Atlantic Brewing’s New Guy IPA jumped out at me as I was perusing selections at Oak Hill Beverage in Scarborough. I had never had this beer before, and it sounded new, so I spent $10.99 for a six-pack and took it home.

The beers at Atlantic Brewing and Bar Harbor Brewing, which now have the same owner, have always been good. Atlantic’s Real Ale is an old favorite, as is Cadillac Mountain Stout, and its Manly Men Beer Club has some good extreme beers. (Some people think the person on the Special Old Bitter label looks like me.)

Additional Photos

Atlantic Brewing’s New Guy, introduced in 2010, is made with one kind of hops, Columbus, which has a citrusy flavor that is more subtle than the hops in most new IPAs. Courtesy photo

The New Guy IPA poured slightly cloudy and medium gold, with a head that was slightly off-white and stiff. The aroma wasn’t strong, but the beer had a nice hops flavor without being extreme, and seemed completely dry. The beer was definitely unfiltered, because there seemed to be hops or yeast dust resting on the head as we drank the beer.

Checking the company website, I found that the New Guy isn’t that new, as it came out in 2010. It’s brewed with only one kind of hops, Columbus, and only one malt. The website says Columbus has a citrusy flavor that is more subtle than the hops in most new IPAs.

I just feel slightly ashamed and disappointed that it took me three years to find this beer.

Nancy and I both thought it was wonderfully refreshing after a long day spent gardening and mowing in hot and humid weather.

I WENT INTO the Portland & Rochester Public House a while back just because it is new and had Bunker Brewing Co.’s new Session IPA, which I think is called The Steady on Bunker’s Facebook page.

This seems like what a lot more people are looking for in their beers: Lots of flavor but not a lot of alcohol. It’s about 4.5 percent alcohol and has a lot of hops bite, but also quite a bit of malt without much sweetness. It’s a very good beer.

Bunker keeps changing its menu faster than a single person can keep up with — making one batch, selling it until it runs out. You have to find its beers on tap at local breweries, or by stopping by the Bunker brewery at 122 Anderson St. in East Bayside. The hours are usually 5 to 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

Brewer Chresten Sorenson has probably brewed a lot of beers that I have missed, which is why I have a rule to order any Bunker beer when I find it on tap. I have yet to be disappointed.

I also tasted Moat Mountain Czech pilsener while at Portland & Rochester. Steve Johnson’s Moat Mountain was started in North Conway, N.H., but before that, he worked at Cafe Brix in South Portland and started Federal Spice in Portland.

His Czech pilsener was clean, refreshing and wonderfully crisp, with quite a bit of maltiness and only 4.9 percent alcohol. Just exactly what a pilsener should be on a warm summer afternoon.

SEBAGO BREWING is looking for some volunteer help at its brewery, 48 Sanford Drive in Gorham, beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday.

The company is about to start brewing its Local Harvest Ale, a wonderful beer brewed with Maine hops and barley. But the locally grown hops comes in the form of flowers. And those flowers require picking and processing.

In return for their work, which the company promises will not be strenuous, volunteers will get a lunch, including some freshly brewed Sebago Beer.

Sebago will also be celebrating Octoberfest — and the release of the company’s Octoberfest beer — with a party under a tent at the brewery on Sept. 21.

The event will include music.

Admission is $20, which includes admission to the party, a 32-ounce stein and the first liter of beer, and it’s $12 extra for the German food.

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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