
- Tours: No
- Growler Fills: Yes (32oz)
- Mast Brewing (Westbrook)
- Tours: No
- Growler Fills: No
- Foulmouthed Brewing (South Portland)
- Tours: No
- Growler Fills: Yes
- Lone Pine Brewing (Portland)
- Tours: No
- Growler Fills: Yes
- Battery Steel (Portland)
- Tours: No
- Growler Fills: No
The rest are definitely skippable, just keeping on here in case you have time to kill
Geary's (Portland)
Tours: 3p M-Fri, 1p/3p/5p on Saturday (show up early for some samples)
Growler Fills: No?
Shipyard (Portland)
Tours: Hourly (basically just a video and tasting)
Growler Fills: No
Gritty McDuffs (Portland, Freeport and Auburn) - Brewpub - Growler Fills
Sebago Brewing (Gorham) - Brewpub
Free tours/tasting weekdays. Growler fills Wed-Fri 3-5p. About 25 minutes from downtown
Other locations in downtown Portland, Scarborough (by the mall), and Kennebunk
"Nearby" Breweries (drive times are distance from Portland)
:
Baxter Brewing (Lewiston): Thurs-Sat 3-9p. Tours at 2p. 45min drive. Meh.
Oxbow (Newcastle): The OG spot. Open for growler fills: Wed-Sun 12-7p. 1h drive. Highly recommend taking the drive out there. Cool little tap room, growler fills and the occasional bottle (BA FPA, etc)
Portsmouth Brewery (Portsmouth, NH): Open for food/growlers 7 days a week. 1h drive.
Tributary Brewing (Kittery): Tod Mott's new place. Wed-Sat 12-7, Sun 1-5. 45min
Marshall Wharf (Belfast): Tasting room open Tues-Sun 11a-4p. Restaurant (Three Tides) open Tues-Sun 4-close. 2h drive.
Barreled Souls (Saco): Just off the highway, pretty chill spot. Wed-Thurs 4-10p, Fri 4p-12a, Sat 12p-12a, Sun 12-8p. Likely will have food truck on site. 20 min.
Banded Horn (Biddeford): Samples and growlers, foosball/ping pong/cornhole. W-Th 4-9p, Fri 4-10p, Sat 12-10p, Sun 12-8p. 25 min.
Gneiss Brewing (Limerick): kinda out there (1 hr) but they have some decent beers. Also a great disc golf course in the area if that's your thing
Funky Bow (Lyman): Also making decent beers. They have a weekly party (Friday) with free pizza and growler fills. 35-40 min.
Portland Beer Bars: (in no order. very different scenes.)
- Novare Res: lots of taps and bottles, small menu (in the Old Port)
- Great Lost Bear: lots of taps, huge food menu, kid friendly (Forest Ave)
- Little Tap House: Stop by for happy hour (4-6p) for a beer+app pairing. If you like it, stay for dinner. Nice selection of locals and other craft beers.
- Liquid Riot (formerly In'finiti Fermentation and Distillation): Brewpub/Distillery. Food's a little pricey, but beers are definitely reasonably priced. Growlers and crowlers.
- The King's Head: Gastropub opened by the bartender from Blackback in Waterbury, VT; right near Liquid Riot. Sunday brunch at 10a. Draft list has been consistently impressive and food is tasty (albeit a little pricey)
Restaurants:
There's no way I can do this section justice, I've mentioned a few already in the beer bar section.
This food blog does the best job compiling restaurant information. From
Eritrean to
Indian... the food scene here is booming. That said, some restaurants (jeans/tshirt friendly) stand out for their selection of taps. Here are a few personal favorites:
- Duckfat: poutine, duckfat fries, charcuterie, or artisan shakes, salads, and paninis
- Pai Men Miyake: ramen/sushi... the brussel sprouts and pork buns are incredible
- The Thirsty Pig: local sausages and taps. Grab a bite and drink here before walking down the alley to Novare Res.
- Nosh: check out the bacon dusted menu here. Can get crowded/loud.
- LFK: Good burger, little hipstery but nice selection of local and domestic taps.
- Eventide : Raw Oysters, Lobster Rolls, expect a wait
Pizza: because everyone loves it
- Otto's - best slice in town (IMO). Multiple locations, 2 downtown. Happy hour 4-6p, buy a beer and get a slice for free (1pp)
- Slab - 1lb hand slab FTW. Cool outdoor patio with picnic tables and legit tap list
- Portland Pie - multiple locations, 1 downtown. Solid pizza for a reasonable price. Tap list is usually lackluster though.
Reubens: keeping this to those I have ticked
- Little Tap House - A reuben egg roll. It's alright, but come on man! 6/10
- Nosh - 7/10 (expected better from a place with bacon dusted fries)
- Sebago Brewing - 7/10 (one of the better things on the menu)
- LFK - served on a pretzel roll, so technically not a reuben. Roll throws the whole sandwich off. 5/10
- Ebenezer's Brewpub (Brunswick) - No. Just... no. 3/10, and that's being generous.
- Miss Portland Diner - highly recommended, 8.5/10
- When Pigs Fly Pizzeria (Kittery) - really good sandwich, but bread not toasted/buttered. 6/10 as is, could be 9+/10 bread used properly
- Po'Boy & Pickles - solid, on the way to/from Industrial Way, but plenty of other better sandwiches on the menu. 6.5/10