We have been busy getting ready for the Brattleboro Brewers Festival recently and unfortunately that has put a damper on editing our videos. So that explains Amy’s winter clothes in this video from our great Portland Maine trip. In this episode we check out Novare Res Bier Cafe. A killer downtown beer bar hidden in the back of an alleyway in Portland.
We got a full tour from their beer manager Shahin Khojastehzad and shared a few great beers including the Rosé de Gambrinus from Cantillon which we had never tried (Side note, we are completely getting into the sour beers recently. Chris Lively would be so proud).
Novare Res has probably the coolest mug club we have ever seen, with a chained up gated room for mug holders to secure their belongings and chill on busy nights. The atmosphere, food and of course beer list, were all top notch.
Fun fact, the Novare Res was opened by the former Moan and Dove manager Eric Michaud. As a tribute to the connection, one bar stool from the Moan and Dove is at Novare Res while one of their bar stools is down at the Moan and Dove.
Well, back to preparing the beer list for the Brattleboro Brewers Festival, hope to see you there and if you stop by Novare Res (as you should) tell them that here for the beer sent you!
Novare Res Bier Cafe novareresbiercafe.com
4 Canal Plz
Portland, ME 04101-4034
(207) 761-2437
A few weeks months ago we took a trip to Portland Maine and were lucky enough to get to peep into Maine Beer Company. Co-Founder David Kleban gave us a tour around the small startup brewery and talked to us about their beer and their plans.
The Peeper Ale (or Spring Peeper as it was called at the time) is a fresh west-coast style (their description) hoppy pale ale. The beer was certainly good, but it seems that David and his brother Dan will be hanging onto their day jobs for now, only brewing as time permits. The folks over at the Portland based beer blog www.blogaboutbeer.com did a nice post on the brewery and the beer, so be sure to check that out.
Maine Beer Company will also be at our first ever Brattleboro Brewers Festival this May, in Brattleboro Vermont. So if you are looking to meet Dan and David or to try their newest brews, be sure to swing by the here for the beer tent at the fest.
On a side note, sorry for the delay in getting these out there. We have some really exciting news (that we can’t share until the end of the summer!) that has kept us from being able to upload anything for a few weeks. We appreciate your patience (and the couple of “are you guys ok?” emails!) as we get back in the swing of things here.
We were lucky enough to score a few bottles of Spring Peeper Ale so I think we will be popping one open this evening in celebration of our getting back to the blog :)
VIDEO – Our trip to Portland had to include a visit to the legendary Shipyard Brewing Company. What we didn’t expect was to be offered the opportunity to chat with founder and Master Brewer Alan Pugsley.
Beyond Shipyard, Alan has been instrumental in the building of many breweries around the globe and introducing the distinctive Ringwood yeast to New England. Alan is certainly an icon in the brewing world, especially in New England. Pugsley built the brew house and helped to design Geary’s Pale Ale for D.L. Geary’s Brewery, which is the oldest brewery in New England and one of the original “micro’s”. Alan continued to design brewereies for Gritty McDuffs and Federal Jacks among many others, before launching his own brewery and brand – Shipyard Brewing Company – in 1994.
In this video we talk to Alan about the brewery, Shipyard’s plans for 2010, Pugsley’s work designing brew houses and Shipyard’s current large contract brewing operation.
In a related note, we received an email today from Shipyard sharing that the Pugsley Signature Series beers which are mentioned in the video will be available soon in 12oz 4 packs as well.
Be sure to check out all of our Portland adventures, and stay tuned to here for the beer for even more from our trip to Maine. Cheers!
During our recent trip to Portland, we stopped in at D.L. Geary Brewery and got to talk to David Geary about his beers and Geary’s brewery. Geary’s brews traditional styles and focuses on session beers, including their Pale Ale and Hampshire Ale. However, recently they have dabbled a bit in more “experimental” styles, “knuckling under the tyranny of the hop” as David shares and brewing an Imperial IPA and a crazy dry hopped creation which will be coming out this summer.
David gave us some of the background of the growing brewery and their need to expand (anyone have a 100 barrel system for them?). According to David, they are currently running a “22,000 square foot brewery in an 18,000 square foot building”. But you wouldn’t get that feeling (ok, aside from the row of storage boxes out back) as the facility is really well laid out and organized.
We really appreciated Davids matter of fact personality and his focus on lower alcohol beers with flavor. There is something to be said for how solidly rated every beer from D.L. Geary’s is on the major beer rating sites. While we all appreciate the occasional extreme beer, it’s the staples like Geary’s Pale Ale that are my go to, more often than not.
For more from our trip to Portland, check out the Portland Maine section of here for the beer or follow along with us on Twitter. For more about Geary’s check out their website (and yes, you can order your Geary’s thong here!).
It’s winter in Vermont, which means some quiet weekdays at our Inn. Perfect time of year for another road trip – and this time we head to Portland Maine for a week of awesome beer adventures.
We start our trip at the Great Lost Bear after hearing about it from some of you on Twitter. It’s no surprise that you recommended it, what a cool spot. A great draft list of dozens of Maine beers, as well as some random New England favorites and of course a few Belgians – all served up in a comfortable casual atmosphere. Not to mention a solid menu of good reasonably priced food. A great combination in any beer lovers book.
