Beer Police: Like a kid in a candy store at the Sebago Brew pub

By Zach Dionne

Posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009, 12:00 am

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I finally figured out why I’ve never been completely on board with Samuel Adams and their mostly uniformly quality beer: There are just too many great Maine breweries. Maybe one day if I live in a place where Maine’s outstanding brews are scarce, I’ll become more of a Sam’s-head (not likely with so many other regional craft beers to try), but as long as I’m in Maine and New England, I’m going to cherish my state’s excellent styles.

That’s all a long way of saying I went to the Sebago Brewing Company pub in Gorham on Monday night. It was the first time I’d had a bunch of miniature glasses to sample different tap offerings since the Real Ale Festival in Wales and England this time last year. It feels a little strange to drink from several tiny glasses while your friend sips from a tall pint, but if you’re a beer geek and love collecting new tastes, it’s worth it.

Sebago sells one-third pint glasses for $1 each and had six brews on draft when I visited. This brewery showed up on my radar at a Sea Dogs game last summer, when it was Sebago or Bud Light to complement the afternoon ballgame. The brewery picked up steam in my favorites with the Slick Nick Winter Ale. I couldn’t wait to try a slew of their stuff at the pub.

The knowledgeable bartender set the following brews out for me: Northern Light Ale, Runabout Red Ale, Boathouse Brown Ale, Frye’s Leap IPA, Full Throttle Double IPA and Lake Trout Stout. If, as a beer fan, you’re not salivating right now, check your pulse.

I’ve always been surprised to hear friends recommend a light beer as their favorite from a microbrewery. With the Northern Light Ale, I could actually see that. When I write “wicked tasty” in my notebook, that’s a good sign. It was super drinkable with superior hops that barely approached bitter – although bitter isn’t bad, it’s interesting to drink something with a lot of hops and only a little bitterness.

The red and brown ales were both solid. The red’s taste got a little victimized by the onion rings I was scarfing, but the brown only reassured me that this is one of my favorite styles of beer. With this bias, the brown ale was my choice pick for the night.

Trying Sebago’s standard and double IPAs back-to-back was a blast. If, in terms of hop intensity, the standard IPA was like eating an orange, the double was like chomping down on an orange peel. Intense. Unrelated note: Later that night, I heard a guy order an IPA phonetically – “I’ll take an ee-pah.”

This brought me to the Lake Trout Stout, the end of the light-to-dark line of taste testing. A great oatmealy, mellow, thick stout, it proved Sebago doesn’t deal in missteps or weak points.

Before I graduate and light out for the territories (Martha’s Vineyard) on May 15, I’m hoping to make it to Shipyard Brewing Co. in the Old Port and the Oak Pond Brewery in Skowhegan. Don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail at style@mainecampus.com if you have any recommendations for the last one or two columns.

Cheers!