Not Just IPAs: Kennebec River Brewery’s 8 Tap Rainbow of Beer
If I like good beer but I don’t like IPAs am I a beer snob? I get so frustrated when I show up at a brewery ready to taste a variety of brews but nearly every option is an IPA. New England IPA, Double IPA, Session IPA, Black IPA, Triple IPA, English IPA, Belgian IPA… I love a cloudy beer but enough with the hop overload.
When I first walked into the Kennebec River Brewery, long before even entertaining the thought of working for Northern Outdoors, I loved the 8 tap selection – wheat, porter, red, rye, so many non-IPA options! And each beer actually tastes like what it is. Refreshing! At so many restaurants and breweries across Maine the only belgian-style wheat is Allagash White. While Allagash White is a delicious introduction to wheat beers, you cannot be a beer drinker in Maine without having consumed 722 pints of Allagash White. I need a little variety in my beer life. Enter Kennebec River Brewery’s Whitewater Wheat – cloudy perfection with that slice of orange that says, “I love summer in Maine!” I do (is it rafting season yet?)
While not always on tap, Kennebec River Brewery’s Honey Badger Rye takes the top spot for me — a beer I tasted at my first meeting at Northern Outdoors, a beer that may have contributed to my 2-year stint playing Northern Outdoors on Facebook. Put that rye in a flight and it disappears first. Easy drinking, hearty flavor, honey badger do care!
Magic Hole IPA might be the most popular beer on tap at the brewery, but at beer shows it’s Big Mama Blueberry that people shamefully come back for seconds and thirds. There is no shame in a fruit beer! As long as it doesn’t taste like sugary syrup invaded your brew. Big Mama is a crisp, light ale, and the blueberries floating on top must make it a healthy choice, right. Throw some antioxidants in there, minimize hangovers!
Speaking of hangovers, you may not know the unpublicized Kennebec River Brewery Rainbow Challenge. I shouldn’t even mention it. Drink the rainbow — a pint of each of the 8 beers on tap — win a hangover! Really, don’t even try this. Go for a flight instead… unless of course it’s your bachelor party.
Where do you stand on IPAs? Love ’em or leave ’em?
2 Responses
Asking for the only person in our group that doesn’t care for craft beer- do y’all serve Miller Lite?
Oh no! Haha – just kiddin 🙂 We do not have Miller Lite but we do have Bud Light on tap…I’d also challenge them to try out our Summer Ale. Light, crisp, refreshing – but has a little more flavor 😉