Just a quick update for all you Maine readers out there: while you’re all patiently waiting for the arrival of Baxter Brewing Co. beers this fall, you’ll have some new out-of-state beery arrivals to help tide you over. Three breweries from across the country have started to distribute their beers in the state of Maine this month and their arrivals are absolutely welcome ones!

First, a the first of May heralded the long-awaited arrival of Southern Tier Brewing Co. Southern Tier (out of Lakewood, NY) began distributing four of their beers, I believe, across southern Maine a few weeks ago, including their Unearthly Double IPA – a personal favorite beer of mine. I just hope that if these four are successful, they’ll ship their Jah*va Coffee and Imperial Oatmeal stouts as well. Southern Tier is being distributed by Central Distributors in Lewiston.

Next, on May 10th, Morrisville, VT’s Rock Art Brewing Co. announced via their Facebook Fan Page that they were about to begin shipping beer to Maine via Portland-based distributor Mariner Beverage. I’m not sure how many Rock Art varieties have arrived, but according to one Facebook comment, at least the Vermonster and a Belvidere Big IPA are now available at RSVP in here in Portland. You may remember the Rock Art name from the little legal battle they had with beverage giant Monster Energy Drinks in October of 2009.

Lastly, I just discovered this one this morning: New Orleans’ Abita Brewing Co. (which is actually located in Abita Springs, Louisiana, 30 miles north of New Orleans) have sneaked their way into the state. While I haven’t yet seen their beer on any store shelves and Maine isn’t listed on the “beer finder” page of their website yet, according to the below screenshot of an official Abita Tweet, it certainly looks like their beers should be in state by now.

This is all very exciting news as Maine finally begins to catch up with the rest of the country as far as beer availability and diversity. The summer beer drinking is definitely looking up!

A few BlogAboutBeer.com readers probably already know the news I’m about the share but I’m pretty sure that most do not. What I am about to write has been a non-stop, full-time eleven months in the making (and many years in a dream): I am opening my own brewery.

Baxter Brewing Co. will be the first brewery north of Connecticut to can its entire line of beer. Located in the historic Bates Mill in Lewiston, Maine, Baxter beers will be distributed throughout the state of Maine beginning in September 2010 and across northern New England in 2011.

What’s With the Flying Moose?

The creature in our logo is Pamola, an Abenaki and Penobscot legend of a spirit which is said to be the god of Thunder, the cause of cold weather and protector of Mt Katahdin, the tallest peak in the state of Maine. The Indians described him as having the head of a moose, the body of a man and the wings and talons of an eagle. Pamola was both feared and respected by the tribes who believed in him.

Personally, I will be handling the marketing, sales and administration side of the company and have hired local Brewmaster Michael LaCharite – who founded Casco Bay Brewing Co. in the mid 1990s – to run the brewing side of the business. You can expect to see cans of our flagship Stowaway IPA across the state of Maine beginning around Labor Day. Our brewery itself will feature a nearly-new, state-of-the-art 30 barrel brewing system, manufactured by Newlands Systems Inc (NSI) and an automatic canning line capable of filling thirty cans a minute from Cask Brewing Systems Inc.

What Happens to BlogAboutBeer.com?

What does this mean for the future of BlogAboutBeer.com? Well, undoubtedly I won’t have the time any more necessary to devote to the blog (clearly, since it’s been nearly a week since my last update and posts are getting much less frequent as my schedule gets busier). And it would be unfair to all of you if I were to either turn this blog into an entirely Baxter-centric blog (I will have one of those I’m sure, but it will run as part of BaxterBrewing.com), or abandon it all together (the last thing I want to happen). I do plan to list the site for sale on Flippa and would hope for it to get what it’s worth, but more importantly, I hope that whatever hands it ends up in continue to develop the site, its content and its culture in the same vein I have been doing for the past 2+ years. So if you have an idea for the site, or are interested in purchasing it or taking it over, please get in touch with me.

