Phoenix: 2013 Year in Review

| Posted in General News

As the end of the year approaches we’ve entered the season when publications and columnists sum up the past and make predictions for the future. First out of the gate this year is Brian Duff from the Portland Phoenix,

A year ago Portland was feeling giddy, food-wise — with Eventide on every national best-of list, many interesting new openings rumored, and several prominent food trends, like pop-ups and food trucks, poised to take root in our town. A year on the excitement has subsided, and Portland’s food scene is basically the same. So be it…

What do you think? Is the Portland food scene “basically the same”, and if not how would describe the growth in 2013?

Gritty’s 25th Anniversary

| Posted in Events, Beer, History

Today’s Press Herald includes a front page article about Gritty’s 25 years in business and the impact they’ve had on Maine’s craft beer industry.

“Yeah, I’d say [Dave] Geary and those guys ([Gritty’s co-founders] Stebbins and Pfeffer) were sort of the godfathers of Maine brewing, and today the scene is just so filled with talented people, very small outfits finding a niche for themselves,” said Houghton, who also runs The Liberal Cup brew pub in Hallowell. “The main reason I’m in Maine is because of Gritty McDuff’s.”

Bangor Daily News and publisher of The Bollard has also written about Gritty’s 25 anniversary in his weekly column.

Together with David Geary, Dave Evans of The Great Lost Bear, and Alan Eames of Three Dollar Dewey’s, Gritty’s founders Richard Pfeffer and Ed Stebbins deserve a significant amount of credit for the scores of breweries, thousands of jobs and millions of dollars the microbrew movement has brought to Maine since the 1980s. For that alone, Pfeffer and Stebbins deserve the key to the city and a big bear hug from Gov. Paul LePage…

Gritty’s 25th Anniversary Party is taking place at 4pm today at their Portland location.

Review of Ernie’s & Gritty’s 25th

| Posted in Uncategorized

The Press Herald has reviewed Ernie’s Pool and Darts,

The bartenders are friends or family members of owner Ernie Rouleau, and if you’re a new face, they’ll welcome you with a warm smile and quick run-down of the menu. There’s no happy hour, but none of the drinks are more than $4 (Natural Light and Busch Light are always $1 on tap) and the bar food – like the steak ’n cheese and meatball sub – are all made to order (unless you grab a bag of chips or a candy bar for a $1). The kitchen space is small, but there might be some steak sizzling on the grill, a handmade personal pizza cooking in the oven and a soft pretzel plumping in the microwave.

and this week’s What Ales You Column reports on a collaboration between Gritty’s and Deschutes Brewing Company from Portland Oregon.

Getting back to the Bachelor Bitter. This is a clear but unfiltered bitter, a West Coast style but with English roots evident. It is hoppier than other Gritty beers, but not overpowering, and balanced, with a good amount of malt in the finish.

It is only 4.8 percent alcohol by volume, so it is a session beer, although a highly flavorful one.

Both Gritty’s and Deschutes were founded in 1988 and are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.

Maine #4 in Beer Revenue

| Posted in Uncategorized

IMPACT_CAPITA_lrThe Brewers Association has released data that shows Maine’s beer industry have the 4th highest economic impact per capita in the nation at $324.36 per person. The economic impact is “derived from the total impact of beer brewed by craft brewers as it moves through the three-tier system (breweries, wholesalers and retailers), as well as all non-beer products that brewpub restaurants sell.”

Best and Worst Tips of 2013

| Posted in General News, People

Portland Daily Sun columnist Natalie Ladd share her Best and Worst Tips of 2013 in today’s paper,

4) I was delighted when a customer left me a $25 Visa gift card. I was not so delighted when I tried checking out at CVS with fun stuff I didn’t need, and was told the card had a zero balance on it. The line was long and I was embarrassed, so I paid cash.

Also in today’s Sun is an article about Steve & Renee’s Diner.

 

Wine Request List for 2014 & MOFGA Field Guide Poetry

| Posted in People, Wine

libby_bookThe Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes an article about a book of poetry by Russell Libby the deceased former director of MOFGA entitled What You Should Know: A Field Guide to Three Sisters Farm,

The poems are about the future of Libby’s land at Three Sisters Farm in Mount Vernon, and the role his family will play in taking care of that land. The underlying theme is mortality. The last in the collection, “Things You Should Know,” begins with the lines: “If I could, I would walk with you long enough that you, too, might find your way about without a map or guide, but I am certain it will take a while to share what I have learned these past three decades, and the time to start is now.”

and columnist Joe Appel shares a wish list for changes he’d like to see in wine consumers, servers and producers,

Drinkers, Again
Hold feet to fire. You ask your grocer where the broccoli came from; you ask your clothier the age of the Bangladeshi child who knit your socks. Wine is a consumable, and ought to be held to the same standards we apply to other aspects of our lives.

Maine Food Enterprises in Top Gun

| Posted in General News

Top Gun is an intensive 5-month training program that teaches small business owners the skills they need to grow and be successful. The Maine Center for Entrepreneurial runs the program and it’s a point of distinction just to be invited to participate.

Nine out the 21 organizations people in the Spring 2014 class are Maine food/agricultural businesses. From the Portland area are Nonesuch Oysters, Apiara (beekeeping technology), and Finest Kind Tea. Participants from further afield in Maine include Bixby Bar (a 2014 Good Food Award finalist), a distillery, a malt house and more.

You can learn more about Top Gun on the MCED website.