Happy Cinco de Mayo! A year ago I took a trip to Portland, Maine for a long weekend with friends and fell in love with the city and craft beer scene. Today I’ve decided to share with you the walking beer tour map I made and followed while visiting and I’ll also include some other breweries we stopped by during our trip! The weather was a bit chilly towards the beginning of May, but I can imagine Portland being absolutely beautiful in the summer time. The city was walkable and there was no shortage of breweries.

Before our trip I mapped out a bunch of breweries I wanted to visit and my friend ended up printing and laminating the map for our scheduled walking beer tour. The map is a bit messy, but pictured below. We started off taking a cab from our hotel and went to the furthest brewery first and then slowly made our way back towards where we were staying.

Here’s a breakdown of the places we visited!

Stop 1: Long Pine Brewing Co. We started off each getting a flight here. The location is small, but since we got there on the earlier side we had our choice of tables. There were some board games to play and the flights came in the cutest repurposed ski holders. The beers were good and I enjoyed the overall space.

Stop 1.5: Urban Farm Fermentory On our walk to stop 2, it was rainy and we came across Urban Farm Fermentory. It looked cool so we figured we’d stop in since we didn’t have any time constraints. Their drink selection was pretty huge and it wasn’t limited to beers! There was also cider, mead, and kombucha. We picked a bunch of different things to try and enjoyed some of the funkier drinks. The space was large and just like stop 1, very chill. You’ll find I say that about a lot of the places we stopped by!

Stop 2: Rising Tide Brewing Co. We hustled our way over to Rising Tide after stop 1.5 because we wanted to make the free 1pm brewery tour. We made it just in time and it was very interesting to learn about not just this expanding brewery, but also the brewing industry in Portland as a whole. It was nice to hear the local breweries all support one another. After the tour, we grabbed some flights and a snack from the food truck they had on-site. The space isn’t too large, but opens up to an outdoor area that would be nice on a warm day.

Stop 3: Oxbow Blending & Bottling Not the brewery, but a home to Oxbow’s beers. My friends and I grabbed one of the many picnic tables indoors and spent some time trying different tasters of their beers. A cool space that had an Oyster fundraiser going on at the time. They had a lot of interesting beers and now I always get excited seeing Oxbow locally. Afterwards we were a bit hungry so we stopped for a late lunch break at Silly’s (a fun spot with many vegetarian & vegan options that a local friend recommended).

Stop 4: Shipyard Brewing Co. By the time we made it here they were unfortunately closed. I’ve had some of their beers before and was a little disappointed I wasn’t able to visit this trip, but more reason to go back!

Stop 5: Sebago Brewing Co. The last stop on the map I made up. It also happened to be our least favorite. It was definitely more restaurant than brewery which after so many good spaces seemed like a bit of a letdown. We each got a flight and the beers were alright, but it was crowded and we didn’t stay too long.

We did have the opportunity to visit a few other places while were in town and here’s some honorable mentions:

Allagash Brewing If you drink craft beer, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Allagash. Their brewery is a close drive from the main part of Portland and 100% worth the trip. The beer tasting is free and you get a tasting of four beers of their choosing. The bartender I spoke with said they rotate the selection pretty regularly. There was no time for us to take a tour, but I would definitely want to check it out next visit since they have a pretty large facility.

Bissel Brothers Even further from town, but a popular craft brewery. They had a bunch of beers on tap to choose from, but unfortunately no beers to take home the day we visited. The space was large with live music and food trucks on premise. A fun, colorful space!

Liquid Riot Bottling Co. My friend really wanted to visit a distillery, so we found ourselves here one night. A very interesting place I wish I could’ve spent more time in. The double IPA I had was impressive.

Lincoln’s Not a brewery, but I had to mention this speakeasy named for my favorite president. A bit hard to find, everything is $5 here, and it’s got a dark, cool vibe inside. I even got a t-shirt for $5!

I really enjoyed my trip to Portland and there’s even more breweries I didn’t get the chance to visit. Hopefully I’ll get back there again soon so I can make a part two post. And if you want any food or activity recommendations I have them, but this is a beer blog after all. If you are planning a trip to Portland, just ask and I’ll be happy to help!