So in Conclusion…

As for Baxter, I’m sure there will be questions from the crowd, so I’ll leave it at that. But please fire away (maybe they will require a couple of follow-up posts). And check out www.baxterbrewing.com and follow us on Twitter @BaxterBrewing.

Most importantly, I want to thank you all so much for all of the support you have shown BlogAboutBeer.com since its inception in August of 2007. Thousands and thousands of people have visited the site, have commented on posts, emailed me, introduced themselves, written guest posts, sent me beer and schwag, invited me into their events and into their homes and bars and without the site and without all of you, I certainly wouldn’t love craft beer nearly as much as I do and I damn sure wouldn’t be starting a brewery. So I thank you all from the bottom of my heart (and my glass) and please keep reading and keep in touch! Cheers!

In all of his “small town”, on-location speeches around the country, President Obama acknowledges a local businessperson who is thriving in that community. During his trip here to Portland last week, Obama gave a shout out to Bill “Bill the Beer Guy” Milliken, who owns Market House Coffee and Maine Beer & Beverage, both in Portland’s Public Market House. In exchange for plugging Milliken’s business during the speech, Obama told the crowd that he expected some good Maine beers in return.

And that’s precisely what he’s getting. It was announced today that Milliken, in conjunction with Southern Maine’s Nappi Distributors and the Maine Brewers Guild, are sending one GIANT beery care package to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. In fact, the guild expects that all 17 of its members will contribute at least a beer to the presidential gift, leaving the white house in good beer supply for quite some time.

“It’s a great moment for Maine and it’s wonderful for Maine beer”,

Says Shipyard Brewing and Maine Brewers Guild spokeswoman Tami Kennedy. Enjoy the beer, Mr. President!

Registration for the 2010 Trails To Ale 10k road race along the oceanfront here in beautiful Portland, Maine opens tomorrow, Saturday March 27th. The Portland Trails race, which is set to take place on Sunday, September 19, 2010, is a full 10k road race along the Eastern Prom trail and around Back Bay, ending at the Portland Company on outer Fore Street in the East End.

But what makes this event both fun and unique — more so than any old road race — is that the course ends at a warehouse full of Portland Pie pizza, Whole Foods Market snacks and lots and lots of Shipyard beer (hence the name, Trails to Ale). Not only have I recently begun to run a bit myself (and am participating in my first 5k this Sunday), but I really enjoy unique events like this one which make great use of beer-as-reward.  Oh, and there will also be post-race massages provided AND the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad will provide free train rides from the finish line at East End Beach to the after-party at the Portland Company; pretty freakin’ cool.

Registration for the Portland Trails 2010 Trails to Ale 10k begins online tomorrow morning at 9:00am at active.com/running/portland-me/portland-trails-10k-trail-to-ale-2010, and the first 400 registrants receive a free technical fabric race teeshirt from Mizuno. However, last year the race had more than 1000 runners participate, so be sure and sign up early. All proceeds, I believe, go to help Portland Trails. See you on the race track!

Thanks to a ticket hookup from my friend Ally over at WhereMaineEats.com (under construction), I was able to attend the Maine Bartenders Bash this past Monday night (a helluva way to end a day which began with a 4am trip to Kate Day…). I’m not usually one for vodka but I must admit that nearly all of the cocktails served at the “bash” (more of a cocktail tasting than a bash, I have to admit. Still a very good time but “bash” implies flair, and there wasn’t any) were mighty tasty. One particular drink though really hit home for me, probably needless to say.

Photo by Michael Barriault of PortlandTown

“The Native” from Vignola was created by Scott Doherty and features the White and Black ales of Allagash Brewing Co, blended with a number of spices, boiled and mixed with Maine’s own Cold River Vodka. If you’re feeling adventurous enough to try making it yourself, the recipe is below. I told Scott at the time that I think “The Native” would be fantastic served hot on a cold New England evening. While it didn’t win the overall best cocktail of the evening, it was the best drink at The Bartenders Bash in my book.

