Maine Beer Company
Portland, ME
An American-style ale with two-row malt accented by crystal 10, Vienna, and white wheat malts. Magnum hops are joined by Amarillo, Cascade, and Centennial varieties. The beer is fermented with a neutral yeast strain and allowed to dry out so it finishes crisp and clean.
ABV: 5.5
ABW: 4.4
COLOR: 5
BITTERNESS: 59
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1048
AVALAIBLE: MA, ME, NH, NY, PA, VT
Lightly electric hop aromas zip around over the surface of this beguilingly golden liquid. Citrus zest mingles with fresh pine sap, an eye-opener, smile-coaxer aroma for any lover of pale ale. The mouth is a rush of hop flavor, weighted unexpectedly with solid sweet malt that drops you suddenly into the bitter finish, a flume ride in every sip. There’s a whispering remnant of hops after the swallow; not a crush, but a happy memory of a sixpack left to chill in a brook.
Bottle-conditioned and deep sandy-gold in color, this is what I might describe as an ale with one foot on each side of the Atlantic. The approach seems almost English in its strong maltiness, but the hops and the way they are used are both definitely American, with Maine woodlands on the nose and peppery citrus in the body. Add in the DIY imagery and feel-good environmental leanings of the brewery and you have a commendable quaffer, suitable for ploughman’s lunches or roasted red meats.
Lew Bryson writes about beer and whiskey from his home in southeast Pennsylvania. He has a family and two dogs. That’s all you need to know.
Once described as “beerdom’s Brillat-Savarin,” Stephen Beaumont is the author of five books and countless articles on beer, spirits, food, travel and how it all goes together.
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