Tag Archives: brewery

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A hoppy occasion.

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We attended a dual retirement party recently. A husband and wife were calling it quits at the same time and their kids threw them a celebration.

At a brewery.

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It was like old home week for my husband as he had worked with M. at the FAA.

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Yes, my guy is a 22 year Marine and the recent retiree did 20 years in the Navy…

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So deep conversations ensued.

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But my guy did that pretty much all afternoon.

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And into the evening.

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I’d never been to retirement party at a brewery before but it was laid back and quite fun.

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No boring speeches. No power point presentations of careers. No stuffy presentations of plaques or watches.

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Just friends, family and co workers getting together for a good time.

We went home with a wood fired pizza because they were floating in it.

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And stayed well after the official end time.

But the best part about a brewery retirement party?

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Wrist bands for unlimited free beer for every guest.

👍

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An off the beaten path brewery.

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The husband and I enjoy finding new breweries and never let it be said we don’t travel far and wide on the path to discovery.

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Up the coast, off Route 1, across a country road, over a small bridge (arrow) and down a long peninsula…

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Through the woods…

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Where the road turns to dirt…

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Don’t blink or you’ll miss the sign to the long driveway that leads to…

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A family run farm brewery.

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With only outdoor seating, I’m guessing Sasanoa (named for the nearby river) is a seasonal spot.

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I have to say I’ve never had fresh veggies on offer alongside the beer….

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But it had a charming, laid back, rustic vibe so I wasn’t completely surprised. All beer ingredients are local, organic and many are grown on site.

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Their lime basil ale?

Superb.

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When I commented to the owner that this was definitely an out of the way brew destination she said, yes.

And we like that way.

❤️

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Go for the beer, stay for the food.

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Friday dawned sunny and relatively warm so the husband and I jumped in the car for a drive to the mountains.

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Heading west to try a new brewery that had popped up since our last visit.

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And while the hilltops were free of snow, the lakes were still frozen.

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Our destination was Steam Mill Brewing which had a colorful tasting room.

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And a comfortable, laid back western vibe.

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We did a few tastings but weren’t overly impressed with the beer.

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But my Rogue Angel – Titos, elderflower cordial, grapefruit juice, soda water and orange bitters – hit the spot.

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Crab cakes with Cajun remoulade and truffle aoili? OMG. To die for. Some of the best I’ve ever had… and they are always my go to app.

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Husband’s French onion soup? Dark, rich and full of sherry. Yum.

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The vaguely spider like overhead lighting was bizarre.

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But my veal, beef and pork bolognese and his mixed green salad with grilled chicken and warm maple vinaigrette were amazing.

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The town was also running a cocktail competition that, had I lived there, I would have been all over. Bar hop 11 places and taste test their cocktails? Sign me up.

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Naturally I tried Steam Mill’s entry… which, while tasty, was down right deadly.

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On our way out, the rest rooms provided a few laughs.

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Then it was back over the mountains for a scenic drive home.

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A good time was had by all.

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Pugs for the win.

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Having driven by this tiny brewery multiple times, the husband and I decided to drop in and try it the other day.

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It’s small, and colorful.

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Even their creative tasty beer is color coded…

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To the colorful flight tray.

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We spent a pleasant 2 hours sampling, drinking and chatting with the owners, a very nice young couple… who happen to live in our town.

They’re beer lovers and dog lovers.

Unfortunately the brewery’s mascot wasn’t there that day.

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But his picture was.

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And I came home with some fun pug inspired swag.

❤️

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There’s nothing worse than dishwater beer.

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I’m always up for trying a new brewery so we headed north to Auburn.

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Hop water?

No thank you.

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I suppose the empty tasting room should have been our first clue…

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But the beer list was interesting and we tried a flight.

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Of which we liked exactly none.

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With a giant cat sticker watching us, we tried two more…

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Sadly with the same result.

The beer was so flat, tasteless and uninteresting I ordered a watermelon gimlet instead.

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And though we won’t be back anytime soon for beer, they did make a delicious sandwich.

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Turkey and melted Brie, spinach and red onion, with rosemary and fig aioli on grilled ciabatta.

That alone was worth the visit.

