First Look at the Expanded Maine Beer Company

When was the last time you were in the Maine Beer Company tasting room? Was it crowded and loud, filled with people standing shoulder to shoulder at the bar or taking up every available seat? I love their beer, but at times it was evident this popular Freeport brewery had long outgrown its space. 

Fortunately, the tasting room expansion is complete, with a 6,000 sq. ft. light-filled space with a wood-fired pizza oven and a water fountain. The new space is open to the public now, but the official grand opening is Saturday, March 9th.

The new tasting room was built where the old production space was, and the beer is now brewed in a newly-constructed warehouse out back that has room for a huge brewing system, bottling line, and a quality control lab. The old tasting room will be used for private parties and overflow seating.

 

The pizza oven is tucked in a corner between the tasting room and the patio, churning out pizza from Parker Auger, who most recently operated the Kind Stack Sandwich Co. food cart. 

I didn't have any pizza on this visit (regret!) but will certainly be back to enjoy some crisp beers and some scrumptious pizza in the very near future. 

Pro tip: the entrance to the tasting room is now in through this black barn-like structure—for which the series of taproom-only experimental brews is named.

Head on over to Route One in Freeport and check out this new beauty of a taproom at Maine Beer Company that is worthy of all the attention that this brewery has achieved.