Burnt Timber Brewing and Tavern, Wolfeboro, NH

We visited Burnt Timber Brewing and Tavern this past September after hiking in the area. They opened this location in September of 2017. They have been brewing since 2015, but previously had just been distributing wholesale with no location to visit.

 

 

This is a 24 seat brewpub. A brewpub is basically a brewery that serves a full food menu. They brew in the basement and use a 1 barrel system, which is pretty small. That’s only 31 gallons of beer per batch.

 

 

They serve full pours as well as flights. We got 2 flights so we could try them all, and over lapped on a few samples.

 

Busty Farmhouse Blonde
ale with peaches and apricots     7%
A very strong Belgian taste, that stood out. Mark got a little bit of apricot flavor, Megan got more peach flavor, but mostly that belgian yeast flavor.

 

Wit Mountain Wit
wit with orange peel and coriander 4.5%
A very, very light beer with a hint of coriander.

 

 

Always Summer Saison
Key Lime inspired farmhouse ale     6.5%
This seemed to have more of a bitter lime flavor, or maybe too much lime, we did not like it. It could be that Key Lime gives such a different flavor than the lime we are used to.

 

Vanilla Chilla
vanilla cream session mead     5%
Very clear and very vanilla. The flavor was pretty straight forward and tasted like a vanilla cream mead.

 

 

Forest Fire Red
dry hopped red ale     5%
Light bodied red, malty and a touch sweet as a red should be, with a little extra flavor, from the dry hop we assume.

 

Dank-A-Sawrus Rex
original ipa     6.5%
A super opaque beer, smells super fruity. It is super light in body, no malt character or mouthfeel really, but is followed up by a nice, fruity hop profile. Pretty good ipa.

 

 

 

They have a small but varied menu with options. We just
ordered nachos because it was the middle of the afternoon.

 

Cool artwork on the wall

 

View of the lakes from our hike nearby

 

 

Hours

Monday – 4:00 – 10:00
Tuesday – Closed
Wednesday – Friday – 4:00 – 10:00
Saturday – 12:00 – 10:00
Sunday – 11:00 – 4:00

Lookout Farm Brewing and Cider Co, Natick, MA

 

Lookout Farm Brewing and Cider Company is located out in the suburbs of Natick, MA. We visited near the end of the summer with Megan’s sisters Heather, Sam and Sam’s fiancee Dustin.

It is one of the oldest operating farms in the USA, started in 1651. They have over 65,000 apple tree’s on their 180 acre farm. They grow 29 varieties of apples and have recently planted 14 varieties of hops.

 

 

They started making cider in 2015, we have tried a few varieties and liked them but never made it out for a visit. In 2017 they started making beer as well, and serve both out of their tap room on the farm.

 

They serve 8 oz and 16 oz pours as well as flights of four 4 oz pours. We all got flights to try as many styles as possible.

Beer

So Many Silos – kettle sour with guava and tangerine 5.4%
A kettle soured beer, tasted sour with a hint of fruit. Mark would have liked a little more fruit flavor but pretty good overall.

Super Yellow Pilsner – pilsner     5.6%
A regular Pilsner, not Mark’s favorite style but crisp and easy drinking, on point for the Pilsner style.

Hold Your Horses – neipa     6.3%
Listed as a New England IPA, but it did not look very hazy for a neipa, it was actually fairly clear. It was a decent ipa,  a little bit on the fruity hop side with a touch bitterness. It did not really come across as a neipa though, not hazy and not really ‘juicy’ like Mark expected from a neipa.

 

 

Harvest Day – IPA     6.5%
Decent ipa, a little bit malty with hop flavors more on the bitter side, a pretty good west coast style ipa.

Big Red Barn – red ale     6.1%
A red ale with a slightly darker flavor on the malt side, not sweet like Mark expected, a slightly interesting take on a red ale, a pretty good beer overall.

 

 

Ciders

Farmhouse – 5.2%

Megan and Sam said easy drinking, not too sweet, not too tart, not too dry. Heather said nothing really stood out about this cider.

