Austin Street Brewery is selling beer – both at its brewery at 1 Industrial Way in Portland and in a few bars in southern Maine.
Jake Austin, co-founder and head brewer, said for now the company is selling just one product, Patina Pale Ale.
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I had that beer a few months ago when I went on a Maine Brew Bus tour of four new breweries in southern Maine, and I liked it a lot. It is a hop-forward, dry American pale ale that comes in at 5.3 percent alcohol by volume.
Austin Street (which is named for the street where plans for the brewery were first made and has nothing to do, Austin says, with his last name) is the last of the three breweries at 1 Industrial Way to open its doors, and has been in the works for more than a year. It is by far the smallest of the three, since it opened with a one-barrel brew house.
“For the start we are going to keep going from 12 to 5 p.m. Saturdays,” Austin said. “We might add Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons.”
He said he had his beer at Outliers Restaurant in Portland and Elements Coffee, Books and Beer in Biddeford and would soon be delivering some to Salvage BBQ and Pai Men Miyake in Portland.
Austin and his co-founder, Will Fisher, both work full-time as auto mechanics at the Morong Brothers auto dealership, Austin in Falmouth and Fisher in Brunswick. Austin said when I interviewed him last week that he will be leaving that job soon to devote more time to the brewery.
Austin also works part-time at the Bier Cellar in Portland and thinks he will be adding some hours there.
Another connection between the brewery and the store will be coming up soon.
“We will actually be brewing a collaboration brew with the Bier Cellar to mark the second anniversary of their opening,” Austin said.
He said it will be an IPA that will be bottle-conditioned with Brettanomyces yeast, which would be a good fit for the store, which sells a lot of Brett beers.
I ORDERED Mo Chara Irish Red Ale from Banded Horn Brewery during a stop at Little Tap House in Portland a while back.
I found it to be a highly flavorful red, with a good amount of maltiness, not overly hopped, some fruity flavors and a smooth mouthfeel.
When I checked Banded Horn’s website, it turns out that the beer is made with Maine potatoes, with a water profile to match Dublin’s, is a seasonal and is 5 percent ABV.
If you see it on tap anywhere, try it. It won’t be around long, and it was super.
ATLANTIC BREWING COMPANY in Bar Harbor has a new seasonal ale available in bars and restaurants across the state.
Spring Ginger Kolsch was brewed with cool fermentation, similar to a lager, but using ale yeast, with some ginger added to spice up the flavor. It is 4.4 percent ABV, and although I haven’t had a chance to taste it yet, it could be good – especially since Atlantic has experience with ginger. Island Ginger is one of the brewery’s year-round offerings.
KOLSCH MUST BE the “in” style that some brewing guru came up with for spring seasonals.
We bought spring beers from both Long Trail in Vermont and Samuel Adams in Boston that are brewed in the Kolsch style.
Long Trail’s Ramble was brewed with pepper and lemon, and I could detect a bit of the pepper but not much of the lemon. It was light, crisp, fairly flavorful, but a little thin in texture. It is 5.5 percent ABV, and Nancy and I both enjoyed it.
We liked the Samuel Adams Escape Route more. It doesn’t have any adjuncts, but gets its flavor from a lot of malt and some yeast, as an unfiltered beer. It has a much more substantial mouthfeel than the Long Trail, and a nice creamy head. This is one of the best new – if limited release – offerings from Sam Adams in a while. And it is not because – here comes the disclaimer – Nancy and I own stock in Sam Adams, which we bought when the company did its initial offering.
Tom Atwell is a freelance writer living in Cape Elizabeth. He can be contacted at 767-2297 or at:
tomatwell@me.com
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