How did we do with year two of our attempt to visit all the craft breweries on the Maine Beer Trail? I’d love to say we finally made it to them all, but since there are over 80 unique breweries in Maine, and new ones continue to open, I’m afraid the finish line still eludes us, at least for now.

While we’re not quite finished, we did have a great time again trying to get to as many craft breweries as we could this past year. For each stop, we usually tried to make a day of it. We’d search out an interesting hike, and look for other fun things in the area as we explored different parts of Maine.

Below is an overview of the craft breweries we visited in 2018.

Airline Brewing Company. 173 Main Street, Ellsworth, Maine. On a trip downeast, we stopped into Airline Brewing Company for lunch and a couple of beers. We visited their pub location. They have a brewery location in Amherst too. We arrived at the pub as they were opening up so we had the place mostly to ourselves. It has a nice, cozy atmosphere and the food was delicious.

Atlantic Brewing Company. 15 Knox Road, Bar Harbor, Maine. There were two stops on the beer trail for this craft brewery which has been around since 1991. The first is their tasting room in downtown Bar Harbor where they create some of their test brews. It’s a beautiful open, modern light-filled space. The second is their primary brewery a little outside of the downtown area. It’s also one of the few breweries that offers free tasting flights. I especially enjoyed their ginger beer. Mainely Meat is on the same property and we enjoyed some BBQ with our beers.

Austin Street Brewery. 1 Industrial Way #8, Portland, Maine. We headed to Austin Street Brewery on an intensely hot, humid summer day. While they have an outside seating area, it was just too hot the afternoon we were there so instead we picked up some cans of their Obsolete Vernacular and took them home to enjoy. It is a great sour and perfect on a hot summer day.

Barreled Souls. 743 Portland Road, Saco, Maine. This brewery located in a basement has a cozy man-cave atmosphere. They offer lots of dark beers which makes my husband quite happy. I love their wooden barrel furniture.

Bear Bones Beer. 43 Lisbon Street, Lewiston, Maine. This craft brewery, located in downtown Lewiston, has a light filled, open tasting room which was relaxed and inviting. We enjoyed a tasting flight of four beers including – Old Smokey, Pink Pils, Brett & Brad and Picea. My husband loves anything smokey so especially enjoyed the Old Smokey. I tried their sour selection after we finished our flight and it was yummy.

Blank Canvas. 46 Betton Street, Brewer, Maine. This spot was a little hard to find but I’m glad we persisted. The beers were delicious.

D.L. Geary Brewing Company. 38 Evergreen Drive, Portland, Maine. This is one of the original Maine breweries although it was recently sold and has new owners. The brewery is known for their English style beers, but they’ve expanded their menu and I enjoyed a sour beer while I was there.

Federal Jacks. 8 Western Avenue, Kennebunk, Maine. One of the oldest breweries in Maine, Federal Jacks was established in 1992. In addition to brewing their own beer, they are a restaurant pub with great views of the ocean. I cheated and had a wine on this stop.

Fore River Brewing. 45 Huntress Avenue, South Portland, Maine. Lucky for us this brewery is local so we have been here a few times. What I especially enjoy about Fore River Brewing is that they make some awesome sours. On our last visit, we did a tasting flight of four sours and every single one was so yummy. I especially enjoyed their strawberry rhubarb sour.

Foundation Brewing Company. 1 Industrial Way #5, Portland, Maine. Located in Industrial Way in Portland, Foundation Brewery has large tasting area as well as outside seating. While they don’t serve food, there is a food truck nearby where you can pick up a snack. This brewery is in our backyard so we were already familiar with their beers and they are another spot with some delicious sours.

Geaghan Brothers Brewing Company. 570 Main Street, Bangor, Maine. This is a popular restaurant destination that added a brewery. Their menu has lots of comfort food and a nice selection of beers. Our experience here wasn’t the best, but they are well regarded and likely we just hit an off night.

Liquid Riot. 250 Commercial Street, Portland, Maine. This full service restaurant and brewery has lots of great options. My favorite thing is eating one of their infinity pretzels with a beer or glass of wine.  They also have an cute little back deck with amazing water views of Portland Harbor.

Lone Pine Brewing. 219 Anderson Street, Portland, Maine. This Portland based craft brewery is growing quickly and well known for their Oh-J. I had stopped by once before during a MicroMaine tour and we headed back for a quick visit last winter. While their beers tend to be on the hoppy side, we tried a can pour of their Tha III Carters made with seaweed, tea and lemon zest. It was really good.

Lubec Brewing Company. 41 S Water Street, Lubec, Maine. We made it to the furthest, at least for us, stop on the Maine Beer Trail.  Technically, there’s now a stop in Fort Kent, but our map is aging out and doesn’t have some of the newest breweries that have opened up.  Lubec Brewing Company is also a restaurant serving excellent pizza.  There was live music the night we visited making things even more festive.