Lazy summer – lemon grass and ginger     5.2%

Sweeter than the Farmhouse cider. Sam and Heather didn’t care for it, weren’t sure if it was too grassy for them, or if it was the ginger.

1st American Cherry –     5.5%

Good, with a cherry tartness to it. Nice aroma, and still very drinkable, everyone liked this one. At the time, cans were not available but if they had been, many would have gone home with us.

Row 7 – Heriloom blend     6.5%

More juicy, “like a jug of unfiltered (nonalcoholic) cider”. Everyone liked this as well. Sam said it was crisp, like biting into and apple.

They serve food as well, wings, pizza etc, but
we didn’t get anything.

They also had cans of beer and cider to go. There were a lot of different brands in cans than what was on tap to try.

They have a lot of other activities to do at the farm as well, apple picking, trolley rides as seen below, event spaces, barbecues and more.

Heather said the place was really cute

Hours

Wednesday – Friday: 3:00 – 10:00
Saturday: 12:00 – 10:00
Sunday: 12:00 – 6:00

Kennebec River Brewery, The Forks, ME

 

We stopped at Kennebec River Brewery this summer on our way to go white water rafting. They opened in 1996, started by a whitewater guide who developed a passion for home brewing.

They are located at the Northern Outdoors headquarters, there is a full service restaurant as well as a bar, where we sat.

 

 

It was pretty crowded on a Friday afternoon. We didn’t see any option for flights or tasters, so we each got a pint.

 

 

Magic Hole IPA     6%
Reddish in color and hazy, on the malty side for an ipa. It says it was dry hopped. Not quite what Mark was hoping for, more of an old school IPA, but kind of what he expected.

 

Big Mama Blueberry     4.8%
Listed as a golden ale with subtle blueberry, and we agree. Fresh blueberries as well!

 

 

That’s all we had time to try, unfortunately.

 

Kennebec River Brewery sources a majority of their malt from the Blue Ox Malt House in Maine. They also use pure water from local Kennebec Valley water. Also, all their beer is ‘keg conditioned’, which is pretty interesting. That means the beer is uncarbonated when it is put into the keg, and naturally carbonates in the keg.

 

Check Facebook for current hours, not
sure if the hours change seasonally

 

Mark and Megan in the bottom left of the picture, rafting!

 

Flight Deck Brewing, Brunswick, ME

We visited Flight Deck Brewing when we were camping in the area. They are not too far away from Maine Beer Company, which we also just visited for the first time.

 

 

Flight Deck opened in early 2017 in Brunswick, ME. They are located in Brunswick Landing, which was formerly the Brunswick Naval Air Station but is being redeveloped for private business use. Flight Deck uses airplanes to influence their beer names, and of course their brewery name.

 

Back of the building, with no windows

 

The building they are in was originally built as a small arms range, and has 12″ bullet proof walls. They had to cut all the doors and windows into this place, it was just a solid concrete box. The did reuse some of the pieces they cut out of the walls on their walkway and in their patio area.

 

 

They do full pours as well as flights, so we ordered 2 flights to try most of the beers.

 

 

Stay the Course – new england ipa     5.9%
Mark was not a fan, not what he was expecting for a neipa. Bitter and grapefruit is what stood out, probably based on their choice of hops, but not the typical juicy neipa Mark was looking for.

 

Victory Garden – Strawberry Rhubarb Pale Ale     4.5%
Tastes like strawberry and rhubarb. A nice, easy drinking summer beer, which is what they were shooting for, and achieved.

 

 

P-3 – pale ale     4.5%
A touch hazy, an easy drinking, light pale ale. Made to be  approachable, looks like it may be one of their ‘flagship’ beers.

 

Tea-56 – hibiscus tea beer     4.5%
Best beer yet says Megan, it tastes like hibiscus tea and she likes that. Mark said it was light and just a touch fruity, plus it tastes like tea.

