While Portland recently topped Food & Wine magazine’s list of the best small cities in the country for food and drink, amazing culinary experiences abound statewide. Sipping and supping is a focal point for millions of Maine tourists. So why not explore some of the treasures on offer during your own staycation this year?

Many of the state’s small-batch, craft food producers — cheesemakers, vintners, brewers, oyster farmers — already have handy self-guided “trails” blazed, so visitors can easily find and sample the goods at hundreds of locations. Here are a few suggestions for a few stops along each established trail, along with an unofficial craft pizza path that’s well worth pioneering.

CHEESE

Maine’s small-batch artisanal cheesemakers have been growing in number and quality for decades, with some winning awards at major international competitions in recent years.

The state’s more than 80 licensed cheesemakers use local cow, goat and sheep milk in a wide array of styles. Most belong to the Maine Cheese Guild, which maintains a map of all the member creameries and farm operations on its website. The creameries and farms that produce cheese typically sell their goods at on-site farm stands, and often offer farm tours, a delightful chance to revel in Maine’s rich rural heritage this summer. Here are three standouts to get you started:

Fuzzy Udder Creamery

35 Townhouse Road, Whitefield. fuzzyudder.com

Fuzzy Udder sources premium milk from local farms, including cow’s milk from Grace Pond Farm in Thomaston, goat’s milk from Pumpkin Vine Family Farm in Somerville, and, when available, sheep’s milk from Three Charm Farm in Alfred. It is believed to be the state’s sole three-milk creamery.

Fuzzy Udder is known for its Polar Vortex cow’s milk blue cheese, as well as its Gournay-style spreadable vache; Frost Heave, a goat’s-milk butterscotch-y Gouda; and Small Craft Advisory, its buttery, earthy brie.

Kennebec Cheesery

795 Pond Road, Sidney. kennebeccheesery.com

Now in its 18th year, Kennebec Cheesery specializes in goat cheeses made from the milk of about 60 dairy goats that graze on 30 acres of pastures and hay fields at Koons Farm.

Kennebec produces a variety of goat’s milk cheeses, including chevre; Welsh-style Caerphilly; brie-like Snow Pond; Alpine-style Sugarloaf; salty feta; and creamy, washed-rind Quaker Hill. Koons also sometimes uses cow’s milk from nearby Woodside Farm. Their washed rind cow’s milk fontina, Old Speck, won Best in Show in the 2022 Maine Cheese Awards.

Crooked Face Creamery

42 Court St., Skowhegan. crookedfacecreamery.com

You’d be remiss not to include Crooked Face on a tour of Maine cheesemakers. After all, the esteemed creamery’s ricotta was recently named one of the world’s best cheeses.

Crooked Face took home a Super Gold medal at the World Cheese Awards in Switzerland last November for its plain whole milk ricotta, while their applewood smoked ricotta earned a bronze. (Food & Wine magazine also put the applewood smoked ricotta atop their list of 25 Essential American Cheeses this March.)

While you’re at Crooked Face, visit adjacent Maine Grains to pick up local grains, beans and pantry items, and grab a bite at The Miller’s Table, a farm-to-table bakery and café serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

WINE

Cold climate and acidic, slow-draining soil make Maine an unlikely place to grow grapes and produce wine. But the state’s nearly 30 wineries have found effective work-arounds. Some import grapes from other growing regions; others use Maine-friendly fruits like blueberries, raspberries, pears and rhubarb; and some plant cold-hardy hybrid varietals, like Marquette and Frontenac.

In 2008, the Maine Winery Guild organized the Maine Wine Trail, a self-guided tour of the state’s wineries — some of which also produce distilled spirits, meads and ciders — and their tasting rooms. The Maine Wine Trail website also has a printable map and “passport” that helps you keep track of visits and rewards your progress. These three stops will take you through Androscoggin, Waldo and Knox counties:

WillowsAwake Winery

10 Leeds Junction Road, Leeds. willowsawake.com

Owners Tony and Brenda Lyons established their 8-acre Androscoggin County vineyard in 2018. WillowsAwake offers vineyard tours and wine tastings, and No. 10 eatery, the year-round farmhouse restaurant on the property, serves upscale casual dishes designed to pair with the vineyard’s wines.

The winery has more than a dozen wines for sale, including a 2023 Rockless Red Frontenac; 2024 farm blend rosés and whites; and a 2025 blueberry wine.

