Category: Distilling & Cocktails

Starter Curbside Cocktail List

| Posted in Openings, Distilling & Cocktails

As reported earlier this week, Maine restaurants and bars can now move ahead with curbside cocktail takeout. Businesses are in the process of figuring out their plans and menus. No doubt many more venues will jump on board over the next week.

For right now here are the first few out of the gate with cocktails ready to order:

Local 188 plans to have cocktails ready for their Sunday brunch takeout on May 3rd.

Cocktails To Go

| Posted in Distilling & Cocktails

State regulations regarding bars and restaurant selling food and drinks to go have been revised to allow for takeout cocktails effective immediately.

To participate in the new program establishments have to comply with some new guidelines which include:

  1. Cocktails must be part of a food order
  2. Drinks can’t be larger than 4.5 ounces of spirits
  3. Cocktails must be in a “tamper evident container”
  4. The containers have to be labelled  with the name of establishment with date and time of production and the contents of cocktail including the proof the spirits used.

Maine Made Hand Sanitizer

| Posted in Beer, Distilling & Cocktails

The Press Herald has published a report on an ongoing collaboration among breweries, distilleries and UMaine to produce hand sanitizer for Maine hospitals.

Breweries in southern Maine have been donating the base stock of fermented liquid – beer – and distillers have been refining it until the alcohol reaches the necessary potency. Chemical engineers at UMaine mix the alcohol with hydrogen peroxide and glycerol, and then the university distributes the final product to hospitals.

MCD Fifty Stone

| Posted in Reviews, Distilling & Cocktails

The Whisky Advocate. has published a brief write-up on Maine Craft Distilling’s Fifty Stone.

Along with Westland in Seattle, Maine Craft Distilling is one of the few American distilleries using locally sourced peat to make single malt whiskey. Peat is an abundant resource in many parts of the world, reflective of the local plant life and terroir. We look forward to more distilleries experimenting with local peat—the taste profiles should all be quite unique.

Best Bars: Hunt & Alpine

| Posted in Reviews, Distilling & Cocktails

Hunt & Alpine has landed on the Liquor.com list of the Best Bars in America.

Portland’s first craft-cocktail bar continues to shine with a deep cocktail list that spans from approachable to geeky. There’s a smoky spin on a Negroni made with Cynar, tequila, mezcal and Fernet Branca and the simple Green Eyes: a gin sour sharpened to a keen edge with a healthy splash of green Chartreuse.

Aguardiente de Agave

| Posted in Distilling & Cocktails

Squirrel Farts has posted an article about and tasting notes on Aguardiente de Agave, the newest spirit from Liquid Riot Bottling Co.

Aguardiente de Agave is Liquid Riot Bottling Company’s latest spirit offering, releasing this Friday, November 20th, 2015 at the brewery/distillery/restaurant on Commercial Street in Portland. Roughly translated as “Agave Firewater,” this is an 80 proof spirit made from 100% organic blue agave syrup. So, it’s pretty much tequila.
Except you can’t call it tequila.
I’ll explain.

Aguardiente de Agave is being released noon tomorrow.

Imbibe: The Maine Event

| Posted in Beer, Distilling & Cocktails

imbibe2015ndImbibe magazine has published a feature article on Portland in the November/December issue of the magazine. The article addresses Portland evolving cocktail scene, distilleries and breweries as well as touches on coffee roasters, retail shops and restaurants.

Mentioned in the article are: Allagash, Austin Street, Bissell Brothers, Bunker, Central Provisions, Cold River, Eventide, Foundation, Geary’s, Gritty McDuff’s, Hunt & Alpine, Liquid Riot, Maine Maine Craft Distilling, Mead Works, New England Distilling, Novare Res, Rising Tide, Shipyard, Sur Lie, Tandem Coffee, The Bearded Lady, Three Dollar Deweys, Urban Farm Fermentory and Vena’s Fizz House.

Vena’s Fizz House has a small stack of the new issue on sale at their Fore Street store.