 

 

Breaking the Sour Barrier – rosemary mint sour      7.5%
We were unsure about this before we tried it, but we did like it. The flavors work because nothing over powers the other, each flavor is subtle but present and makes for and interesting but easy to drink sour.

Flying Fokker – berliner weisse     3.4%
A little bit sour but not too much. Decent, but could benefit from some fruit, as every plain Berliner Weisse could, in our opinion.

 

 

Midcoast Mashup #1 – gose     3.9%
Megan thought there was a brief taste of ‘regular beer’ (pale ale) before the salt and sourness. It did not have the typical dry finish of a gose.

Subhunter – imperial ipa
Malty, hoppy and bitter, as expected for a 9.1% imperial ipa, described as drinkable, Mark wouldn’t quite say that but it was ok for what it was.

 

 

Bar area

 

Brewery area that you walk by on your
way in, with Top Gun references.

 

 

They have a small canning line, shown above. They were
only selling 4 packs so we didn’t get anything. If we could have done a mixed 4 pack we would have.

 

They have a pretty big tasting room, and lots of natural light from the doors and windows they cut in. They have a very large outdoor space, but it was overcast and rainy the day we were there.

 

Some of the large outdoor slabs they cut out
of the walls and used for the patio area.

 

Check Facebook for the most up to date hours

 

Large plane near the entrance to Brunswick Landing

Maine Beer Company, Freeport, ME

We visited Maine Beer Company for the first time this summer. We were camping in the area and just had to stop in. It was a rainy day and pretty crowded, they do have tents set up out front for additional space and seating.

 

 

Maine Beer Company opened in 2009 in the legendary IndustriALE Way across the street from Allagash. They moved and expanded to Freeport in 2013. They are again working on expanding and are part way through a  2 part expansion.

 

Addition added to the back of the current
building where the brewing is taking place.

 

Additional construction happening. They are expanding the tasting room, and they are also upgrading their system from
a 15 barrel system to a 60 barrel system, with additional 120 and 240 barrel fermentors. That will be a huge expansion.

 

 

We ordered a flight of 8 beers, 5oz each for $18.

 

Post Ride Snack – session ipa     4.9%
A flavorful beer for a session ipa, with a bit of a lingering bitterness on the finish.

 

Peeper – pale ale     5.5%
Light, grassy hop flavoring. A good, light pale ale. Mark got more ‘pine’ than the berry flavors described.

 

 

Woods and Waters – ipa     6.2%
A little bitter with a very mild hop fruitiness.

 

Lunch – ipa     7%
This beer seemed to get more bitter as Mark drank it, not much tropical fruit notes as described, some sweetness from the malts.

 

 

We enjoyed a pretzel for a snack as well

 

Thank You – ipa     7%
Smells fruitier and taste fruitier than the other ipa’s. A good, strong hop flavor, fruity and/or floral. This was a very tasty, hoppy and ‘fruity’ ipa.

 

Pilot 18 – pilot dipa     8%
Brewed in collaboration with Novare Res Beer Cafe. First thing Mark noticed was some ‘heat’ on the end, you could taste the alcohol. Malty, red, bitter, trying to be fruity but didn’t quite get there, only a pilot batch though.

 

 

Zoe – amber ale     7.2%
Better than the average amber. More flavorful, dark raisin notes – their term but we agree, on the nose and taste, and a tiny bit roasty.

 

Mean Old Tom – stout     6.5%
Smells super roasty. Nice chocolate flavor and not too bitter, smooth and creamy, we both agreed. Subtle vanilla flavor, we noticed that after reading the description.

 

All of their beers are bottle conditioned. That means they carbonate naturally in the bottle and are not ‘force carbonated’ like most beers. That is interesting, most beers that are bottle conditioned today are usually sours or heavy dark beers, you don’t see a lot of ipa’s being bottle conditioned.

 

 

“Do what’s right” is there motto. They have
lot’s of solar panels outside, see below.

 

 

 

They also donate 1% of all their gross annual sales to charity. They donate to a lot of different charities and operate as green of a business as possible.