Stone Tree Farm & Cidery

317 Albion Road, Unity. stonetreecidery.com

Stone Tree has about 35 wines in its stable, including reds, whites, rosés, fruit wines and fortified wines, and their tasting room also offers frozen wines. The property’s picnic grounds include 30 picnic tables and sometimes feature live music and food trucks.

While you’re in Unity, check out the Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm for a free tour and to pet some woolly camel cousins, or time your visit to coincide with an event at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners’ Common Ground Education Center.

Oyster River Winegrowers

929 Oyster River Road, Warren. oysterriverwine.com

Oyster River’s winemaker, Brian Smith, specializes in low-intervention wines and ciders made from fruit grown on their orchards or sourced from other growers in the region. In the summer, Oyster River opens its tasting room in the winery barn.

Most of the winery’s fermentations begin spontaneously with wild yeast, and their wines and ciders are unfiltered. Oyster River also recently launched a low-abv (5.5%) canned white wine spritz. Called Misty, the spritz undergoes a second ferment in the can, and the process creates tiny, frothy bubbles like in a bottle-conditioned ale.

OYSTERS

Oenophiles know all about the concept of terroir, or how the soil, sunlight and climate where grapes are grown affect the taste and character of the wine they produce. For oyster lovers, it’s all about merroir — how oysters’ particular underwater conditions make them briny or sweet, crisp or creamy, vegetal, mineral or metallic.

In 2017, the Maine Aquaculture Association and Maine Sea Grant partnered to establish the Maine Oyster Trail, featuring more than 80 of the state’s roughly 150 oyster farms. The trail’s website includes handy interactive maps, trip planners and passports. Here are three Midcoast and Downeast farms to start with:

OystHERS Sea Farm and OystHERS Raw Bar & Bubbly

208 West Georgetown Road, Georgetown, and 97 Commercial St., Bath. oysthers.com

OystHERS is one of Maine’s growing number of woman-owned oyster farms, founded in 2018 by Sadia Crosby. Her farm in the island’s Robinhood Cove produces oysters that the Maine Oyster Co. describes as “sweet, with a slow-fading, watermelon-like finish.”

You can pre-purchase their oysters and arrange to pick them up at the farm, but you’ll have so much more fun visiting OystHERS Raw Bar and Bubbly in Bath, which Crosby opened with her sister, Lauren, in 2023. The bar serves up Crosby’s oysters alongside other Maine-farmed halfshells, delectable seafood dishes and plenty of sparkling wine to pair it all with.

Community Shellfish Co.

656 Waldoboro Road, Bremen. communityshellfish.com

Situated at the mouth of the Medomak River, Community Shellfish is a genuine working waterfront on the Midcoast, selling and distributing seafood sourced from local harvesters. Their oyster farm offers tours that you can book through the Community Shellfish website.

Community Shellfish’s flagship oyster, the Cora Cressy, is named for a 1902 ship — built in Bath — that is scuttled next to their oyster lease. Cora Cressy oysters are briny and sweet with a subtle seaweed finish, though Community Shellfish offers two varietals: Mainesails have a rounded shell and crisp taste, while Benthos are bottom-finished for a richer flavor and a distinctive green shell.

Pemetic Sea Farms

413 Water St., Ellsworth. pemeticseafarms.com

This Downeast oyster farm is located in Union River Bay. The micro-algae in the waters make their signature oyster, American Beauty, plump, sweet and briny, while growing them in a water column rather than the sea bed gives them a clean, fresh finish.

Pemetic Sea Farms offers farm tours on weekends throughout the summer, led by owners John and Annie Noll, credentialed experts on the subject of oyster farming. Their tours begin in Ellsworth and head across Union River Bay — with views of Acadia National Park’s mountains — to their farm site in Surry.

BEER

For decades, Maine has had a reputation as a craft beer-lover’s paradise. The state is second only to Vermont in the number of breweries per capita, and local breweries regularly rake in top honors at prestigious national and international competitions.

The Maine Brewers’ Guild launched the Maine Beer Trail in 2009 with 25 breweries. Today, there’s more than 100 breweries on the sudsy path. Get your passport through the guild’s site, and earn reward credits for each stop. These three breweries can get you started with both town and country visits, along with delicious local food to sustain your travels:

Sidereal Farm Brewery

772 Cross Hill Road, Vassalboro. siderealfarm.me

Located on a 22-acre regenerative organic farm that grows many of its ingredients, Sidereal produces a wide variety of beverages, including hard cider, mead, wine and 600 barrels of craft beer a year. Sidereal’s broad roster of brews include Belgian saisons, fruited sour ales, hazy pale ales, imperial stouts and IPAs, all poured from a dozen rotating taps.

