Portland, Maine roundup

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cog_nate
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Portland, Maine roundup

#1 Post by cog_nate » Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:21 pm

Just got back from a trip to Portland, Maine. Here's a brief, totally arbitrary roundup of places my wife and I went, beers we drank and impressions thereof.

Novare Res: This is probably the one must-hit bar in Portland. Just about a block away from Gritty McDuff's (see below). We hung out in the beer garden. There were a stupendous number of beers on tap, and even more in bottle. Megan had a Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA and a Schlenkerla Rauchbier and I had an Allagash Curieux and an Allagash Black topped with chocolate nibs. All four of those beers were on tap. We didn't have anything to eat there, but the small plates menu looked great.

Allagash: I sampled Curieux and Black at Novare Res. The Curieux was pretty good, some vanilla and oak flavor and a little alcoholic warmth at the end. The Black was not so special -- like a blander version of New Belgium's 1554 -- although the chocolate nibs on top gave it an interesting mouthfeel and slight bitterness. The Allagash White was a damn fine take on the Belgin wit style. Cloudy, but not too so, it had a very smooth, soft mouthfeel and strong orange notes. Not tart at all.

Gritty McDuff's: Unfortunately named but nice little brewpub right smack in the middle of the Old Port area. Great atmosphere, very good pub food -- especially the barley coated fish sammich. Beers are well-made but nothing to set your taste buds aflame -- solid, earthy bitter and a good brown. They have other locations and also bottle their beer -- not at the Portland location -- and sell it retail.

Sebago Brewing: We didn't visit the brewpub, but had one of their beers, Frye?s Leap IPA. Very well-hopped -- the Sebago site says it has lots of Cascades in it, but I didn't get much grapefruity flavor. A little thin on the malt side, but well-made.

Shipyard Brewing Company: I've visited this brewery several times, but we didn't get a chance this year. We did, however, drink a few of their beers.
  • Export Ale is their *cough* flagship *cough* brew -- nicely colored but pretty standard pale ale. Seemed less hoppy this time than in the past.

    Shipyard Summer ale was probably the most pleasant surprise of the trip. I can take or leave most summer beers, but this one was more well-hopped than any other summer beer I've ever tasted. It also had a slight lemon flavor and intriguing spiciness to it. You'd think those hoppy, lemony and spicy flavors would just wreck each other, but the progression of them worked wonderfully. I only wish Shipyard had more info about it on their website so I could clone it.

    Last up is Old Thumper, Ringwood Brewery/Shipyard's ESB (although they call it "Extra Special Ale" for some reason). This is the beer on tap in my own personal heaven. Rich copper color, amazingly well-balanced, with plenty of malt and a touch of caramel flavor to set off the earthy, spicy hops.
Down East Beverage Co.: This was the best -- well, only -- liquor store in Portland that we visited. Big beer selection, with a sizeable Belgians section. In fact, quite a few of the beers at Novare Res were being sold at Down East. We grabbed a six-pack of Old Thumper and one of Smuttynose Hanami Ale before catching the ferry. A bit pricey, but very convenient to Casco Bay Lines.

Smuttynose: We had the Hanami Ale. This is a beer brewed with cherry juice. I was a bit underwhelmed by it. It was very tart, which is fine, but after the cherry tartness there was too much hop bitterness. For my tastes, it didn't work too well.

All in all, and especially for its size, Portland is a kickass beer town. Can't wait to go back.

EDIT: Megan had a 90-minute IPA. (Still too cloying, by the way.)
Last edited by cog_nate on Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Melonmon
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#2 Post by Melonmon » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:03 pm

I'm jealous, Nate. I love Maine. Jeff grew up in Freeport, which also has a Gritty McDuff's, and we've been back a couple of times to visit. We've spent many hours sipping brew with his childhood friends at Gritty's. What great memories, and good, solid beer. The food was good, too, but I don't remember what I had.

Ellen

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cog_nate
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#3 Post by cog_nate » Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:13 pm

Hey, I didn't know Jeff was a Mainer. Cool. We really dig it, too. My connection is that my uncle and I set up a cabin on Chebeague Island in 1994. It had been far too long since Megan and I had been back there, so that's where we spent most of our time this year.

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Melonmon
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#4 Post by Melonmon » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:22 am

Sounds like heaven.

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