Best New Breweries: Bissell Brothers

Paste magazine has included Bissell Brothers in their list of the Best New Breweries of 2014.

The bros actually opened the doors of their nano-brewery late in 2013, but this year has seen them gain considerable momentum; The Substance IPA continues to sate Portland-area hopheads, and hoppy amber Bucolia didn’t do too bad a job either, but Bissell Brothers really spread its wings this past month with the release of Angels with Filthy Souls, an Amarillo-laced milk porter that should immediately assuage any fears of a redundant portfolio on the brewery’s part. If expansion is not on their radar, then the rest of us are worse off for it.

Interview with Fred Forsley

The Press Herald has published an interview with Shipyard co-owner Fred Forsley.

Q: From the business perspective, is it complicated?
A:
It looks like a simple business, but it can be complicated in the sense of getting a brand to grow and to get more than an initial sampling. From day one, the product was world-class and that made it easier to sell. At the end of the day, sales and marketing is a key ingredient, but it’s the quality of the product.

100 Best Beers: Mo, Substance, Dubbel

Men’s Journal has included Bissell Brothers The Substance, MBC Mo and Allagash Dubbel in their list of the 100 Best Beers in the World.

To ensure you can actually find and enjoy these heavenly brews, we eliminated one-off batches and limited the list to beer sold in America and available on shelves and taps beyond the brewery. Our team also balanced entries from the stylistic families of beer — pilsners, wild ales, stouts, to name a few of the 23 official, judged styles — to ensure this wasn’t just a list of IPAs, America’s most popular craft brew. Consider this a to-drink list for year ahead.

Oxbow Tasting Room

Urban Eye has a report on the new Oxbow tasting room,

The red lettering on the door is the only indication that something new is brewing on Washington Ave. Go behind Coffee by Design and press on through to a world of conditioned ales, barrels filled with aging beer and worldly design. “We are very excited to have this opportunity to be a part of this incredible beer city,” said Geoff Masland, Oxbow co-owner, who opened his doors Thursday.

and Eater Maine has published a Q & A with Oxbow co-owner Tim Adams about the tasting room.

What are you most looking forward to with the new space?
It’s two-fold. One, being able to make a bunch more beer and a lot of the beer that excites us the most: Our aged, bottled, and blended beers. Two, being able to have this retail presence in Portland is huge. I love Portland. I live on the East End and to be able to provide a space like this for all the people around here is pretty cool.

Oxbow Tasting Room Opens Thursday

oxbowtastingroom

Oxbow Brewing Company’s new tasting room in Portland is set to open on Thursday at noon. The room is part of a 10,000 sq ft space at 49 Washington Ave that Oxbow took over this summer to use for aging, blending and bottling their beer.

The door to the tasting room is at the back of the driveway to the left of CBD. It’s hand lettered sign (by Will Sears) reads Oxbow Blending and Bottling.

Updated: A Happy Tummy and Maine Today have both posted photos of the new tasting room.

Mainebiz: Business is Brewing

Mainebiz has published a feature article on Maine’s rapidly expanding brewing industry.

A study released earlier this year by the Maine Brewers’ Guild, the state’s trade group, found that at 2013’s 35 breweries, production was expected to increase by 36% this year and double by 2018, figures that sound a little conservative now, considering this year’s boom.

“Now we’re making up for lost time,” says the Maine Brew Bus tour guide on that fall afternoon, referring to Maine’s Prohibition era, led by “Father of Prohibition” Neal Dow, who must surely be spinning in his grave now.

Blueberry Files: Geary’s, Eventide, The Well

A new post from The Blueberry Files combines a report from the grand opening of the Geary’s tasting room, a review of Eventide and a review of The Well.

My connection to the food scene was obvious in thinking about what makes Portland my home. My love affair with Portland was ignited by the incredible food and drink scene I discovered upon moving here. And nowhere is that sense of place through food expressed better than at Eventide. Local this, local that; in tune with the seasons, the land, and the ocean…and of course, tasting great at every step.