by Luke on October 28, 2009
Just a quick update/reminder/announcement that the annual Maine Brewers Festival is coming right up. Maine’s largest 
brewfest is next Saturday November 7th at the Portland Expo Building here in Portland, Maine. This year’s festival will be bigger and better than ever, with many old-time Maine favorites returning to the festival after various hiatuses (hiati?), including Allagash Brewing and DL Geary’s. Plus this year’s festival will include festival first-timers, Maine Beer Co. (check out my recent interview with the company’s founders) and potentially the small one-man show that is the Freeport Brewing Co.
Best of all, this year’s festival will include, for the first time ever, a table near the registration booth featuring the Maine Brewers’ Guild and the Maine Beer Writers’ Guild. A table being manned by yours truly (and Josh from brewsandbooks.com) all afternoon! So if you’re a regular reader, please be sure and stop by the booth and introduce yourself and pick up some literature. If you’re new to Maine or new to craft brew, stop by and have any questions you can think of answered (technically that’s what we’ll be there for). And best of all, I’ll be blogging and Tweeting (and maybe streaming some video, if I can figure it out in time) live from the festival. Be sure and follow me on Twitter and watch for the Hash Tag #mebrewfest to stay up to date.
But if you plan to attend, you’d better hurry because as of this past Monday, the Sebago brewpubs had only about a dozen tickets left among them and RSVP beverage on Forest Ave had “less than 100 tickets left” and, well, that’s it! So it sounds like not only will there be no tickets left at the door this year, but there might not be any left by the time you read this!
If you did get your tickets in time, I’ll see you there!
by Luke on October 19, 2009
I just returned home from the Allagash Brewery release party for the Vagabond Ale – the second installment in their now
famous Limited 375ml Series which began last spring with the release of Gargamel. Unfortunately, I rarely have all of my wits together at 8 o’clock in the morning so I very embarrassingly forgot my camera. So if you weren’t there, you’ll just have to rely on the written word to imagine it.
Suffice it to say, the Vagabond release made the release party for Gargamel look like peanuts. Put it this way: for Gargamel, I arrived at 8:30 (for a 9 o’clock door opening) parked in the parking lot and was probably the tenth person in line. A line that formed in front of the door to the gift shop. That release was on a Thursday and there were even a few of the bottles left the following Tuesday.
Today I arrived at 8:40, parked half-way down the street, and got in a line which was all the way out the side door and through the loading area of the brewery itself (before you even get to the gift shop). Everyone in line got two tickets – one for two bottles of Vagabond (no ticket = no beer) and one for a free Belgian waffle. There were also huge vats of free coffee for everyone. It really was a festive event. One which reportedly began about 5:30 this morning (the guys in line in front of me left Brooklyn, NY at 11:30 last night to arrive in Portland by 5:30 this morning). Rob Tod, the owner of Allagash, told me that while bottles of Gargamel lasted for nearly 5 days, he didn’t expect the Vagabond stash to last past noon today!
Tod also said of the Limited 375ml Series, they don’t yet have a beer ready for the next release but to expect something next spring. He’ll also need that much time to try and devise a plan to accommodate the obviously growing crowds and enthusiasm.
While special limited releases like this are always a little gimmicky, I think they are also a big part of what makes craft beer (at least in the U.S.) and this industry so much fun. Either way, if you’re reading this from Maine right now and you want a bottle of Vagabond, you’d better get to Allagash on your lunch break or you’ll be S.O.L.
by Luke on October 16, 2009
What’s your favorite liquor store, packie, or whatever else you want to call it? I was thinking about this today. Here in Portland there are probably three main places for good beer to go — Whole Foods, RSVP Liquors and Downeast Beverage. Sure you can get booze just about anywhere in town — grocery stores, gas stations, even wal*mart and Rite Aid — but there are few places that have selections of Better Beer which come anywhere close to to three I listed above.
And I was thinking today about which one is my favorite. To tell you the truth, I’ve never actually been in RSVP. I know to 
many people in town this is a travesty. But for me, I already know all the beer available in the state so I know they don’t carry anything I can’t find somewhere else. So under the circumstances, RSVP itself is too inconvenient (being on the wrong side of a busy street), too uninviting looking (it looks like a big, dark warehouse) and, well, I’m a creature of habit.