The Native:

~1 1/2 oz Cold River Vodka
~6 oz Four Spice Black & White Agave syrup:

Agave Syrup:

1 pint Allagash White
1pint Allagash Black
8 oz water
8 oz Agave Nectar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp whole white peppercorns
1 star anise pod
1/2 tsp whole clove
1/4 piece of ginger

Bring water, cinnamon stick, whole white peppercorns, star anise pod, whole clove, and ginger to a boil. Then add agave nectar and return to a boil. Remove from heat and cool. Cover and refrigerate over night, strain and cover. Bring 1 pint of Allagash White and 1 pint of Allagash Black to a boil. Add 3 tablespoons of agave syrup and 1/2 cup sugar. Return to a boil and reduce liquid by half. Pour agave syrup and vodka into a shaker, add ice, and shake vigorously. Strain into pilsner glass. Enjoy!

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Chris Avantaggio of Beer ME Maine recently to discuss his new brand of Maine & beer-inspired duds and the brand he is silently but explosively building throughout the state (and beyond). Chris was also kind enough to pass along a “review copy” of one of their shirts and pint glasses so I can tell you first-hand that this stuff rocks! He was also kind enough to pass some savings on to all of you – for a limited time, enter the coupon code blogaboutbeer at the BeerMeMaine.com checkout and enjoy 10% off your purchase price! You can check out all of Chris’ designs at www.BeerMeMaine.com, follow them on Twitter @BeerME207 and become a fan on Facebook at Facebook.com/beermemaine Without further adieu, here’s a bit more about BeerMeMaine.com and how it came to be, straight from designer’s mouth:

BlogAboutBeer.com: How did you come up with the idea for BeerMe?

Chris Avantaggio: It began with blaze orange. Every fall a bunch of friends and I go the Maine Brewers festival. It’s always pretty chaotic at these events and we wanted a way of finding each other to re-group and compare tastings. Wearing blaze orange made the most sense. In the fall of 2009 I decided to design a t-shirt logo that we could wear to the event. After a handfull of designs that were all kind of lame, I came up with BeerME. It made perfect sense. It displays a love for the state and our beer!

BAB: What has been the reaction so far?

CA: People have been really excited about it. It’s great to see so much enthusiasm for the brand. I had a friend actually sell a shirt off his back at the Brewers Festival. I couldn’t believe that.

We’ve gotten a lot of response from fans living outside of Maine as well. Fans who no longer live in Maine but want something to wear around and show off. It’s like having a home team jersey.

Overall I would say the response has been very postive, and I’m really happy about that.

BAB: What do you have planned for the future of the company?

CA: I’d like to get some more variation in the apparel, I’ve had some requests for women’s t-shirts and other goods. More colors are always on the radar too. We’ve set up a few select wholesale accounts in Portland and we’ll be reaching out to other vendors across the state in the future. We may also offer some co/branded shirts with Maine Breweries who are interested. We’re just getting started, so there’s lots to do!

I also have some ideas for future designs, I can’t say too much, but they’ll be fun and Maine inspired!

BAB: What’s your favorite Maine beer/brewery?

CA: Ahh….man that’s a tough one. There’s so many awesome beers in Maine! How do you even judge?

If I had to pick an all time favorite, it would be Sheepscott Valley Brewing Co’s Pemaquid Ale. It’s a hearty beer fit for any occasion. Plus it comes in growlers! My wife and I served a keg of it at our wedding last summer and it was a huge hit.(which reminds me, I think we still have to get the keg shell back to them. Sorry Steve!)

BAB: And the catch-all, Anything else you think we should know?

CA: Support your local brewer! And if you’re interested in some of the goods we carry, we’re offering a special deal to the readers. Enter the discount code: blogaboutbeer in our shopping cart for a 10% off limited time offer.

Last weekend marked the fourth annual Beer & Cheese party at Vignola restaurant here in Portland’s Old Port. As I mentioned before, this has quickly become one of my favorite annual Maine beer events. You can literally pig out on some of the best cheeses and beers in the world until you feel like you’re going to burst — in the best possible way — for a mere $25.

