Jonathan, left, and Alan Hines plan to start work in January to transform the former Stones Cafe and Bakery buildings in North Yarmouth to a brewery and tasting room that will also serve food. Contributed / Sam Heath
Two brothers hope to start construction in January on a brewery and tasting room at the old Stones Cafe buildings in North Yarmouth and have it open by early summer.
Alan and Jonathan Hines say their Trudy Bird Brewing Co. is the result of “falling in love with craft beer again” once they settled in Portland after relocating from Georgia 10 years ago.
“It just reignited our passion for it and we always knew we wanted to go into business together,” Alan Hines said. ” This project has been about four or five years in the making now.”
They bought the property, on the market for two months, for $593,000. They plan to convert the main house, where the Stones Cafe bakery was located, into a tasting room. The barn will become the brewhouse.
Their beer is inspired by those of other breweries such as Maine’s Oxbow Brewing, Odd Alewives and Sasanoa Brewing, Hines said. While they will be focusing on beers similar to the Saison style because of the “easy drinking,” they will also produce IPAs and a variety of other options.
The menu will offer food unique to the area, he said, rather than usual brewery options like burgers and fish tacos.
“The business is outfitted with a fully stocked kitchen, which we will take full advantage of, and this was a major draw when deciding to move forward with the property,” Hines said. “Alongside our beer we want our food to share equal spotlight. We do have a cuisine in mind that we are beyond excited about, but will keep it on the hush-hush for the time being.”
The brothers settled on North Yarmouth for their business after searching “from West Scarborough to Otisfield to Bridgton” for a property that would fit their vision, Hines said. With Brickyard Hollow to the south in Yarmouth and others to the east in Freeport, Trudy Bird Brewing Co. will be the only brewery in North Yarmouth.
According to Maine Brewers Guild, as of last year, there are 155 breweries operating in the state, with about 50 of them in Cumberland County. In total, breweries in Maine contributed about $260.4 million to the economy in 2017 and created 2,560 jobs, according to a 2019 economic impact study by the University of Maine and the brewers guild.
The brothers hope their brewery will create some buzz for North Yarmouth and possibly attract other businesses to the village.
They hope their new brewery will be a place that people feel comfortable to “hang out and relax with friends and family.”
“North Yarmouth is generally a quiet community,” Jonathan Hines said. “We want people to be proud of us being there. Our big goal is to have North Yarmouth welcome us there and be happy we’re here.”
Alan Hines, now restaurant manager in Saco, and Jonathan Hines, a registered nurse at Maine Medical Center, both plan to make Trudy Bird their full-time job once construction kicks off.
The name of their new brewery in North Yarmouth holds special meaning to the brothers.
“Trudy Bird was a nickname given to our maternal grandmother,” Alan Hines said. “She was a beautiful person whose kindness would’ve gone unmatched in today’s society and was someone who we did not get to know as well as we’d like while growing up. Naming our business Trudy Bird is a way to honor her and keep her in our thoughts.”
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