In this episode we talk with Mike Dickson, the bar manager at the Great Lost Bear about the pubs choice to go “micro” (in 1990 no less) and their killer specials.
The Great Lost Bear had just what we love about a good beer bar – a comfortable and non-pretentious environment that supports their local scene (check out the Allagash Alley) and encourages folks to try new things.
If you are ever in Portland Maine, make this a must stop. And be sure to keep an eye on the rest of our Maine adventure on here for the beer!
The Great Lost Bear
540 Forest Avenue
Portland, ME 04101
(207) 772-0300 www.greatlostbear.com
Welcome to our new website and video blog. You could always start by catching up on who we are and why we are doing this, but there is no need to read if you don’t want to – its all basically covered in the beginning of this video.
Our first video trip is to Ebenezers Pub in Lovell Maine. This bar was recently rated the “#1 beer bar on the planet” by Beer Advocate. So naturally, we decided to take the road trip up from our Vermont Inn to check it out!
The first thing you need to know is that there is not a lot of lodging in the area, so book a room in advance (especially in the off season). We stayed at the Oxford House Inn in Fryeburg, ME. The second thing you need to know is that you should throw away your GPS and Google Map directions. Not only were they both inaccurate, but our GPS swore we were in Maine when we were still in New Hampshire. (Useful directions can be found at the end of this post).
Once you have found Ebenezers it’s all uphill from there. We have been to many beer bars and to be frank from the outside, this one did not strike us as very impressive. Even an initial glance around the inside leaves you wondering – after all, its a small pub with about 36 taps and 4 bottle coolers. There were about 5 seats at the bar and 2 high top tables. The dining room only had about 5 tables. We were there in December so their large deck was closed, but when its open it probably adds another 10 tables. Pretty much the run of the mill beer bar. Of course, then we sat down and the party began.
A totally friendly server named Hannah brought over some menus. She made us feel very comfortable and welcome. We ordered up some food and then studied the beer menu. That is when it hit us HARD that this is not your average beer bar. The beer menu is beyond impressive with several beers we had never even heard of. To top that off, they were all in stock. Even better than that Hannah was really knowledgeable about beer (she chalks it up to lots of practice) and was able to point us to some great choices from the taps. Of course, we started with a Black Albert (their signature beer, brewed by De Struise Brewers specially for Ebenezers). After we finished eating the owner Chris stopped by our table to say hello. He was upbeat, fun and gracious. Chris introduced us to several great beers at the bar (Amy tried the Mikkeller Stateside IPA and I had a bottle of this years Pannepot). Chris then offered us a tour of his cellar, which we jumped on without hesitation. (Be sure to check out our video of our trip to the Beer Cellar at Ebenezers to see all of the great beer we sampled.)
By the time we left Ebenezers it was clear to see that what had been the biggest challenge of this pub, was also their greatest advantage. The fact that they are a small pub in “middle of no where” Maine is what helps make this place so phenomenal. The personal service, great in stock selection and friendly atmosphere all added to an amazing selection of beers and an incredible host truly do make this the best beer bar we have ever been to.
Being innkeepers of a small Bed and Breakfast in New England we have come to discover that it is the personal connections with our guests and the personal touches to our B&B that make the biggest impact on their return business. We found the same to be true at Ebenezers. We will definitely be back.
If you are headed to Ebenezers, they are located at 44 Allen Road in Lovell Maine. To get there, take route 302 until it branches off onto Route 5. Take Route 5 up to the golf course and pay attention to the small tourist signs on the side of the road. There are signs for Ebenezers on both sides (both directions, don’t ask why we know that…) that will send you onto the very small and unpaved Allen Road. Ebenezers is just up this road on the left, in the dark wooden house. Enter through the covered deck area. Tell them Tim and Amy sent you! (and beer advocate of course!).
During our trip to Ebenezers Pub in Lovell, ME we found the perfect place to stay. The Oxford House Inn came complete with nicely appointed rooms, a full service restaurant and a small pub in the basement.
We felt comfortable and connected as soon as we walked in the door. Owners Natalie and John, who are also young innkeepers, made us feel welcome. Natalie showed us to our room, which I must say was way nicer in person then it looked on their website. The only negative was the small bathroom, but we often find this to be the case when old homes are being converted into inns. Personally we would rather have a small bathroom than to see the integrity of the architecture destroyed.
We never did get to eat in their restaurant, however while talking to several people at Ebenezers they all agreed that the restaurant and pub at the Oxford House are top notch. We did take in a drink in their pub after returning from Ebenezers and were quite impressed. The atmosphere was comfortable contemporary, which truly reflected Natalie and John’s personal taste and style. Throughout the pub we noticed some great artwork, which according to Natalie are by local artist and the display changes every couple of months.
As you may have figured out by now we choose just about everything we do based on beer. John had two tap handles in the pub, both local breweries and a decent bottle selection. This made for the perfect night cap.
If you are headed up to the North Conway area (or to Lovell Maine for a trip to Ebenezers!) be sure to give Natalie and John a call at the Oxford House. And be sure to tell them that Tim and Amy sent you!