It’s great, too, because there are two very different sessions to this event. The first, which runs from 12 noon to 2:00pm is very relaxed. This is the session we always choose to attend and this year my party of four made up quite literally about 1/3 of the entire crowd (you do the math). It’s a great intimate setting where you can really take your time with each beer and each cheese, have good conversations with the distributors and chefs and generally just feel relaxed and not rushed or pressured. However, the evening session (which runs from 3-5pm) had nearly 70 reservations before the session started and I’m sure there were plenty of walk-ins. So I’m guessing that session is much more of a party atmosphere (if any readers out there can attest to this, that’d be appreciated, since I’ve never been to the later session). Point being, whichever style of “festival” you like better, you’re sure to find it at the Vignola event.

The setup of this year’s festival differed slightly from the last three years, and definitely for the better. Last year each distributor had their own table with their own beers (so no table had any rhyme or reason as far as beer style was concerned) and all 25+ cheeses where just laid out on the bar. Granted they were in order from lightest/creamiest to darkest/bluest/funkiest, but that was about it. It was very much a “here, drink some beers. okay, now eat some cheeses” sort of setup.

This year, much more effort was made toward actual “pairing” of the two. There were 4 tables set up throughout the restaurant (which had been cleared of most chairs to provide enough room for everyone to move about); the first featured a handful of IPAs and Pales to match with 4 or 5 different cheddars. Next you moved to a table of soft, creamy cheeses and meads (another new and welcome addition), which is pictured above. From there, to belgians and hard, aged cheeses and lastly to porters & stouts and the blues and really funky cheeses (my personal favorite of the stations). I definitely preferred this set up to the way the event was run in previous years and from the few other attendees (and employees) who had been to previous years, I think that sentament was universal.

The only downside, I felt, to this year’s event was that the selection of both beers and cheeses, although better arranged, paled in comparison to last year’s. The cheeses certainly never fail to impress — although I’d say at least 10 or 12 of them this year came from the same farm in Vermont; not bad, just not much variety –  and, as I mentioned, the meads were a nice touch, but other than that, the beer selection was pretty unimpressive.

I will absolutely attend the event again next year (and every year Vignola continues to put it on), and I appreciate the improvement in set up. I just hope next year they can find the right balance between improved presentation and the better selection of years past. See you next year!

Happy New Year one and all. With each new year, comes January. And with each January comes what has, in recent years, become one of my single most-favorite, most-undiscovered Better Beer events in the state of Maine. I am referring, of course, to The Belgian Beer & Cheese festival at Vignola restaurant in downtown Portland.

The 4th annual Vignola Beer & Cheese Dinner (they call it a dinner, I call it a festival because it starts at Noon), which is an opportunity to sample a “wide array of American, Belgian and German beers and artisinal cheeses”, will take place on Saturday January 23rd at the restaurant on the corner of Dana and Wharf streets in Portland’s Old Port. Tickets are $25 a piece (non-inclusive of tax or gratuity) but that’s truly a steal for the absolutely glutenous amount of beer and cheese you consume at this event, after even just one pass through the line! Reservations are required and are available for either session (12pm-2pm and 3pm-5pm) by calling 207.772.1330 or visiting the restaurant (although last year, we bought tickets at the door without a problem but do so at your own risk).

If you’re still on the fence about whether or not to shell out, check out my full recap of 2008′s event (and last year’s was even better, I just forgot my camera). Seriously, can you think of a better way to shake some mid-winter cabin fever than artisan cheese & beer on a Saturday afternoon in January? I thought so.

I will absolutely be in attendance, so be sure and say hi if you see me.

It’s always fun to see examples of craft beer-related stories popping up in less-than-traditional mainstream media outlets. The most recent example of this was a story which appeared this month in The Atlantic Monthly of all places (or at least their website; I’m not sure if it made the print edition of the magazine or not) on Maine’s favorite boundaries-pushing brewery Allagash. The article, which describes Allagash as “The future of American craft brewing”, details their recent use of a “koelschip” and the incredible, intricate beers its producing. Says The Atlantic,

The future of American craft beer sits in a shed on the industrial outskirts of Portland, Maine. Built by the Allagash Brewing Company in 2007, the shed holds the country’s first commercial “koelschip,” a shallow, 15-barrel steel pan used to cool down beer wort–and expose the beer to naturally occurring yeasts that float in through the shed’s open stained-glass windows. The results, which are still aging in the brewery’s warehouse and could be ready for drinking early next year, will be the first American lambic produced according to the traditional methods used in Belgium, where wild-yeast fermentation is considered a national treasure.