 

 

Hours

Monday – Saturday: 11:00 – 8:00
Sunday: 11:00 – 5:00

Mast Landing Brewing Company, Westbrook, ME

We visited Mast Landing company with some family this spring. This was the beginning of a long day of brewery hoping in Portland. Mast Landing Brewing Company is in Westbrook, ME, about 20 minutes outside of downtown Portland.

 

 

Mark was pretty excited to visit here, he had heard lots of good things about them. They got their start in Freeport, ME and that’s where their name, Mast Landing, came from. They moved and expanded into a full scale brewery at their current location in Westbrook in early 2015.

 

They do flights of 4, single 5 oz pours and 10 oz pours. We did a little bit of everything.

Dash – American IPA     7%
A good beer, on the piney side of hoppiness, hoppy through out with a hoppy finish.

 

 

Perpetual Rewind – New England IPA     6.4%
Super juicy, hop juiciness and fruit juiciness. Mark could taste the real juice, it was passion fruit and guava. A super juicy and tasty beer.

 

Saccarappa – American IPA     7%
Fairly fruity hops, an orange type flavor. A good, clean, easy drinking ipa.

 

 

Paper Plates: Strawberry Shortcake – Session IPA     4.5%
Smells like strawberry, and taste like strawberries and cream, but also an ipa. A really good, fruited ipa, everyone liked it.

 

 

Gunnner’s Daughter – Peanut Butter Milk Stout     5.5%
Super peanut butter and chocolate smell, and peanut butter and chocolate taste. It tasted just like Megan wanted it too, great.

 

Oh yea, we played Guess Who as well.

 

 

 

They have a pretty large tasting room with
some cool, rustic benches and tables.

 

 

 

Cool rope light

 

Cousin Tommy and Mark at the bar

 

You can see part of the brewery on the way in.

 

The tasting room was nice and the beer was good. We didn’t try everything, but the beer we had was good. And we know they brew a lot of limited release beer that Mark still wants to try.

 

Hours

Tuesday – Saturday: 12:00 – 9:00
Sunday: 12:00 – 6:00

Naukabout Beer Company, Mashpee, MA

Naukabout Beer Company is located in Mashpee, MA, over the bridge on Cape Cod. They recently opened their tasting room, we actually visited opening weekend.

 

 

We had tried their beer about 2 years ago, we are not sure if they were contract brewing or what, but now you can visit their brewery and tasting room in Mashpee.

 

 

We had tried their beer at a restaurant for Sammie’s graduation dinner. So it made sense we went to visit with Megan’s parents, sister Sam and fiance Dustin, and a bunch of their friends.

 

They have a pretty big tasting room, and plenty of outdoor space. Their actual brewery is very small, basically the entire brewhouse is shown in the picture above.

 

At the time of our visit, they were pouring small pours of everything, about ten ounces.

 

 

Quittin’ Time – neipa     6.7%
A super hazy new england ipa, smells fruity and tropical, taste good, fruity and hoppy. Mark likes this beer a lot.

 

Mark and Dustin

 

Stormborn – stout     3.5%
Decent, roasty and a touch of bitter coffee-ness. Not a huge flavor to it, but it is only 3.5% abv, which is really low for a stout. A lot of people we were with drank the stout, as it was one of the only not hoppy beers that day.

 

 

Scrapbook Mosaic – pale ale     5.1%
Definitely a more earthy mosaic flavor; a light drinking pale ale.

 

 

Y’all Open – neipa     7.2%
A super hazy New England ipa, not fruity but more of a bitter hop flavor, described as resinous, makes sense to Mark. Good beer but Quittin’ Time is still Mark’s favorite.

 

 

Tides – dipa     8.8%
Hazy, dark or a heavy orange flavor, not really tropical, with a bit of a bitter finish but not in a bad way. Very drinkable for an 8.8% dipa.

 

Sam and Megan

 

 

Sam and friends

 

 

Plenty of outdoor mingling space for the nice weather, left of the tasting room shown above, right of the building shown below.