Marsh Island Brewing. 2 Main Street, Orono, Maine. They have a cute little tasting room with an outside seating area under a pergola. Their Lime Gose was especially good and bursting with flavor.

Marshall Wharf Brewing Co.  2 Pinchy Lane, Belfast, Maine. This is one of my husband’s favorite craft brewers so we’ve enjoyed their beers before although this was our first visit to their tasting room. On our previous trip, we went to their adjacent restaurant Three Tides. I blogged about that visit to Belfast in my post Weekend Trip to Belfast Maine. Marshall Wharf Brewing  has a lot of fun, creative flavors including some smokey rauchbiers.

Mason’s Brewing Company. 15 Hardy Street, Brewer, Maine. Craft beer is well represented in the greater Bangor area and we were overdue for a visit up that way but fortunately I went up to Brewer for a business trip. My husband joined me and we headed to Mason’s Brewing Company for lunch. In addition to their craft beer, they are a full service restaurant with a great menu. I tried their Mason’s Pink Slip which was a perfectly crafted sour. My husband can’t pass up a good rauchbier so he went with the Mason’s Altbier Von Rausch. In a happy coincidence, we were there during National Pizza Day and celebrated with a delicious “Farewell, Mona Lisa” pizza.

Mast Landing Brewing. 920 Main Street, Westbrook, Maine.  Mast Landing Brewing was standing room only when we swung by on a late Saturday afternoon a few months back. They have a large, industrial space with a tap area as you enter and seating off to the left.

Monhegan Island Brewing. 1 Boody Lane, Monhegan, Maine.  This brewery takes some planning. It’s located on it’s namesake island but that’s part of the fun. We spent a great day hiking and exploring the island followed by a stop into this surprisingly busy brewery for some delicious sours. The outside patio area is dripping with atmosphere and the perfect spot to spend a summer afternoon. We’ll be back.

Oak Pond Brewing Co. 101 Oak Pond Road, Skowhegan, Maine. This is another brewery that has been brewing for many years having started in 1996. While you can try their beer at the brewery, there is not really a tasting room. They have a few taps by their office and near a small store area.

Orono Brewing Company. 20 Main Street, Orono, Maine. Just up the street from Marsh Island Brewing, is the tasting room for Orono Brewing Company another great spot on the Maine Beer Trail.

Rising Tide Brewery. 103 Fox Street, Portland, Maine. We’ve visited Rising Tide a few times but this was our first stop since they re-did their tasting room. It’s a nice spot and a fun colorful industrial space.

Rock Harbor Brewing. 5 Payne Avenue, Rockland, Maine. This brewery has a nice large, open space as well as some outside seating. Their breakwater wheat is a nice summer beer. I always enjoy a craft beer with a touch of orange.

Simplicity Brewing. 2473 Camden Rd (Rt 90) , Warren, Maine. This tasting room also has home brewing supplies for sale. The owner was super friendly. We enjoyed our tasting flight outside by the picnic area.

SoMe Brewing Co. 1 York St Unit 3, York, Maine. After a winter walk along Marginal Way in Ogunquit, we headed south to SoMe Brewing Co. This cute tasting room has plenty of seating and a small area for music which they host on Friday nights. We enjoyed a tasting flight including Syd’s Suds, Long Waltz, Snow Day and Whoppie Pie along with a bag of their free popcorn.

Strong Brewing Company. 7 Rope Ferry Road, Sedgwick, Maine. We had a pleasant stop into Strong Brewing. Our hostess was chatty and sweet. She shared information on the history of the brewery.  It was originally done out of the founders living room, until they converted the living room on the bottom of their house into a tasting room. They were in the process of renovating during our visit with their new canning machine scheduled to arrive later that day. I enjoyed their Sante Noel.

Sunday River Brewing Company. 29 Sunday River Road, Bethel, Maine. This is another great brew pub destination if you’re looking for food and local craft brews. They’re also known for their donuts. Yes, donuts! We took a few home for the next morning.

Tributary Brewing Company. 10 Shapleigh Road, Kittery, Maine. Our southern most stop was down to Tributary Brewing Company where we enjoyed a Gose and an Oatmeal Stout. We were there on a Saturday afternoon after a nearby hike at Cutts Island Trail. The tasting room was quite busy.

Tumbledown Brewing. Eastside Mall, 805 Farmington Falls Rd., Unit #7, Farmington, Maine.  I’ve never been to Tumbledown Mountain but after a stop into this namesake brewery I hope to visit in the near future. They have a beautiful picture of the spot on their wall.

We’re making slow and steady progress getting stamps on our beer trail map. We only have a handful of breweries left on our map. Although, so many new breweries have opened since we started this adventure that we may need to add a blank page and keep the fun going.

Do you have anything like the Maine beer trail in your area?

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