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Batson River Fish Camp

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After another week of unsatisfactory carpet shopping I had to throw the husband a bone so we headed for the coast.

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Wells is probably the longest stretch of sandy beach in Maine and is overwhelmed with tourists in the summer.

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But on the off season it’s quiet, which is how we like it.

After a stroll, we headed for beer.

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And while we’ve visited other Batson locations, this was our first trip to the laid back Fish Camp version.

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It was more casual than their other locations.

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With an attractive fishing vibe.

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A few raspberry lime sours in…

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I opted for the duck fat cornbread with maple honey bourbon butter.

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Ooh la la! Sheer perfection.

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As was the digital fireplace that didn’t trigger my hot flashes.

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Not sure what they put on top of this outdoor table to hold down the cover…but it looked like a giant wine cork to me.

😉

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Roll out the barrel(s).

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Remember when I found that weirdly wonderful tropical beer at the Great Lost Bear a while back? After numerous fruitless (no pun intended) attempts to locate it for sale… I went to the source.

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Barreled Souls brewing in Saco. They’re a small batch brewery tucked away in the basement of a lawyers office. The days and hours their tasting room is open are limited… so we were standing tall at noon on a Saturday ready for some serious day drinking.

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23 plus on tap made for ample tasting.

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Known for their bizarre fruited sours and gose, we happily sampled.

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And then sampled a bit more.

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This brewery ages its beers in whisky barrels, rum barrels, wine barrels and even tequila barrels which makes for some very distinctive flavors.

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I was thrilled to discover I could order a keg of Little Havana for the man cave/Barn Mahal and the husband went with a 4 pack of Le Tigre.

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At $17 for a four pack it’s not cheap, but what is these days?

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The name says it all.

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It was a crisp fall day, so we headed down Route 1 south to Saco to try a brewery I’d been hearing about for years.

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It’s housed in a refurbished mill complex on the river…

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And the atmosphere was wonderful. Brick walls and rustic wood.

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Naturally my husband headed for the bar where we sat behind some fancy taps.

See who’s in the middle of them?

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Rex.

Bar dog extraordinaire.

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Being a brewery we had to try a flight of everything they had on tap.

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And I enjoyed them so much I ordered a strawberry basil vodka lemonade.

How can so many different beers be so bad? Lager, stout, ale, IPA, amber, brown. Seriously, they were all sub par.

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I really wanted to like this place, but it wasn’t meant to be.

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And while my crab cake appetizer with remoulade wasn’t bad…

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The husband hated his French onion soup so another pub will be added to our never return list.

I guess I should have paid more attention.

It was all right there in the name.

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🤣

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Their beers don’t bite.

33 Comments

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I am an extremely happy camper and the reason is beer.

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We’ve found a delightful new brewery that doesn’t overload their brew with hops, hence the title.

The latest trend in Maine microbrews is IPA’s. Hoppy, bitter, double and triple IPA’s… which is fine, unless you’re me and don’t like them. I can’t tell you how many tasting rooms we’ve visited where every single beer on tap is hop forward.

Enter Olive Pit Brewing… a small, dog friendly, woman owned operation whose main goal is offering creative options.

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I should have flipped that over and photographed the other side… but I was too busy sampling. Please note there was a margarita inspired beer. Be still my heart.

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Yes, both those flights were mine. Don’t judge… variety is the spice of life.

And if you noticed the flight boards are dog bones?

There’s a reason.

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Meet Olive, the inspiration. A rescue dog the owners adopted from down south, Olive became seriously ill shortly after moving to Maine… but $25,000 later ( no, I’m not exaggerating ) she’s a well loved and happy pup.

So the brewery welcomes dogs, inside and out. Dogs and beer. What’s not to love?

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Did I mention there are beer cocktails?

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You know I had to try that!

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Weird, but quite tasty. And perfect for our one friend who doesn’t like beer but agreed to come because she’s a good sport.

We had a great time and definitely plan on going back.

Swag? Of course I had to buy some.

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Forest green t shirt…

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With appropriate tagline on the back.

They don’t bite because they’re not hoppy.

They don’t bite because the dogs are friendly.

And after tasting every single brew they offered? I can attest to the fact their product most definitely doesn’t bite taste wise either.

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A few glasses for the Barn Mahal bar.

👍

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