Congratulations, of course, to Allagash for their continued varied and hugely successful media coverage and I for one cannot wait to taste what comes out of the koelschip first! Read the rest of the Atlantic piece here.

Editors Note: This is a guest post by Matt ‘Hokie’ Hokanson, co-editor of Incessant Rambling.  As an avid beer drinker and occasional home brewer, he’s very happy to be contributing to this beer blog.  Feel free to follow him on Twitter, @mhokie or send him an e-mail. If you would like to contribute a story or article to BlogAboutBeer.com, please feel free to contact me.

This adventure starts where most good ones do, seated at a bar with a beer in hand.

“Should I do this?” I say aloud. To which my co-worker replies, “Sure, why not?” Why not!? Well, at first glance, it seemed like an insurmountable task!

Wait. Sorry. Before I get too far ahead, let me give you a little background information. The bar I was bellied up to belonged to none other than Novare Res, a now popular bier garden located in the heart of Portland’s Old Port. At the time, however, the bar was only several weeks old, and at that very moment, the patrons were heavily outnumbered by the staff. One had to wonder, was this the type of establishment that could survive among bars flaunting fifty-cent draft specials with dance floors adorned by drunken co-eds? Would giving a twenty-dollar deposit to join a beer revolution be foolhardy?

And what of this revolution? Well, as I mentioned above, this particular area, Portland’s Old Port, had been over run by either like minded local breweries or very cheap domestic beer dive bars. Novare Res was planning to lead a charge. A revolution of sorts, involving great beer and higher standards of fermentation. And man, have they ever revolted.

Once you joined the revolution, you were given a list. It was covered, front and back, with the names of two hundred beers. Each name had a small box to the right for a staff member’s signature, granted upon completion of the respective beer. In short, your task, if you chose to accept it, was to drink two-hundred beers. Keep in mind, however, these weren’t your normal, every day, run of the draught type beers. They ranged from domestic IPAs to authentic Belgian lambics, from ABVs of 4% to 18+% and priced anywhere from a $4 draught to a $29 bottle. This journey was going to tax your palate, liver and wallet alike, and you were going to love it.

You might be asking yourself, “What on earth could make a person take on such a charge?” After making your way through this well manicured list of beers, you would be granted a key to the hallowed enclosure that is the Chalice Room. In addition, you’d be given a 20 oz. chalice engraved with the date you finished and a phrase of your choice. It also denotes your ‘placement’ in the Chalice Club (e.g. 1st or 17th). Did I mention you can fill up your chalice for the price of a 16 oz. pour? Well, you can.

With this essential background information dispensed, I continue to sit at the bar, pondering. After thinking for several moments, I decide I’ll undoubtedly be drinking here regularly anyway, and that is a good enough reason for me. I hand over a crisp twenty and receive my list. It’s dated June 13th, 2008. From this day, I slowly make my way to the Chalice Room, beer by beer. I watch as my roommate and his girlfriend finish in the top ten. I attend a Rogue tasting, an Oktoberfest and an Allagash tasting. I experience several menu
changes and see staff come and go. I’m even lucky enough to stumble upon an amazing NERAX cask event.

Finally, after 468 days, being surpassed by forty fellow beer revolutionaries and being jeered enough by friends, I decide to drink my final beer. It all comes down to the Italian sour brown, Panil Barriquee. The owner is gracious enough to share a limited edition bottle of the beer from his personal collection. On October 26th, 2009, I am surrounded by friends, new and old, slowly sipping this magnificent beer. I can think of no better way to end this extraordinarily amazing beer experience.