Swimming in beer across the Atlantic to Maine
Mar 31 '06
The Bottom Line Atlantic Brewing Company offers a great tour and some really nice beer.
While in Maine we toured two micro brewing companies. We also toured a brewing company in Canada that I will mention because it is a 5 star tour. The first one is a 2 star tour. I’m giving you information about it so you can either avoid it or know how to take the tour.
1. Maine Coast Brewery is located at 102 Eden Street in Bar Harbor, Maine. There is no website and when I asked about a website the owner told me that it was something he was working on. We passed Maine Coast Brewery many times during our visit to Acadia National Park.
There was a sign outside with tour hours but under the hours it said that there would be no tours that day. That day was every day! This went on for days. Finally one day I got out of the car and found the owner, Tom St Germaine. He was a very nice guy who also owns Jack Russell’s Steakhouse which is located almost in front of the brewery. He told me everything I could ever want to know about his business and life. He also told me that the tour guide had been out a lot due to family issues. Tom said there would be tours that day though they usually aren’t given on Sundays which is the day we stopped. This was at 1:00p.m. and although the sign said the next tour was at 2:00p.m. during the week Tom took us on a tour himself.
We were with friends. Upstairs we found a fairly stark room that needed some work. There was a counter, stools and some beer on display. Tom took us downstairs to a dreary brew area which appeared to need a good cleaning. The smell was horrible. We couldn’t wait to get upstairs. Once upstairs we sat on the stools and heard all about Nina (his wife), Walker (his son) and the Jack Russells he raises thus the name of his restaurant.
We tasted Jordan Pond, an IPA, a Porter which was very carbonated, and a light beer that I liked though not enough to buy.
I liked the fact that Tom changed cups each time we had a different beer. Our friends and we bought the 64-ounce bottle of Stout made by Maine Coast only because the bottle was so cute. I wouldn’t go back again. The beer wasn’t good enough to warrant a stop.
2. The tour of the Atlantic Brewing Company was entirely different. We went twice. Once alone and once again when our friends came to visit us. It is located at 15 Knox Road in Bar Harbor (207-288-BEER). They give free tours daily at 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00 from Memorial Day to Columbus day
If you find that you don’t want a tour or perhaps have had a tour you can stop into the gift shop for free tastings. Reservations are not necessary but if you are a group larger than 10 they would like to know you are coming.
The gift shop is large and has wonderful items such as t-shirts, caps, glasses, souvenirs and wine. It is a restored 19th century homestead. They offer great prices if you buy beer by the case which we did.
On both our visits the tour guides were very knowledgeable and answered questions though one tour guide was better than the other. It isn’t a tour per se. We stood at the entrance and could essentially see the vats from there. It was great that we went twice because I felt as if I learned more in 15 minutes on our second visit than I did in the 1/2 hour of our first visit.
We tasted all the beer that Atlantic brews. Our plastic cups were not changed. Although there were only about 15 people each day on the tour it seemed that many more packed in for the tasting. We tasted Bar Harbor Real Ale, Coal Porter, Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale, Bar Harbor Island Ginger, Brother Adam’s Honey Bragget Ale and Special Old Bitter. During each tasting we got an explanation of the beer; how it was made and the ABV. Atlantic Brewery also makes the best non-alcoholic root beer I’ve had.
www.atlanticbrewing.com
3. Alexander Keith Brewery located at 1496 Lower Water Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada gave us a 5 star tour. At the time it cost us $10 but on their website it now says $15 for adults and $6.00 for children. They are open year round with various hours.
Our tour had about 30 people. It was set in the early 1800s when the Brewery started. I found it educational, fun and interactive. We got two regular size mugs of beer and could choose either Light Ale, Honey Brown Ale or Red Amber Ale. We watched the “actors” play a round of poker with beans, sing and tell stores. During the tour we went into at least four different rooms. I would highly recommend it if you are in the area.
www.keiths.ca/k_brewery/k_brewery_index.htm
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave me a question or comment. jo
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