 

right of the tasting room, another outside area

 

Bar area

 

We visited their opening weekend and they were pretty busy. They seemed to do a good job handling the crowd, plenty of staff, a good amount of room for people. That’s good to see because on weekends in the summer they will be super busy.

 

They had a food truck outside

 

 

Overall, Mark liked their beers. They had a lot of hop forward beers and did a good job with most of them. Not a lot of variety that first weekend, but their upcoming pours look to have a better variety.

One thing that made Megan feel awkward and slightly annoyed after their visit, was that they shared the photo we posted to our instagram, but did not give us any credit… Hopefully that was just an oversight and excitement with the new beginnings.

 

 

Want to visit?

Hours

Wednesday and Thursday: 4:00 – 9:00
Friday: 4:00 – 10:00
Saturday: 12:00 – 9:00
Sunday: 12:00 – 7:00

 

Four Pines Brewing Company, Hampton, NH

 

We visited Four Pines Brewing Company a little while back with our friends Bre and Deryl. We went for pizza and beers. We have had The Community Oven pizza before and it was good, so we went back.

 

 

Four Pines Brewing Company opened about a year ago. They are in the old space that was occupied by Blue Lobster, they took over the space and the equipment. They are owned by the Community Oven and located right next door. They are connected by a doorway and serve pizza in the brewery and beer in the pizza shop.

 

 

Mark ordered a flight of 4 beers to try. They didn’t have very much info about the beers in the menu, just the names of the beers. We would have loved to read a little bit about the beers before ordering.

 

 

Foggy Amber
Sweet and malty, typical amber ale. Mark said it was decent for an amber, Megan said eh. They sell this in 6 packs now.

Porter
A touch sweet, toasty, pretty decent, not a bitter porter. Megan said basic, but not bad.

 

 

Stout
Dry and a bit roasty, a touch bitter as well.

Blue Dragon – dipa
Mostly hazy but still see through. This was a very malty dipa, it might be kind of hoppy but all Mark noticed was the malt, not his style, malty and sweet.

Naughty Pine IPA
Hoppier than Blue Dragon to Mark. Piney and hop bitterness up front with a strong malt backbone, not great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Sausage Pizza

 

Small special pizza, The Oven’s Meat-Za Pizza.

 

The pizza was really good, all three were. We sat on The Community Oven side, but both sides serve pizza and Four Pines beer.

 

Bre and Deryl

 

It doesn’t seem like they put a whole lot of effort into supporting the brewery. They don’t really have a presence in the brewing community or go to any events, we actually never hear anything about the place. They also haven’t update the Community Oven website with the brewery information, as they still have Blue Lobster listed on their beer list, which closed around 2 years ago and they don’t have the Four Pines beer listed on their beer menu online.

Go for the pizza, and try the beer while you are there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Widowmaker Brewing, Braintree, MA

Widowmaker Brewing is a fairly new brewery in Braintree, MA. They opened in September of 2017. We visited with Megan’s sister Sam and her fiancee Dustin, and our friends Nick and Sara, their first official Brew Wine Fun visit, wow!

Widowmaker Brewing is a 7 barrel brewhouse. They have a lot of room and we saw a lot of fermenters. They also have a huge tasting room, especially for a new brewery.

Big pictures so you can see the big tasting room

They serve half pours (6.5 oz), full pours (13 oz) and also serve flights of four 4 oz tasters. We all got flights so we could try as many beers as possible.

Bar area with designated ordering area

Donut Shop – coffee stout     6.5%
This beer is dominated by a bitter coffee flavor, Mark and Sam expected a sweeter or more chocolatey beer with name like donut shop, but if you ignore the name it is a pretty decent coffee stout.

Pure Hoppy – american ipa: citra     7.2%
Hazy, pretty juicy citra hop flavor, this was good, exactly what Mark was hoping for.

Greenbush – pale ale 6.8%
Not quite as good as Mark was hoping for, it is 80% Mosaic hops, lacking a little, maybe the ‘dry finish’, or just not as good as the Pure Hoppy: Citra in Mark’s opinion.