The property also houses Maillard Kitchen, chef-brewer-owner Justin Amaral’s locally sourced, open-fire restaurant, so you can enjoy a comforting meal thoughtfully paired with Sidereal’s beverages.

Baxter Brewing Co.

130 Mill St., Lewiston. baxterbrewing.com

Baxter launched its brewery in Lewiston in 2011, then opened an adjoining restaurant, The Pub — next door in Lewiston Bates Mill — in 2018. The impressive and roomy, high-ceilinged space features a horseshoe-shaped bar and a full menu of beer-friendly dishes. Tap offerings rotate, and may include their flagship Stowaway IPA; Coastal Haze; Blueberry Ale; and, perhaps the perfect choice for an in-state road trip, Staycation Land lager.

Baxter is also one of a growing number of Maine breweries producing THC-infused beverages, for those seeking an alt buzz.

Oxbow Brewing Co.

274 Jones Woods Road, Newcastle. oxbowbeer.com

Oxbow’s flagship brewery is housed in a converted barn tucked into a forest between the bended rivers that lent the operation its name. Oxbow specializes in Belgian-style farmhouse ales, saisons, biere de gardes and mixed-fermentation beers, made with spring water drawn from an artesian well next to the brewery.

The Newcastle tasting room serves a rotating selection of beer along with light snacks. Foodies should take the opportunity to dine at The Alna Store, an extraordinarily good farm-to-table restaurant less than 4 miles away.

PIZZA

Maine pizza makers don’t have their own guild, or anything nearly as organized as a trail. But they do have legions of fans, aficionados eager to debate the relative merits of one place’s thin and crispy crust vs. another’s thick and airy Sicilian-style, wood-fired vs. brick oven, or Italian vs. New England Greek-style. The Maine Kneading Conference lists multiple restaurants across the state as part of its Maine Craft Pizza initiative.

Biddeford has given Portland a run for its money in recent years as the putative pizza capital of Maine, and there are plenty of farther-flung pizzerias around the state proudly offering their distinctive takes. Forge your own pizza path, sampling the likes of crisp and cheesy-edged Detroit-style pies at Bangor Sandwich Co., wood-fired pizzas at Furbish Brewhouse & Eats in Rangeley or the thin-crust creations at Oysterhead Pizza in Damariscotta. Here are three more to enjoy:

Peng’s Pizza Pies

128 Main St., Biddeford. pengspizzapies.com

Since opening in food-crazy Biddeford in 2023, Peng’s quickly inserted itself into the ongoing debate over Maine’s best pies. Chef-owner Chris Daniels has landed on a hybrid style that’s complex in flavor yet remarkably light and digestible, incorporating the char-blistered crusts of New Haven pizza, thin and crispy textures of New York pizza and the leoparded bottoms of classic Neapolitan pies.

Fans of spicy heat won’t want to miss the Pistachio & Pickled Fresno pizza, their signature Thai-Mediterranean mashup.

The Cabin Restaurant

552 Washington St., Bath. cabinpizza.com

Located across from Bath Iron Works, this old-school, cash-only eatery has always prided itself on its pizza: The website proclaims The Cabin is home to “the only real hand-tossed pizza in Maine.”

Hyperbole aside, the 53-year-old Cabin has no shortage of die-hard fans who can’t get enough of the joint’s floppy, thick-crusted, abundantly topped pies. Those in the know swear by the white pizza with its garlic butter sauce.

Tinder Hearth

1452 Coastal Road, Brooksville. tinderhearth.com

This out-of-the-way artisanal bakery sells wood-fired bread and pastries on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. But their thin crust, wild yeast-leavened pizza brought them national attention: In 2023, The New York Times named Tinder Hearth among the “50 places in the United States that we’re most excited about right now.”

Pies include classics like cheese or pepperoni, as well as outside-the-box options like chile and garden mint, or lamb sausage and parsnip baba ganoush. Tinder Hearth serves its top-notch pizzas in the adjacent barn dining space. Reservations are strongly advised; the popular spot fills up fast, and other local dining options are scarce.