16-05-2025
13 great under-the-radar Maine breweries
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But there are many others worth hitting. With more than 150 breweries in operation, Maine has more per capita than any other state save Vermont (the two states keep trading spots).
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Here are 13 less prominent Maine breweries that are off the beaten path yet stand out in an increasingly crowded beer scene here.
Banded Brewing's large tap room in the rehabbed Pepperell Mill complex is a jolly place.
Steve Greenlee
Banded Brewing Co.
Banded Brewing's large tap room in the rehabbed Pepperell Mill complex is a jolly place. The place was packed on a recent Saturday afternoon with couples and groups of friends gathered at picnic tables and high-top tables, in plain view of the fermenting tanks in an adjoining, open-concept room. The beer is top-notch, from the IPAs to the stouts and lagers.
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Try:
Jolly Woodsman, a rich and creamy stout brewed with Kenyan coffee from Portland's Speckled Ax roasters.
32 Main St., Building 13W, Biddeford
Barreled Souls is literally in a cellar – appropriate, since the brewery specializes in barrel-aged beers.
Steve Greenlee
Barreled Souls Brewing
Maine's most daring brewery, Barreled Souls is literally in a cellar – appropriate, since the brewery specializes in barrel-aged beers. The cozy room sits beneath an old house. Lounge in a chair made from an old barrel while you sip on a gose, sour, IPA or one of their extra-special concoctions – a stout aged in rye whiskey barrels or a barleywine aged in barrels that had contained St. Elmo Old Fashioned.
Try:
Tequila-Finished Templeton Rye Inner Space, an imperial stout aged in barrels that had held both bourbon, tequila and rye whiskey. Complex beyond belief and nearly 15% alcohol.
743 Portland Road, Saco
Cushnoc makes superior IPAs, robust dark beers, complex wild ales.
Steve Greenlee
Cushnoc Brewing Co.
Cushnoc keeps growing and has four spaces now: A pizza pub in downtown Augusta; a tasting cellar and deck out back on the Kennebec River for private events; an annex brewery and tasting room 6 miles east; and a brand-new Mexican cantina in Waterville. Cushnoc makes superior IPAs, robust dark beers, complex wild ales and more – not to mention extraordinarily good pizza. The tasting room at the annex is literally in the brewery – picnic tables and high tops sit cheek by jowl with the fermentation tanks.
Try:
Lawyer Up, a viscous Baltic porter infused with Ethiopian Sidamo coffee beans.
3044 North Belfast Ave., Augusta
Flight Deck has one of the liveliest tasting rooms in Maine.
Steve Greenlee
Flight Deck Brewing
Situated in a former firing range on the old Brunswick Naval Air Station, Flight Deck has one of the liveliest tasting rooms in Maine, with a sprawling lawn dotted with picnic tables, Adirondacks and cornhole boards. The brewery also serves some of the region's most creative wood-fired pizza. Downeast magazine's annual readers poll regularly names Flight Deck the best tasting room in Maine. A wide range of beers are available, but Flight Deck excels at the lighter lagers and ales. (Disclosure: My band Sons of Quint has played at Flight Deck many times.)
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Try:
Pre-Flight Czech, a crisp, light and refreshing pilsner that's perfect on a hot summer afternoon.
11 Atlantic Ave., Brunswick
Grateful Grain could easily be overlooked. It shouldn't be.
Steve Greenlee
Grateful Grain Brewing Co.
Housed in an unassuming cabin on a rural stretch of Route 9 between Lewiston and Augusta, Grateful Grain could easily be overlooked. It shouldn't be. Its flagship IPA, The Experience, is a great representation of the New England IPA style, and the brewery routinely trots out interesting brews such as a smoked maple porter, an imperial red ale and several stouts. This place feels like a neighborhood watering hole, and it is.
Try:
The
Experience, a hazy and pungent IPA dry-hopped with citra and simcoe, giving it a juicy and grassy flavor profile.
26 Route 126, Monmouth
Mast Landing Brewing Co.
Mast Landing has two locations, and they're each worth a visit. The Westbrook tasting room is adorned with local artwork (for sale) and full of board games and cards; the huge Freeport room can get noisy, but the wonderful backyard beer garden is a great option on warm days. The tap list is huge – there are always more than a dozen beers on tap, and they're all superior.
