6 Best Sights in Portland, Maine

Relax in the tasting room or on the patio and soak up the buzz on this block of Fox Street, peering up to Munjoy Hill. Ales like the Original Maine and the selection of IPAs—sessions, double, and traditional—are all on tap, and cans are also available of favorites like Austin Street’s saison, Moses. Another location is found in the warehouse on Industrial Way in the Riverton neighborhood, alongside Allagash, Foundation, and Battery Steele Breweries.

The latest addition to the warehouse on Industrial Way filled with three quite-good breweries, Battery Steele started in an old barn in South Portland and has since moved to these well-trafficked digs. The tasting room offers a roster of rotating brews on tap—usually 10 or so. Highlights include pours like the double IPA, Avalon, and sours (if it’s available, try a glass of Enjoy The Ride).

A laid-back brewery with a focus on IPAs and sour ales, Fore River has plenty of brews to sample and plenty to do while hanging at the fire pit, playing corn hole or dog frisbee (canines are welcome in the yard), or listening to live music. Specialties from various food trucks are here as well; call ahead or visit the website to see what trucks are scheduled. 

Cozy and friendly, the tasting room buzzes with regulars and visitors—most here to try new brews as well as downpours of old favorites like the light and citrusy Portland Pale Ale. The mezzanine-style tasting room overlooks the production area, and well-behaved and leashed dogs are welcome.

Local ingredients take the spotlight at this family-owned brewery, with sprawling indoor and patio spaces and even bigger list of seasonal creations (like blueberry sour ales and Marzen-style lagers) and year-round beers like Ishmael, a malty and sweet ale. There's also wine and kombuchas on offer.

When owner (and self-titled “boochmaster”) Reid Emmerich looked around Portland and realized that lots of locals were drinking kombucha but none of it was being made locally, he set his sights on fixing that in 2018. These days the funky tasting room-cum-brewery (it’s technically licensed as the latter, since all kombucha contains at least a small amount of alcohol) gets filled with fans in to try Emmerich’s latest flavors—which change with whatever ingredients are in season, since he forages many of them himself—and hang out with fellow boochlovers in the process.