Gritty McDuff's (Portland)

Maine's Original Brewpub

Its been twenty years since Gritty's became Maine's first brewpub back in 1988. Over those two decades, its become a familiar Maine drinking institution. The Gritty's in the Old Port is a great example of what a brewpub should be. Small working brewery (7-barrel), mug club, blue collar and white collar blending together, interior of wood and exposed brick and, of course, a very casual atmosphere. 

Gritty's is a perfect place to meet up with people. Its location right on Fore St. is hard to miss and the masses converge here on the weekends as well as the weeknights (especially on Tueday when the mug club allows members to drink 20 ouncers for only two bucks!). This past week I met up with some other beer geeks at Gritty's for the inaugural meeting of the Maine Beer Writers' Guild. It was a great place to start.

Ben Low, author of the Gritty's Brewer's Blog, and member of the Guild showed us around the brewery in the basement and gave us a sneak peak of his latest creation, a "Rye PA". It should be pouring in the next ten days and sounds like it will be a great beer. I look forward to more one offs like the Rye PA. If you are around the Portland area stop in and help drink it all so Ben get creative again soon!

Luckily, Gritty's still had some of their IRA (Irish Red Ale) on nitro tap. That is a ridiculously smooth drinking beer! Its an interesting style to pour on nitro and it works. The creaminess of the head and slight bitterness go really well go together. Along with the IRA we drained copious amounts of the Black Fly Stout, Best Brown and Best Bitter. Good times were had by all and lots of geeky beer stuff was discussed. 

Gritty's operates two other brewpubs, one in Freeport and the other in Auburn. Along with the great beers on draught at all three locations, you can also find it in bottles and those huge tappable keg/cans. Try their Scottish Style Ale, its nice and malty with a dry hop finish. Its a great seasonal!

BREWERY FACTS:

Name: Gritty McDuff's Brewpub

Location: Portland, Maine, USA

Since: 1988

Ben Low's "Rye PA" in the open fermenter

Coastal Extreme Brewing Company (Newport, RI)

Ever think about starting a brewery with some of your college buddies? 4 Colby College alumni did just that when they started the Coastal Extreme Brewing Company in Middletown, Rhode Island back in 1999. Coastal Extreme brews an Amber Ale, a blueberry ale and 4 seasonal beers, a “Cyclone” series of limited release big beers and an annual beer that can be aged. I was down in the Newport area for work on Wednesday and thought I would stop in and check their place out.

Let me just preface this whole story by saying that Newport Storm is a very appropriate name for the entire trip. It was like a freakin' hurricane down there on Wednesday!

It took some searching but I found the brewery nestled in a warehouse setting off a quiet road about 10 minutes north of Newport. After first selecting the wrong door (there are two identical doors at Coastal Extreme) I found myself inside the small confines of the visitor friendly part of the brewery (the first door I opened showed me the inner workings of the actual brewery). 

Will Rafferty was the only of the 4 co-founders so I talked to him for a few minutes about their place. Coastal Extreme beers are available in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut and it was nice to hear that they do a major chunk (80%) of their business in Rhode Island and enjoy being a small (they have a 10-barrel brewhouse) regional brewery. I personally think more breweries should be okay with being small and local and not try to become the next Sierra Nevada.

Inside the brewery is a bar area with a bunch of taps (and some award medals). They had the Rhode Island Blueberry Ale, the Amber Ale, the Winter Ale and the Irish Red on tap. I got excited and asked for a sample of the Winter Ale but was left thirsty by Rhode Island laws that forbid sampling at the brewery during business hours or some such bureaucratic nonsense. What is that all about!!! 

Will had the same feelings on the matter and is hoping things will change with some nice beer-friendly Rhode Island legislation very soon. I was relieved to find that they sell growlers of their brewery-fresh beer for $10. I asked Will to sell me on the porter, since I couldn’t sample it, but I’m sure he knew I was going to buy a growler regardless of what he said! By the way... if you go there, bring cash (no cards accepted). I had to go and get some since I didn’t have any on me.

It was a pretty short visit but informative and Will invited me back on a Friday at 5:45 since they are open to the public for a brewery tour and legal sampling at that time. Thanks Will for taking some time out of what looked like a busy day for you inside that little office of yours! Congrats on living a dream that many of us share and best of luck to you and your friends and remember that your love of beer started in Maine!

To find out more about how Coastal Extreme was started click HERE!
To find out more about their beers click HERE!

spent grain on a stormy day at Coastal Extreme Brewing Company 

(check out the brewery sponsored Porsche in the background)