The Maine Dream Team-up Project

The beer geek in me loves to see brewers collaborating. Some of the most creative and inspired beers are the result of brewers putting their heads together and sharing their expertise of ingredients, styles and techniques. I’ve often found myself thinking about whom I’d like to see team up and brew a beer and I quickly realized that there are a lot of possibilities. Who would be my dream Maine team-up?

Last year I wrote a blog post that posed the question to some of my beer friends around the state and the reader, “what is your Maine dream team six-pack?” It turned out to be a fun post, nobody had a matching six-pack, and the feedback from readers was great. I enjoyed that post so much that I decided to ask my new question to even more people and see what their dream Maine team-ups would be.

Because I’m not a fan of writing a long winded blog post and because there so many possible ways to answer the question I decided to break up everyone’s response into their own guest blog post and break the question into four different questions. This is the first in the series, I’ll give you my answer to the questions, I have included the list of participants in this blog series at the bottom, stay tuned as I will post every day until everyone’s Dream Team-up is posted.

Question 1: What is your all Maine brewery dream team-up? And why?

I’d like to see Andrews Brewing, Oak Pond Brewing and Sheepscot Valley Brewing all team up for a collaboration. These are three breweries that produce solid beers but I rarely find them in bottle or on tap and always look for them at brewfests. I think it would be interesting to see them come together and brew something big; maybe a barrel aged imperial stout or something else with some “WOW” factor.

Question 2: What would your Maine + U.S Brewery Team-up look like?

My team-up here would be Allagash Brewing, The Bruery and Jester King. Allagash produced some of my favorite wild ales. I haven’t had a lot from The Bruery but everything I’ve had was interesting, flavorful and unexpected, Chocolate Rain was crazy. Jester King is another brewery I haven’t had a lot from but they impressed me with their 100% Brettanomyces fermentations at The Festival this past summer. I can’t even begin to imagine the funky creation these three could create.

Question 3: What would your Maine + International Brewery team up look like?

This one had me spinning my wheels, but I finally landed on what I think could be a fun pairing. Geaghan Brothers Brewing out of Bangor Maine, the only Irish restaurant and pub I know of in Maine with its own brewery, teamed up with Porterhouse Brewing, Ireland’s first brewpub. I think these two could brew something fun and come up with a killer food pairing to go with it.

Question 4: Free for all! Anything goes here as long as there is 1 Maine brewery involved.

Ok, this was probably the easiest one, my choice here would be the bad boys of Maine brewing,  Marshall Wharf teamed up with Stone Brewing Company, the arrogant bastards from out west and finally Chad Lothian. That’s right this is my dream team-up so I’m going to be part of it, wouldn’t be the first time Stone worked with a homebrewer so I’m sure they wouldn’t let me screw anything up.

There you have it, My Maine Team-up’s, I encourage you to answer the questions in the comments and tell me who you would pick, if you’re not from Maine then give me your choices for your state, there’s no wrong answer and so many possibilities. Follow along every day and see what others who are participating in the blog series had to say, the answers have far exceeded my expectations.

Day 1: Chad Lothian – If My Coaster Could Talk

Day 2: Mark Stevens – Maine Beer Tours

Day 3: Shahin Khojastehzad – Novare Res Bier Café

Day 4: Eric Mihan – Bangor Wine and Cheese

Day 5: James Sanborn – Insurance Guys Beer Blog

Day 6: Ben Lizzotte/Ryan Poland/ Tony C – Drink’n Think’n Podcast

Day 7: Tom Madden – Madden Beverage

Day 8: Gene Beck – Nocturnem Draft Haus

Day 9: Josh Christie – Maine Beer Author

Day 10: Greg Norton – Bier Cellar

Day 11: Matt Delamater – Local Brew TV

Day 12: Benjamin Moore – Active Beer Geek

Day 13: Richard England – Hogan Road Deli

Day 14: Carla Companion – The Beer Babe

Day 15: Adam Callaghan – The Maine Brew Bus

Chad Lothian

About Chad Lothian

Chad Lothian lives in Old Town, Maine. He is a craft beer enthusiast and homebrewer. Chad has travelled to brewpubs, breweries and brewfests all over New England.