Novare Res Bier Café

I've been meaning to write up something about Novare Res for awhile now. Its been up for a few weeks now and the buzz had really circulated around southern Maine and possibly into neighboring northern New England states. It truly is an amazing addition to an already vibrant beer community here in Portland.

Last week we had our third meeting of the Maine Beer Writer's Guild at Novare Res. Eric Michaud, the owner, was beyond generous about letting us beer-nerd-it-up at his establishment. He really treated us well and shared some amazing beers with us, including a couple bottles of De Struise Earth Monk and Taras Boulba. That was awesome.

Novare Res is an homage to Eric's love of great beer. The place itself reminds me of a European cafe. Its dark, brick filled and slightly cavernous. The two large rooms that make up the place really produce a relaxing atmosphere. There are big tables and benches (not to mention some pretty sweet church pews) along with the large brick bar in one and  big leather couches in front of a fire place and some recently installed dart boards in the other. There is plenty of room for a lot of people to be comfortable. Now that its summertime Novare Res' deck is also getting a ton of use. 

Currently Novare Res is pouring 25 different beers and should have a beer engine up and running soon. They also have 200+ bottles. If you are ambitious enough you can pay a $20 deposit and get a card with a rather extensive checklist of beers on it. Finish them all and get a 20-oz. glass chalice of your own that will be housed in a pretty sweet little "room". I am told you'll get 20-oz. pours for the price of 16 oz. ones. Considering the beer that Novare Res has on tap, thats a pretty good deal!

If you get hungry drinking all those great beers you can order up cheese and meat plates that are perfect accompaniments. They aren't too big and won't fill you up but they'll definitely keep you going.

It also looks like Novare Res will be hosting some brewery events soon. The site's "events" section mentions Dogfish Head, Allagash and Rogue (hell yeah, some West coast action here in Maine) with more details to come. 

Overall, Novare Res has filled a niche very well here in Portland. The Belgian slant and the focus on hard to find beers with a definite attempt to educate the masses on what constitutes good beer is certainly refreshing. 

Cheers Eric! Thanks for hosting us and thanks for making a lot of happy beer drinkers even happier here in Maine!

www.novareresbiercafe.com

The Inn on Peaks Island

Jereme from ThinkBeer, Luke from BlogAboutBeer, Me and Chris Sweet from Ale Street News (photo by Jason from BeerBloggers)

This past Wednesday the Maine Beer Writers' Guild held its second meeting at the Inn on Peaks out on Peaks Island. 

The Inn on Peaks is owned by the Shipyard Brewery and you really can not ask for a more picturesque place to have a pub. Peaks Island is only a few miles off shore but provides a nice relaxing atmosphere. Thankfully the weather cooperated and the $7.75 ferry ride over was quite nice (made even nicer by some "boat beers"). The ride itself is just long enough to enjoy a good beer. A nice pre-cursor to the night ahead.

The Pub at the Inn on Peaks actually has a 15 gallon brewing system. Unfortunately we didn't have a chance to see it (and I couldn't find any pictures online). From what I've heard, beer is brewed at the Shipyard Brewery in town and then shipped over for fermentation. I could be wrong so please feel free to correct me if you know more.

Beer highlights of the night were definitely the Casco Bay Red on cask and Old Thumper (too bad it wasn't on cask...maybe next time!). The Inn is a very casual and relaxing place to have a beer and the view of the Portland skyline from across the water is amazing on a nice evening. 

If you've never been out to Peaks Island or you've never had a beer at the Inn, definitely try and make it happen this summer. If you're coming from "away", the inn has 6 rooms available and all of them are pretty plush.

Thanks goes out to Tami from Shipyard for making things possible and to the Inn at Peaks for hosting us! Cheers!

BREWERY (well, its not really a brewery) FACTS:

Name: The Inn on Peaks (owned by Shipyard Brewery)

Location: Peaks Island, Maine, USA

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