Oxbow Brewery Takes Maine Beer Scene By Storm

After rolling out their first keg last year, Oxbow Brewery of Newcastle has taken Maine’s craft brewing scene by storm. The “Loud Beer From A Quiet Place” has received accolades from around the state, and beyond. Beer Advocate.com ranks Oxbow’s Farmhouse Pale Ale 31st on a list of nearly one thousand saisons (though definitions vary widely, a saison, the French word for season, also refers to a lower alcohol pale ale. ).  Last week at Maine Brew Festival, the line for Oxbow snaked around the Portland Expo, but patrons were willing to wait to taste the beer that Mainers have been buzzing about. 

In addition to filling orders for the 25 restaurants, bars and pubs that now carry Oxbow, this week owners Geoff Masland and Tim Adams have been participating in Maine Beer Week, a celebration of local beer presented by Maine Restaurant Week and Maine Brewer’s Guild.
New England Post was able to speak with Geoff and Tim at one such event, a five course beer dinner featuring Oxbow Brewery and Morning Dew Farm, also of Newcastle, at the Newcastle Publick House. Though Oxbow has been participating in events all week, this particular event was on their home turf, and the commitment to their local community was a theme that ran throughout the evening.

The brewery resides in a converted barn on 18 acres of land owned by Masland and his wife Dash, just up the road from the event,  “We are only 4 miles from our brewery right now.” said Masland of the location.  He went on to explain that the Newcastle Publick House was one of the first restaurants to offer Oxbow on tap, and also praised Morning Dew Farm for their commitment to the local community. Throughout the evening, the marriage of local food and beer impressed guests time and time again. The first course consisted of a charcuterie plate featuring pork rillettes, pate grand-mere and pickled vegetables, all harvested from and prepared by Morning Dew Farm and paired with a Chocolate Smoked Stout. The evening ended with a chocolate stout float from a cask prepared specially for the event - featuring bourbon, vanilla, and coffee notes and served with vanilla ice cream from Round Top, a local ice cream producer.

The care and attention to their craft and to their customers was apparent from the outset. Adams and Masland carefully explained each of the Belgian style beers that accompanied every  course, and both drifted from table to table to answer questions. When asked about the immediate positive response and demand for Oxbow, Masland said, “We’re happy people like our beer. We haven’t done a lot of PR because we know that word of mouth counts for more than anything.” Masland also mentioned that the response from Maine restaurants has been great, “When we started we made a list of 25 places we’d like to sell our beer to, and we now have beer at all of them.” Restaurants serving Oxbow include: Primo, Duckfat, Novare Res, Lion’s Pride, The Great Lost Bear, and of course the Newcastle Publick House.

Adams mentioned one of the perks for locals living close to Oxbow, growler fill up day on Fridays. On Fridays from 2-6, Oxbow opens the brewery for people wishing to purchase reusable 64 oz. glass growlers. “It’s a great, inexpensive way for people to purchase really high quality beer.” said Adams.

Posted by kate kastelein on Aug 16 2012. Filed under Entertainment, Featured - For home page featured article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry