Baxter Brewing Prepares to Launch
Baxter Brewing, located in the historic Bates Mill in Lewiston, is very much under construction. Still, a visit to the brewery on Monday left me confident that the place will be up and running in no time at all.
Luke Livingston, probably best known to craft beer fans as the founder of Blog About Beer, is the man behind Baxter. An avid outdoorsman, Livingston aims to fill a niche not covered by Maine brewers since the death of Stone Coast Brewing: canned craft beer. Baxter is going whole-hog, too, with the brewery’s entire line going into cans.
Livingston conceived of the brewery last year, drawing the name and mascot (the Pamola) from Maine’s Baxter State Park. Maine’s northern forests and mountains also inspired the choice of cans, which are more portable and environmentally friendly than glass bottles. Luke hopes that easily-transported and durable cans will make Baxter a beer of choice for the adventurous outdoor set.
Touring the 7,000 square foot facility with Livingston on Monday, the Baxter staff seemed to be working at full-speed to get the facility put together and get to brewing. Just last week, Baxter’s 30 bbl brewhouse (mash-tun, kettle and whirlpool) arrived in Lewiston, along with two 60-barrel fermenters. A 48,000-pound grain silo was installed at the brewery last month, and a state-of-the-art Ball canning line will be arriving in November.
In the Baxter Brewing tasting room and retail shop, operations manager Steff Deschenes was busy preparing to start slinging Baxter gear. Along with handling the marketing and outreach for the brewery, Deschenes will be conducting multiple daily tours of the Baxter brewhouse and running the retail side of things.
Though the retail shop was still getting it’s finishing touches on Monday, Livingston and Deschenes were both determined to have the space open to the public early this week. Beer for sale at the facility is still a little ways off, but the Baxter swag that had already arrived – bags, can-friendly coolers, stickers, shirts and more – looked great.
Along with Livingston and Deschenes, brewmaster Michael LaCharite was hard at work prepping the newly-arrived brewhouse. Baxter will launch in January with two year-round beers, a pale ale and an IPA. The first, Pamola Xtra Pale Ale, is an easy-drinking light pale ale with just a touch of hops. The Stowaway I.P.A. is a bit beefier, clocking in 69 IBUs and nearly 7% ABV. Both are brewed with at least part of the grain bill coming from Aroostook County farms, and early samples home-brewed pilot batches of both were promising to say the least.
Baxter is aiming for an early January launch in Maine, with distribution expanding to Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire over the next two years. Never fear if you need a Baxter fix before then, as the retail shop (along with tours and yes, samples) will be open by the time this post goes up on Wednesday.
For more information on Baxter, you can visit their Twitter account, Facebook page, and BaxterBrewing.com.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ratebeer and Josh Christie, RateBeer Hop Press. RateBeer Hop Press said: Fresh off the Press Baxter Brewing Prepares to Launch http://bit.ly/acJaOb [...]
[...] Baxter Brewing with brewery president Luke Livingston. I wrote up the visit this week for my column on the Ratebeer.com Hop Press. Baxter Brewing, located in the historic Bates Mill in Lewiston, is very much under construction. [...]