Maine is continuing its love affair with locally made beer, as a number of new breweries either recently opened or are in the works.

I contacted officials of two of them this week.

David Cooke opened Shag Rock Brewing Co. at his restaurant, Amalfi on the Water in Rockland, last fall shortly after moving his restaurant — which had been open for nine years — to a new, larger location.

While trying to figure out what to do with the extra space, he purchased a two-barrel brewing system that had been used by Bar Harbor Brewing and found a brewer looking for a position.

“Rich Ruggerio was looking to brew beer again,” Cooke said. “He had done it for quite a while at Rocky Bay Brewing,” also in Rockland.

So far, Shag Rock has brewed six beers and sold them only at the restaurant: an IPA, a Belgian, a farmhouse ale, a winter beer, a stout and a golden. They are planning to brew just beers that he and Ruggerio like.

“We aren’t brewing a pale ale because everyone else has one,” Cooke said. He added that he is licensed to sell growlers, but hasn’t done it yet because he wants to create a tag that will tell people the rules for returning and refilling them.

He also said they might do a little bit of bottling in the future, but has no definite timetable.

The restaurant’s website is amalfionthewater.com. 

In Newcastle, just a little closer to Portland, Geoff Masland and Tim Adams have opened Oxbow Brewing Co., with plans to have their first offerings for sale next month.

Adams, who has 10 years of home-brewing experience, is director of brewing operations, and Masland is director of business operations.

They are going to be brewing Belgian farmhouse-style ales, partly because the brewery is located in a renovated barn on an 18-acre property, and partly because that is the kind of beer they like.

“I just love the style in general, and we think it will speak to the consumers because there isn’t a lot of beer like it being brewed in New England,” Adams said.

The brewery will be getting its water from an aquifer right below the building. To start, it will make Original Saison, a traditional Belgian/French farmhouse ale; Farmhouse Pale Ale, a traditional saison and American West Coast IPA hybrid; and Oxbow Freestyle, inspired by the season and the brewer’s whim.

At first, the beer will be sold in kegs only and hand-delivered to bars around the state. Masland does not have any firm contracts, but hopes to begin by selling all around the midcoast and in the Portland market. 

Both Oxbow and Shag Rock will be attending the Craft Beer Comes to Boothbay event put on by the Maine Brewers’ Guild from 1 to 4 p.m. July 30 at the Boothbay Resort, 301 Adams Pond Road. Oxbow will have beer if it has received all of its state licenses in time.

I’ll give the details of the event in a couple of weeks, including some information about the new brewery at Boothbay Resort.

Tom Atwell can be contacted at 791-6362 or at:

tatwell@pressherald.com

 

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