Organizers of The Festival, an event centered around small beer brewers and cider makers from around the world, have announced that the 2013 edition of the event will be taking place in Portland on June 21-22.
You can find a copy of last year’s participating brewers on their website.
For additional reporting see the Press Herald.
Eat Maine has published a report of a recent trip with Maine Beer Tours.
The most obvious appeal of taking a bus when visiting 3-4 stops over an afternoon is that it eliminates any demand for getting behind the wheel, allowing for unfettered enjoyment of the plethora of beers that will be sampled. In addition to longtime Portland staples like Allagash and Shipyard, there is a new wave of brewers that are currently redefining the industry, like Rising Tide and Maine Beer Company.
According to a report from the Bangor Daily News, Maine Beer Company, maker of the ever popular Peeper Ale, plans to move to a new facility in Freeport this Spring.
The existing brewery produces 3,000 barrels of beer a year, or about 58,000 12-bottle cases.
With the expansion, Maine Beer will add four new fermenting tanks, which will boost production to 5,000 barrels per year, Kleban said.
The brewery will join two other like-minded businesses on Route 1: Gritty McDuff’s brew pub, and Maine Distilleries, maker of Cold River vodka and gin.
The Press Herald has published a bar review of Howie’s,
While I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I ventured outside the popular Old Port bar area of Portland, I’m glad I gave Howie’s a shot. It’s a fun little place if you’re looking to venture from the Old Port crowds.
and a review of Pom’s.
On a cold day, one of my favorite comfort foods is any kind of noodle soup, or noodles in broth. So I went for lunch the other day at Pom’s Thai Taste Restaurant & Noodle House in Portland in search of some warm comfort.
I found it, plus a little extra kick.
Today’s paper also includes a report on the sour and wild beer tasting that recently took place at the Bier Cellar.
The Flemish red ale Duchesse de Bourgogne from Brouwerij Verhaeghe is a classic for the style, with almost no carbonation and a rich flavor. It is a blend of 8- and 18-month-old beers, aged in oak casks, with just a bit of sourness. It was one of my favorites of the line-up.
Today’s Press Herald includes a review of Micucci’s,
I’m already a regular customer of Micucci’s, especially the bakery/cafe part, where Stephen Lanzalotta’s Sicilian slab pizza is doled out to a long line of salivating customers jockeying for position. Lanzalotta’s pizza makes all the pleasure centers in your brain light up like a pinball machine until you want to cry for your mama.
as well as a bar review of Bonobo,
The pizza is the real star of this bar, with a thin crust and creative toppings to satisfy adventurous taste buds. The pies measure about 13 inches and come with a promise that no nitrates, hormones or antibiotics were used in the meats.
The Press Herald has published a review of Vaughan Street Variety,
First, the positives: The breakfast sandwich was very good, and for $2.50, it felt like a bargain. I ordered it on an English muffin, which was lightly toasted. The egg was cooked thoroughly, without a runny yolk. The bacon was crisp and plentiful, and the white American cheese was drippy and gooey. It came tightly wrapped in tinfoil, and emitted steam when I unfolded it back home. Perfect.
as well as a bar review of Amigo’s and a report from last weekend’s Maine Brewers Festival.
Both the Maine Sunday Telegram and the Bangor Daily News have published reports on the Maine Brewers Festival.
Healy and 4,999 other beer enthusiasts — tickets were limited to 5,000 — downed samples from about 15 Maine craft breweries at the Portland Expo. The 19th annual festival drew a mixture of beer connoisseurs, hobby brewers and people looking for a fun time with friends.
Attendees received tickets to sample up to a dozen 4-ounce glasses, choosing from 100 varieties of beer.
The Boston Globe has published a profile of The Holy Donut,
This is a typical Saturday morning for the 5-month-old shop in Portland’s Deering Oaks neighborhood, even though Kellis and her staff, several of whom are family members (she co-owns the business with her father, Allen), have continuously ramped up production since they opened. Nowadays, they turn out roughly 1,200 doughnuts a day in at least a dozen different flavors: plain wide rings dredged with cinnamon-sugar or dripping with maple, lemon, vanilla, or “mojito” lime glaze; sweet potato doughnuts laced with ginger; best-selling dark-chocolate doughnuts flecked with coarse sea salt.
and has highlighted a pair of dark beers from Maine Beer Co. and Peaks,
Thick pine and citrus flavors hit your tongue first, but they’re balanced by a smoky backbone. There’s sweet caramel in here, too, but the hops never go away. They remind you of their presence from start to finish. This is a truly exceptional beer.
East Bayside next door neighbors Tandem Coffee Roaster and Bunker Brewing have collaborated on 122 Coffee IPA. The beer is made with a cold brew of Tandem’s Guatemalan San Juan Microlot.
The Press Herald has published a bar review of Yosaku,
I was so caught up watching them, I forgot to even look at the bar menu before our waitress came around. While Yosaku offers a full selection of white and red wines, its true specialty is a range of sake selections. If you’re a fan of sake, you could spend anywhere between $5 for a small carafe of Ozeki Hot Sake up to $40 for Komatsu Tatewaki “Samurai” Taru Sake.
and a preview of the Maine Brewers Festival.
The festival is not officially part of Portland Beer Week, which runs Nov. 4-11. But it could be viewed as an aperitif, and a lot of the same organizations are involved in both events.