This trip was a few months in the making. Christie and I were up in Boston visiting our friends the Anderson's (Laura and Chris) a few months back, and we were chatting over a Allagash white, when we said, "Why don't we go try an Allagash white at the Allagash brewery?" And Beercation was born.
A few months passed before we settled on a weekend to do this trek, and then a few more months passed without hearing more details about it. Little did we know that Chris was hard at work putting together the trip of a lifetime.
We checked in a week before the trip to see if we needed to formalize plans (Yes, Christie and I are planners, shouldn't be a surprise). It was driving us nuts not to know what we were doing, when, and where. But we left it to the Andersons. So we went on our first trip without any knowledge whatsoever, just that Chris and laura were going to pick us up in Portland Maine in the afternoon.
Christie and I flew from NYC to Portland, Maine and got in at around noon. We quickly found the first lobster shack and both grabbed Lobster Rolls. I had a little bit of work to do, so I went to a Starbucks while Christie wandered around the historic and "cute" downtown. A few hours later we get a call from Laura saying they are a few minutes away. And next thing you know, the RV comes rolling down the street.
They picked us up and we headed straight to our campsite.
This was also where Chris showed us the plan for the weekend. Wow! There were binders, folders, maps, schedules, and beer tasting books!
1st Brewery: Allagash - Arguably one of my favorites, and one of the reasons why we went on this trek to begin with.
One of the things we learned on this trip was that states have weird laws regarding tastings and tours. In Main you couldn't have a tasting without a tour, and they would only allow a small pour. They also didn't have brew pubs connected to their breweries. So much different then what I have been used to and harder to really try many of their beers. But we did learn that they have some sour beers coming very soon!
Main Beer Co:
Next up was Main Beer Co Brewery! A very small almost garage like space. Only 3 employees and we were greeted and toured by the owner. This is where I started to think that having a brewery is possible. Did you hear that Zach and Spence? Got to try one of their beers they had on tap (which was just out of a small homemade kegerator) and heard their story about how they got started and where they want to go.
Rising Tide Brewery:
We tried going next door to rising tide brewery, but they were closed. They told Chris they were going to be bottling and come by, but apparently there were a change of plans.
Geary Brewing Co:
Same thing happened at Geary Brewing Co.
Shipyard Brewing Company:
Shipyard had a huge brewery and gift shop (much bigger than expected). I don't think I have had much Shipyard beer over the year, but apparently its got quite a following on the east coast. They are especially known for their pumpkin ale that comes out during the fall. I am usually not a pumpkin possible, but their pumpkin ale was amazing.
After a long day of brewery tours, we finally did some eating. Got some truffle fries at Duckfat then got some fresh seafood from J's Oyster Bar.
Gritty McDuff's:
Grittys was just a small local brewery that had a great brewpub in town. They even had a great feature which they had personal mugs for all of their best patrons.
Sebago Brewing Company:
Our final stop of the day (Yes all of the above was in 1 day). It was much more like a restaurant than a brewery, but we were able to get a tasting of all of their beers! So one of the places we almost skipped, ended up being one of our favorites when combined with the great service.
Next stop Vermont!
We left our campsite early and headed to Vermont through New Hampshire.
First stop Harpoon Brewery:
Great tour, and it's hard to say that after experiencing 5 in 24 hours. But they were great with explaining, walking us through their brewery, and a great tasting room, that we were able to try anything we wanted in 10 minutes.
The weather wasn't great. Actually it rained almost all the time. Thus I don't have as many outdoor shot as I wished. But below is what the roads looked going from one place to the next. Chris was a trooper and drove the entire time. So not only did her plan the trip but drove us all around the entire time as well.
Vermont was a lot like I imagined. Except we missed the the leaves changing. Originally we thought we would be hitting New England right at the time the leaves were turning orange, but because of the wet August, it still looked green.
Did you know Vermont was the covered bridge capital of the US? I still don't know why there's a need for covered bridges, but there were a lot of them.
However some of them didn't make it through Hurricane Irene.
Long Trail Brewery:
A great brewery that had a very lively brewpub, that seemed like the entire town was at.
Jasper was too young to join us tasting, but he did get to have a great time hanging out in the RV and the camp sites!
We stopped over at the Quechee George which had some trees that were starting to turn their colors.
The Alchemist Cannery:
The Alchemist got hit hard by the hurricane, and their main and original brewery got completely destroyed, they were "lucky" that they just built a secondary brewery to start their canning operation.
Magic Hat Brewery Company:
Our favorite tasting room. Magic hat was a lot of fun, had a great gift shop, and let us try all the beers they had on tap. They don't have just #9, but a wide range of beers and are really looking to expand.
Final Ranking of Breweries (not beers)
1. Magic Hat
2. Harpoon Brewery
3. Long Trail Brewing Co
4. Maine Beer Co
5. Sebago Brewing Co
6. The Shipyard Brewery
7. Allagash Brewing Company
8. Gritty's
9. Alchemist Cannery
10. D L Geary Brewing Co
11. Rising Tide Brewing Co
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