2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery, Rockland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #21)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery, Rockland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #21) The 21st brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery in Rockland Maine. Once we left the quaint town of Belfast, we headed south towards Portland, with a few stops along the way. The first stop was in Rockland ME at Rock Harbor Brewing. As our guide Eric had never been there, we were excited to give it a try. The pub and brewery is located along the main street through downtown, on-street parking only so you may have to walk a bit like we did as it was pretty busy in downtown when we were there just past lunch time. As you can see, the brewing kettles and such are located just inside, you can see them working during certain times of day brewing beer which is cool. We ended up sitting in the bar side of the restaurant in the window seats as there were not many tables open. As we were just staying for drinks, I ordered a set of tasters from the bartender and off we went. …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #20)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #20) The 20th brewery visited during the cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was the Marshall Wharf Brewing Company in Belfast Maine. After a full day of driving north, we arrived late at our hosts Eric and Deanna’s house in rural Maine (just outside of Belfast). We ended up sleeping in a little bit and drove into Belfast to walk around the harbor a little bit and find some lunch. While it’s a small quaint town, there are a few really good restaurants by the waterfront in downtown Belfast, and we were able to try a few of them. When we discovered this brewery, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that they specialize in one-off beers. They do offer some smaller plates and sandwiches from the Three Tides Restaurant (as you can see on their chalkboard), but we just wanted to try their beer. As you can see from the pictures, the brewery is sort of tucked out of the way next to the restaurant and parking lot in the ‘basement’ of a larger building. Some of the brew kettles …

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2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR, Portland OR to Portland ME and back… 24 June-9 July, 2015

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR, Portland OR to Portland ME and back…7800 miles later… From late June to early July 2015 I was lucky enough to go on a cross country road trip with Gary and our nephew Devin. We drove my car from Portland Oregon to Portland Maine in just about three weeks. We took a ‘central US’ path East and came back taking a more northern passage. Regarding where we went each day, we made it to about 40 breweries and a handful of tap-houses, bars, and brewpubs to find local beers and food along the way. While the long distance driving was challenging some days (10+ hrs at a time), we really enjoyed the trip with it’s the ever-changing scenery and wonderful cities, towns, and people we met. Before leaving on the trip, we gathered and then took a couple of cases of local specialty beers for our friend Rusty in Pittsburgh. The sucky part was that while we wanted the beers to not get ruined by the heat, we ended up unloading and reloading it a LOT as we stopped each night. This is a valuable learning experience, to stick to mailing stuff like beer and wine, …

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