Portland Maine brewery

[cementhands]

Shipyard brewery is a cool place to catch a great beer and good food. Food specials a few times a week too! Walking distance from terminal.

shipyard brewery 86 NEWBURY STREET PORTLAND, MAINE   
About a 2 minute walk on foot 

[shellden]

Thank you!

[ericosmith]

As I recall it's right across the street.  I know I stopped there on my walk back to the ship after dropping off a rental car at the train station.

[SuzCruise]

There are great breweries in Portland.  GREAT!  Shipyard isn’t one of them.  The beer isn’t good but the tasting room is worse.  It’s in a basement of a large, new building.  No atmosphere.  And you enter through the gift shop.  I would seriously only recommend Shipyard to someone if I hated them.  

 

If you want to stay in the Old Port - Gritty McDuff’s calls itself the oldest brewery in Portland.  For tastes of local beers there are also Novare Res Bier Cafe (great outdoor patio) and Thirsty Pig.  I think there is another brew pub in the OP, but can’t recall the name but do remember the bartenders being surly.  But if you are willing to go further afield, you can get to the really good places.  Around the streets of Fox and Anderson you’ll find Rising Tide, Belleflower, Lone Pine, Good Fire, and Austin breweries as well as wine tasting rooms, a cidery, a distillery or two and a ton of popular restaurants.  If you are into Belgian style beer then you already know about Allagash and should hop in an Uber and head to their tasting room.  Great atmosphere and great beer.  And one of, if not the, best lobster rolls in town served from the food truck, Bite into Maine.  And there are about 3 or 4 more breweries on that street, so you can do a brewery crawl before getting an Uber back to the port.  

[chengkp75]

22 hours ago, SuzCruise said:

Around the streets of Fox and Anderson you’ll find Rising Tide, Belleflower, Lone Pine, Good Fire, and Austin breweries as well as wine tasting rooms, a cidery, a distillery or two and a ton of popular restaurants.

The area around this is pretty rough, so take care going there.  We've been, but we keep a close watch out, especially late.  Closer to the port and carrying most of the brews that you would get out in Riverside near Allagash is the Great Lost Bear with 50 local craft beers on tap.  It is nearly always mentioned in craft beer reviews nationwide.  Bartenders have been trained in beer tasting, attended trade shows and competitions, and are thoroughly knowledgeable about the brews they serve.

 

As a note, Gritty's is the oldest brew pub in Portland, but Geary's (which has nearly increased above "craft brewing" status, IIRC) started 2 years before Gritty's.

 

I do agree that I'd avoid Shipyard, and the places you mention in the Old Port are some of the top ones.

Edited October 10, 2022 by chengkp75

[SuzCruise]

58 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

The area around this is pretty rough, so take care going there.  We've been, but we keep a close watch out, especially late.  Closer to the port and carrying most of the brews that you would get out in Riverside near Allagash is the Great Lost Bear with 50 local craft beers on tap.  It is nearly always mentioned in craft beer reviews nationwide.  Bartenders have been trained in beer tasting, attended trade shows and competitions, and are thoroughly knowledgeable about the brews they serve.

 

As a note, Gritty's is the oldest brew pub in Portland, but Geary's (which has nearly increased above "craft brewing" status, IIRC) started 2 years before Gritty's.

 

I do agree that I'd avoid Shipyard, and the places you mention in the Old Port are some of the top ones.

In a town where drug addicts seem to be everywhere and the homeless population rivals that of many large cities, Fox seems pretty safe.  We never had a problem there, day or night.  They roll up the sidewalks in that part of town by 10 PM even on a weekend, so you shouldn’t be there late night.  And the problems I mentioned are not visible there at all, or at least weren’t recently when we lived in the area. During the day you will see tons of people walking between the breweries and restaurants along Fox and Washington which is one of the most touted areas for great restaurants in town (even though I think many of them are overhyped).  I agree with you 100% that the Great Lost Bear is the best craft beer bars in town, if not in any town.  Great service and over 80 craft beers on tap.  And the food is pretty good for pub grub. But if I was a tourist, I don’t think it would be what was I was looking for.  It’s almost to Allagash.  Allagash is a hike from the Old Port, but if you like Belgian beer - it’s more of a pilgrimage.  Fox and Anderson have tons of options and are closer to the port.  

[chengkp75]

25 minutes ago, SuzCruise said:

It’s almost to Allagash.

Hate to pick nits, but Allagash is 7.5 miles from the cruise terminal, while the Bear is only 2.5.  And, the Bear carries several Allagash brews, including the flagship White.  I know one of the brewers at Allagash, and he would be laughing at the "pilgrimage" label.  I'm very spoiled, as my sons in Boston bring the craft brews from there, and most of the hundreds of brews made in New England are for sale here in Portland.

 

I am very encouraged by the trend in New England breweries to experiment outside the IPA genre, as it is getting a little old, and I prefer a "malty" beer over a "hoppy" one.