Josh Christie

Coming Soon to a Fridge Near You

The pre-ACBF press crunch means that things will be a little lighter here this week. That doesn’t mean there isn’t some exciting stuff brewing, however. Big news, actually – it looks like within the next year, Maine will have at least three new breweries slinging their brews in the state and beyond. If you’ve yet to meet the new girls, I’d like to introduce you to Rum Riot Brewing, Rising Tide Brewing and Baxter Brewing.

Rum Riot, founded by Kyle Jongerden and Benjamin Jones, takes it’s name from the Portland Rum Riot in 1855. As the story goes, the recently passed  “The Maine Law” read: “here ye, here ye, all alcohol shall be prohibited!” Portlanders, who then and still today like their booze, weren’t too happy. Thousands of protested descended on Portland’s City Hall to protest the law on June 2nd of ’55 under threat of gunfire, and in the wake of the protest the law was repealed. Rum Riot Brewing thus presents to you “a dedication to all Portlanders’ passion, independence, and desire for alcohol.”

Rum Riot’s beer is readily available on the first Friday of every month for Portland’s art walk. At the Two Point Gallery, the brewery brings free beer on every first Friday, and occasionally has 22oz bottles for sale. Right now, there isn’t much info to be found on Rum Riot’s plans for expansion, if any exist. They do at least offer plenty of info about their current brews – Belgian Summer, German Summer and American Summer as of June. You best bet is to keep an eye on the RR Facebook page, the guys’ site, and talk with the guys if you can make it to Two Point.

Rising Tide, founded by Nathan Sanborn, has a more solid schedule for their beer – things should be on shelves and in bars around August of this year. Based in Portland like Rum Riot, we’re facing a veritable flood of good beer by the end of 2010. Here’s the short description of the brewery from their site;

Rising Tide Brewing Company is a small-scale start-up brewery with a focus on handcrafted artisanal ales that draw on traditions from around the world. We will be brewing 90 gallons at a time and distributing locally to the southern Maine region in bottles and kegs.

Rising Tide is looking to launch with two beers, named Ishmael and Spindrift. Ishmael is a German alt, copper in color and brewed with US hops and Euro yeast. Spindrift looks like an interesting pale ale, brewed with barley, rye and wheat on the grain bill. For more information, you can check out the Rising Tide Facebook page, Twitter feed and website.

Finally, Baxter Brewing in Lewiston is moving full-steam ahead towards getting canned beer out to New Englanders. Hop Press rock star Carla Companion covered most of Baxter’s history and mission during her interview with founder Luke Livingston a couple weeks ago, so I’d definitely point you towards her column for a look at what Maine’s canning-est brewery is all about.

The only real updates I have to offer are on the Baxter groundbreaking last week – the first chance for the public to taste the brewery’s launch beers, Pamola Xtra Pale Ale and Stowaway IPA. The IPA was a bit harsh in this first batch, but the West-coast hop profile and body are right there. With a bit of tweaking before the launch, the Stowaway will be perfect. The Pamola, on the other hand, is already dynamite in a can. Biscuity, silky, and easy to drink with some citrus hoppiness, the Pamola tasted like it would be beyond easy to session. The closest beer I can compare it to is Southern Tier‘s Hoppe, which isn’t a bad beer to be compared to.

With distribution exploding here in Maine (Southern Tier, Abita and Rock Art have all just arrived), we’re getting dangerously close to too much of a good thing with even more new local brewers. How’s everything looking in your neck of the woods? Any new beers or breweries to look forward to in the second half of 2010?

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