The local beer world is getting busy, so I will do a few short items this week.
• Joseph’s By the Sea on West Grand Avenue in Old Orchard Beach will hold a beer dinner featuring Alan Pugsley’s Signature series of Shipyard beers at 3 p.m. Sunday.
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Cost is $45 a person, plus 7 percent tax and 20 percent gratuity.
The menu will include Shipyard Summer Ale with clam fritters and truffle risotto purses; XXXX IPA with Bangs Island mussels and smoked salmon cream; Double Old Thumper paired with veal kielbasa and sauerkraut perogies; Imperial Porter with braised beef, potato pancakes and chili oil; and Blue Fin Stout with chocolate mousse tart, passion fruit and Vincotto.
For reservations, call 934-5044 or email jbts@josephsbythesea.com.
• The Market at Pineland Farms, located in the welcome center at 15 Farm View Drive, will have a tasting from 3 to 6 p.m. April 14 featuring the beers of Rising Tide Brewing Co. in Portland.
Brian K. Mailhot, director of the market and welcome center, said Rising Tide brewer Nathan Sanborn will be bringing his two brews, Ursa Minor and Ishmael, and perhaps a third offering. To round out the tasting, Sanborn will select two other beers to be tasted.
• Jon Clegg, brewer with Sebago Brewing Co., is repeating his fundraiser for Trek Across Maine, a three-day, 180-mile bicycle ride that benefits the American Lung Association. The trek will be held June 17-19 starting at Sunday River and ending in Belfast.
Sebago’s Brewing for a Cause event lets participants pay $125, which also benefits the American Lung Association, and spend 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 7 creating a batch of Trekker Pale Ale at the brewery. Participants will get a case of the Trekker Pale Ale when it is ready for consumption.
Clegg was unavailable to comment because his wife just had twins, so Elise Loschiavo, marketing manager for Sebago, provided more information.
“Some of the participants have been a part of the ride in the past, but it is not a requirement,” Loschiavo said. “It’s just a fun day for people interested in the brewing process that happens to be for a good cause.”
Tickets went on sale last Friday, and they sold out last year, so act quickly. You can go to sebagobrewing.com, click on the calendar, then click on May 7 to register. Or, contact Clegg at 856-2537 or jon@sebagobrewing.com.
• Allagash Brewing Co. has collaborated with New Belgium Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colo., to produce Vrienden, a new ale brewed with dandelions and elderberries.
But if you don’t have any yet, you are probably going to have to find a friend who has some.
It was supposed to go on sale at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Since part of the profits go to Friends of Casco Bay — and when I am wearing my gardening hat, I am a friend of Friends of Casco Bay — I showed up at 8:45 a.m. to buy some. The line was already going through quickly, and it looks like the 1,500 bottles available will disappear before this column appears.
The beer is brewed with Allagash’s Brettanomyces yeast and New Belgian’s Lactobacillus to produce a beer that is tart, fruity and earthy. It costs $10 a bottle. I’ll open one of my two bottles over the weekend and give a report next week.
Staff Writer Tom Atwell can be contacted at 791-6362 or at:
tatwell@pressherald.com
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