Secondly, the fact remains that the majority of my beer money probably goes to Whole Foods. Not because it’s my favorite, but because it’s the most convenient since I do all of my weekly grocery shopping there and can just pick up some good beer at the same time. But just because they get the majority of my money, doesn’t mean they’re my favorite.
That distinction most definitely goes to Downeast Bev. Those guys are the most knowledgeable about beer in the city, they have a good selection at good prices, they’re right downtown and most of all, they’re fun. Just last Friday I paid them a visit late in the work day to stock up for the weekend’s festivities and found one employee wearing a giant beer bottle Halloween costume (like this one
) re-stocking shelves. I got to sample a beer I hadn’t had before, simply by asking about it (I wouldn’t recommend this to just anyone, as I’m sure it was a special privilege, since they knew me. But you get the point) and I hung out at the counter with some of the employees just chewing the cud for a good 20 minutes.
So my point is, sometimes your favorite liquor store (or probably even favorite bar) isn’t just about price or selection but it’s about the knowledge to gain from the people who work there, the people who really know their stuff, and most importantly it’s about the store you can have the most fun going to. Or at least that’s how I look at it.
What’s your favorite liquor store, and why? Please share in the comments section.
by Luke on October 10, 2009
“When Garrett Oliver told us that he could drink 5 of them — which means he likes a beer — I knew we had something”.
That’s what David from Maine Beer Co. told me over a couple rounds at Novare last night. And that’s exactly what Maine Beer Co. has – something great going for them.
The Maine Beer Company is Maine’s newest brewery, currently situated somewhere between elaborate home brewery and professional set up (in a realm often referred to as a “nano brewery” although they are quickly outgrowing the distinction); they brew their beers on a one barrel system and ferment in a 7 bbl tank (the only professional piece of equipment they have at the moment). The brewery is the dream of two brothers — Dave and Dan — which began just about four years ago when Dan was interning at a law firm in town where one of the partners, an avid homebrewer, offered beer classes and education for all of the interns. Just after the internship ended, Dan and his brother began homebrewing; first a few extract batches and then some all-grain batches on borrowed equipment. It’s safe to say they were hooked.
Over the following few years, after dozens of variations, the pair drafted and perfected the recipe which would go on to become the brewery’s first and flagship beer – Spring Peeper Ale. A West Coast-style hoppy pale ale which they describe as,
A clean, dry, bottle conditioned ale. Its color is light, it has a moderate amount of American hops and its malts are all American. It has excellent head retention and a nice fruity hop aroma. Alcohol 5.5%.
[click to continue…]
by Luke on September 29, 2009
(Click for Larger Image)
Maine’s most well-known beer geek brewery, Allagash Brewing (the only Maine brewery to win a medal at the 2009 GABF), has announced the release of the second beer in their new 375 ml series: Vagabond Ale. Vagabond is the follow-up release to the brewery’s now famous Gargamel Ale, which was released this past May.
Vagabond was aged for four years in American oak barrels and features a “complex aroma” of maple syrup and port; “background notes” of marzipan, plum and dill (which doesn’t really seem to jive with maple, marzipan or plum, but we’ll see); and flavors of tart, unripened plum, caramel and a warm toasted almond finish.
Now the exciting part. Just like with Garamel, Allagash is releasing Vagabond on a VERY limited basis. The beer — of which there are only 500 bottles — will be available ONLY at the Brewery (on Industrial Way in Portland) and ONLY from 9am to 6pm on Monday, October 19th. There is a 2 bottles per person limit and each bottle will cost $10.
If you’re after a bottle, be sure and arrive at the brewery early. Last time there was a line already formed when I arrived at 8:30 and that was in the pouring rain for the first beer in the series. Now that there’s a bit of hype around the Allagash 375 Series, you can expect Vagabond to be even more exclusive.
I’ll see you there!
Hi and welcome to Blog About Beer. My name is Logan and I live just north of Portland, Oregon, a city that has more craft breweries than any other in the US. I'm a full time marketer, blogger, and dad to the most beautiful girl in the world. I'm also a homebrewing and craft beer fanatic.