We drove straight to Shipyard as soon as we got into the city, making the 3pm tour by a minute. Shipyard's tour was free and started off with a Jibber-Jabesque video, followed by a quick tour of the facilities. It was big, not Redhook big, but larger Smuttynose for sure. We also spied boxes for the other beer they brew - Peak Organic, Seadog, etc. (These guys really do brew every beer in Maine!) The last 20 minutes were in the tasting room, where we got generous samples of four of their beers, which it turns out we mostly drank down in Kennebunk.
Our tour guide was pretty awful commenting at some point that she doesn't really like beer and drink wine. But the beer was free. We also learned some interesting stories. The master brewer for Shipyard learned in Britain and brought back a recipe for non-traditional English bitter ale. Shipyard is the only brewery licensed to brew the recipe and they can't even put their logo on it. That's why there's a big ol' wort-hog on the label and no sign on Shipyard. It's damn fine beer and thankfully can be found back home at my local liquor store.
Next stop was Sea Dog Brewpub whose mascot is an awfully cute puppy with a sailor's yellow rain-hat. Their restaurant is a chain; there's a few locations in Maine and their South Portland location certainly felt a bit chainy and was located in a strip-mall, surrounded by a parking lot.
The beer there was certainly geared towards the masses. The beer list was pretty extensive with 10 different beers in the tasting for just $10. Some struck us as silly (Blue Paw Wheat Ale and Rasberry Wheat) and others were well done (Owls Head Light Ale and Old East India Pale Ale). The spinach dip was superb however and happy hour specials were just $3 a pint.
On to Sebago. You might think we couldn't drink any more beer, but oh, we could. We found ourselves a little unable to eat, but we happily downed some excellent beer. Chris and Adrian had the Stout aged in a bourbon cask, while Colleen and I opted for something lighter: Hefeweizen and Runaround Red.
While posting a gorgeous picture of the stout on facebook I noticed an update from a friend that lives in Rhode Island and whose couch I, once upon a time, crashed on for a summer.
"Jodie Goodnough is in Portland. Maine, I've missed you so."
I called. Our conversation was something like this:
Hey are you in Portland?
Yeah.
I'm in Portland.
No way.
What are you doing?
Eating dinner.
Where? I'm eating dinner.
I looked up to see Jodie in the doorway. She was downstairs at the same restaurant.
So I guess we picked the right place to end the night.
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