2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Shipyard Brewing Company, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #22)

2015 BEER DISCOVERY TOUR: Shipyard Brewing Company, Portland, ME (July 3rd, Brewery Stop #22) The 22nd brewery visited during our cross-country beer discovery tour (click to read about the whole trip) was Shipyard Brewing Company in Portland Maine. We made our way down the coast to Portland and did a little site seeing and then grabbed a bite to eat at a great restaurant near the main historic area of town. We decided to stop at a few breweries in this part of town first before exploring out into the suburbs. Shipyard is one of the larger production facilities in Portland and they have a great selection of beers. The brewery has a large swag and merchandise area, tasting room, and provides brewery tours year round. They don’t have any food on site and the tasters are done in large groups for FREE. Yes, you read that correctly, FREE. Not many breweries do this, and it’s a great way to gain loyal customers. There is truly nothing better than “free as in beer”. The tasting area is like a small bar with just a few seats and mostly standing room only. We were able to sample some of their beers …

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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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