What’s New This Summer on The Maine Brew Bus
We have changed a lot of things on our tours for the busy season here in Maine. It truly would be much easier on us to not make so many changes. But we ask our guests, staff, and partners for feedback on our tours and schedules with an eye for us to make improvements.
We review that information weekly, but twice a year we look at our entire schedule and evaluate each of our tours. We meet with our partners to share the data and comments about their particular business, and how our visits can be improved for our guests.
In the summer, there are more people around Greater Portland every day. We create new tour offerings to connect our guests to great local craft beer, wine, and spirits. The tours are designed to create amazing experiences to truly bring our guests behind-the-scenes to learn more about each company than you would by simply visiting a tasting room.
We also are still seeing many new businesses open each year. We generally meet with these new producers before they open to the public. And with our stated goal to visit as many producers of craft alcohol as possible, they often end up on our tours as soon as they are ready to show our guests a great experience. .
There are so many new pieces to what we are doing, it seemed that it might be helpful to list them all in one place.
Here are just some of the “new” things you can see on board our tours this summer and fall.
New Itineraries
Check out these brand new tour itineraries connecting more people to more great local producers of craft alcohol in Southern Maine.
Best of Portland and Taste the Town – These tours run Monday through Thursday, now with double the number of tours available for booking. Generally, the Best of Portland (11:00 am and 12:30 pm) tour visits a mix of breweries along with wineries and distilleries. The Taste the Town (2:30 pm and 4:00 pm) tour is an afternoon tour that visits only breweries. Learn more…
Not Your Average Wine Tour – This brand new Saturday afternoon tour visits three different producers of wine that is made from grapes, honey, and rhubarb. These products are also gluten-free, making this a perfect option for individuals and group looking for something other than beer. Learn more…
Northern Exposure – Our new Sunday morning tour is really a totally new experience. It visits Maine Beer Company before they open to the public (see below), Flight Deck Brewing which is just over one year old, and the brand new Moderation Brewing Company in Brunswick. Learn more…
New Stops
Many new places have opened up in the past few months, we have added several of them right into our tour schedule. Be among the first to discover the next big name to come out of Maine!
Goodfire Brewing – Nestled behind Lone Pine Brewing in East Bayside is Goodfire Brewing Company. They have made an early name for themselves for their hoppy beers, but our Monday afternoon Taste the Town tour learns more about head brewer Gordon Jones’ passion for lagers and other styles. Learn more…
Definitive Brewing – The newest brewery in Portland is located across the street from Allagash Brewing, and next to the three breweries that call One Industrial Way home. You know that they will be turning out great beers, especially when you learn on our Wednesday afternoon Taste the Town tour that their head brewer also worked at two very well-known Maine breweries. Learn more…
eighteen twenty wines – In Maine, wine has traditionally been made from much more than grapes. This Portland company produces wine from a crop more closely associated with pies – rhubarb. Learn about their wine styles and blends, along with their hard cider products. Learn more…
Moderation Brewing – Brunswick’s newest brewery opened in early 2018 in an 1800’s building located right downtown. Our visit on the Sunday Northen Exposure tour discovers the unique styles and varieties of beer that are being turned out by this young company. Learn more…
Blue Lobster Wine Company – Located in the bustling East Bayside area of Portland, Blue Lobster has brought canned and keg wine to the forefront. Currently sourcing wine from the West Coast to bring into the state, our Tuesday Best of Portland tours have learned about their future plans to bring their own grapes into Portland for the fermentation into wine. Learn more…
New Access
We try to give our guests unprecedented look behind-the-scenes of our partners, many of which do not offer formal scheduled tours. Here are just of a few of the highlights that our guests will enjoy for access on our tours.
Maine Beer Company – This long-time guest favorite brewery is now the first stop on our new Sunday morning Northern Exposure tour. This timing means we get to visit them before they open to the public for the day. We might even take a look at their massive new brewing operations building, something they have never previously been able to do. Learn more…
Sebago Brewing – This 20-year-old company now has a brand new destination brewery to visit in Gorham. We now have a complete all-access tour of this amazing facility, with beers available throughout our visit. And on our Saturday Casco Fiasco tour, this brewery serves as a lunch stop – with wood-fired pizzas and more made to order for our guests. Learn more…
Barreled Souls – Last year, Barreled Souls opened a production brewery just up Route One from their 4-year old original tasting room location. Our Southern Crawl tour now often visits both places – featuring a private tour with tasty pours at the new space, and a choose your own beer in the basement tasting room. Learn more…
Bissell Brothers – This very popular brewery is now visited three times every weekend, and always before they open to the public! Our guests often get to tour the brewhouse, enjoy the first tastes of whatever is new on tap that day, and learn about how this brewery has grown so rapidly. Learn more…
New Options
These tours to local breweries, wineries, and more feature methods of travel other than by bus. Find these unique tour offerings under our Maine Beer Tours designation.
Brews Cruise – Enjoy a brewery tour not by land, but by sea! Perfect for larger groups, we hop aboard a vessel from our partners from Portland Harbor Water Tours to enjoy a harbor cruise and a stop at a local brewery. Then back aboard the boat to return to Portland and another stop at a legendary Portland brewery. Learn more…
Port City Running Brew Tour – Our tour groups lace up their sneakers and hit the road for a leisurely run to three great local stops. In partnership with Port City Running Tours, we run first and drink after as we learn more about the role Portland has played in brewing in Maine. Learn more…
Bike and Brews – If you’d prefer to bicycle around scenic Portland to visit breweries, we have that option for you too! Featuring route of 3-miles and 10-miles, these guided tours at a leisurely pace are designed to use multi-use paths and bicycle lanes that conveniently allow us to visit great stops. Learn more…
Walk, Talk, and Taste – It’s a brand new way to visit Portland breweries – a walking tour focusing on the history of beer in Portland. Hit the bricks with our knowledgeable guide and learn much more about the birthplace of Prohibition as you visit three remarkable breweries for tastes. Learn more…
New Staff
In order to accomplish all of these new initiatives, we have added 10 people to our tour operations team.
You will find many interesting backgrounds of the folks that are driving and guiding your tours – including commercial brewers, military veterans, engineers, beer sales reps, teachers and educators, and even people that are planning to open their own breweries in Maine!
Learn more about our new team members in future staff profiles.
Hop on Board!
We are excited to show you all of these new parts of our tours. We invite you to hop on board and let us show you why we love Driving You to Drink Local!
Check out our full tour schedule here!