Nick didn’t like WMB Octoberfest that much, though it did grow on him as he drank it, Sam and Dustin did like it.

com-Rad – russian imperial stout     10.1%
We liked this beer, it is based on the Donut Shop stout recipe. It is slightly sweeter, definitely more chocolatey, with a strong coffee flavor.

Sarah Porter – classic porter     4.5%
Decent porter, bitter with mild caramel malt flavor.

Gowanus Canal Screw Job – american ipa     7.1%
Not very hazy, decently hoppy with a medium body or mouthfeel, minor tropical notes and a bit piney or ‘resiney’.

Old Oaken Farmhouse – saison     8.1%
Funky smell, which is a good sign. Strong peppery saison flavor up front with a nice mild finish. It’s hoppy which balances the saison flavor nicely. Described as a hybrid saison pale ale, and it tasted like it.

50-Year Storm – american dipa     7.8%
Hazy, really opaque. Good beer, has a super light malt bill with an oated body, hoppy and tasty with no hop bitterness.

Free snacks! Goldfish and Cheez-its with little trays to bring them back to your table.

They have Crowlers to go, and it says on their website they will have a limited runs of bomber bottles, but we don’t think that has started yet.

Swag area.

 Overall this was a good visit. They had beers that everyone liked, they have a nice, big space they can grow into. It should be interesting to watch what happens here.

 Current Hours

Thursday: 3:00 – 7:00
Friday: 3:00 – 10:00
Saturday: 12:00 – 10:00
Sunday: 12:00 – 6:00

Untold Brewing, Scituate, MA

Untold Brewing is a new brewery in Scituate, MA, they just opened in 2017. We visited here with Megan’s sister Sam and her boyfriend Dustin.

 

Their tasting room is pretty unique, it is a renovated schoolhouse that was built in 1862. They built a large metal building behind the schoolhouse that houses the brewery. The entrance is between the 2 buildings on the side of the building.

 

Old schoolhouse tasting area

 

They hired Rustic Marlin to build them tables for the schoolhouse seating area, so it looks old and fits in with the building. It was too crowded to get a good picture of the tables (without people being weirded out).

 

 

They are pretty large for a new brewery, they definitely have some money behind them. This is a pretty good sized brewing system to open with.

 

They serve 5 oz and 10 oz pours, or a flight of four 5 oz pours for $11.

 

 

Rebecca – brown ale     5.6%
This was pretty dark in color for a brown ale, coffee and a dark malty, toffee flavor. A little interesting and slightly different for a brown ale.

 

Pale 143 – pale ale     5.6%
Crystal clear, but still a tasty pale, ha. Hoppy with citrus and mango flavors, Mark liked this beer.

 

 

East By Northwest – ipa     6.8%
Fairly clear in appearance. Pine hops flavors dominate this beer, with some bitterness. Mark liked it more as he drank the sample. Mark liked the Pale better with citrus and mango flavors, East By Northwest was good but the strong pine flavors are not Mark’s favorite.

 

Time Shall Unfold – ipa     6.2%
This ipa is dominated by citrus hop flavors, but comes with a bit more bitterness. Pale was still Mark’s favorite overall.

 

 

Mr. Scratch – oatmeal stout      6.9%
Pretty good, chocolatey and smooth, no dark bitterness to it which was nice. Mark, Sam and Dustin all liked this, Megan liked the Rebecca Brown Ale better, which surprised her.

 

Melon Patch – ipa     6.2%
Sam and Dustin got this in their flight, hazy in appearance, hoppy and melony smooth.

 

 

Harvest Ale – amber ale     5.1%
Dustin said the harvest ale was just ok.

 

 

 

 

They give snacks out for free! They also have
beer  to go in growlers and crowlers, and have started
to do limited runs of 16 oz cans..

Mark liked the beers, lot’s of ipa’s, we’ll probably
stop in again when we are in the area.

Plenty of swag

 

Hours

Thursday – 3:00 – 8:00
Friday and Saturday – 12:00 – 10:00
Sunday – 12:00 – 7:00