Try:
Gunner's Daughter, a smooth and silky peanut butter milk stout.
920 Main St., Westbrook, and 200 Lower Main St., Freeport
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Norway Brewing Co.
Located in the funky little town of Norway, this brewery and pub is a popular local gathering spot where the food is as good as the beer. Drink in the inviting dining room or out back on a wooden bench under twinkle lights. There are around 10 beers on tap, and they run the gamut from IPAs to stouts to Belgian saisons.
Try:
Triple Stack, a strong farmhouse ale that tastes like a cross between a saison and a tripel.
237 Main St., Norway
Orono Brewing Co.
Just down the road from the University of Maine yet tucked away from the main drag, Orono Brewing's outdoor beer garden is a welcoming spot with a range of styles on tap and an interesting food menu that includes a truffle mushroom burger and blueberry fried chicken. OBC, as locals call it, makes some of Maine's best beer.
Try:
Tubular, a heavily dry-hopped IPA that bursts with notes of oranges and papayas, and Totally Tubular, the imperial version.
42 Alewife Run, Orono
Oxbow Brewing Co.
A farmhouse brewery that specializes in saisons and wild ales, Oxbow gives you three distinctive locations. There's the tiny cabin in the woods of Newcastle where it started, but they keep only three or four beers on tap there. There's the enormous beer garden with a dozen or so beers on tap in a 200-year-old barn in Oxford. And there's the 'blending and bottling' room on Portland's bohemian Washington Avenue, also with about a dozen beers on tap. Forced to choose, I'm heading to Oxford.
Try:
Liquid Swords, a barrel-aged blend of farmhouse ales that Oxbow considers its grand cru – for good reason.
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420 Main St., Oxford
Sacred Profane
Sacred Profane makes only two beers – a light lager and a dark lager. They're both only 4% alcohol yet robust and full of flavor. The food at their spot in downtown Biddeford – which is always hopping – is as good as the beer. Other breweries' beers are available there, but why would you want to order them?
Try:
Pale Lager and Dark Lager – they're both exemplars of their styles, and because they're so low in alcohol you can have both.
50 Washington St., Biddeford
Sidereal makes British beers, Czech lagers, barrel-aged wild ales, sours, ciders, meads, wines and hybrids.
Steve Greenlee
Sidereal Farm Brewery
Situated on a farm in a bucolic setting, Sidereal Farm Brewing sets high standards for itself, with a yeast lab on site and a Belgian-style open-fermentation coolship modeled after the one at Allagash Brewing Co. This small brewery makes a stunningly large range of brews: British beers, Czech lagers, barrel-aged wild ales, sours, ciders, meads, wines and hybrids. Their attention to detail is evident in every beer they make here.
Try:
Nice to Meerts You, an oak-aged coolship ale that is at once tart and fruity.
772 Cross Hill Road, Vassalboro
Tucked away from the bustle of the Kittery outlets, Tributary has a small but inviting tasting room.
Steve Greenlee
Tributary Brewing Co.
Maine's southernmost brewery is also one of its best. That's because it was started by Tod Mott, the former brewmaster across the river in New Hampshire who created Portsmouth Brewing Co.'s legendary Russian imperial stout, Kate the Great. His son, Woody, is now the head brewer at Tributary, and the high Mott standards carry on. Tucked away from the bustle of the Kittery outlets, Tributary has a small but inviting tasting room where you can sip anything from pale ales to a baltic porter or Belgian ale while your friends go shopping.
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Try:
Biere de Miel, a saison brewed with honey and inspired by those originating in the Provence region of France.
10 Shapleigh Road, Kittery
Trinken specializes in German beers and makes them all to perfection.
Steve Greenlee
Trinken Brewing Co.
Trinken specializes in German beers – hefeweizen, dunkel, schwarzbier, kolsch, weizenbock – and makes them all to perfection. They do offer IPAs (of course), and they're very good, but you can get those anywhere. Locals frequent the cozy tap room and meet up for open-mic events while sipping beer styles not commonly offered by microbreweries. In warmer weather, bands play while crowds gather on local picnic tables.
Try:
Silversterpfad, a flavorful and slightly bitter Vienna Lager that holds up well against – and maybe outdoes – the famous one with Samuel Adams on the label.
144 State Road, West Bath
Steve Greenlee is a journalism professor at Boston University. He can be reached at greenlee@
