Oxbow Brewing Co. - saisons and more in Portland, Maine!

While I was up in Maine, my brother Dan and I wanted to visit the beer scene in Portland. Like its namesake in Oregon, Portland, ME has a pretty healthy beer culture that’s growing every day. Sure, there are the famous ones like Allagash and Maine Brewing Co., but like any big beer market, there’s a whole strata of smaller breweries that are worth investigating, such as Oxbow Brewing Co., also known as Oxbow Blending & Bottling. Located on Washington Avenue and tucked away in a former industrial park, the brewery is sandwiched between a distillery and a meadery and just outside of the taproom entrance there was a little place, basically just a window, which advertised pomme frites made with duckfat. I did not visit this place, which frankly was a mistake. Duckfat frites are excellent.

The taproom itself is a large, open, industrial space with a divider that separates the production facility from the service side. There’s ample picnic table seating in the center of the room with a long bar occupying one side.

I’ve never had any of their beer, but D’vines has actually sold Oxbow products in the past – four packs of 12oz bottles if I recall – and all their labels have this cool, retro styling. I’m a big fan of striking visual styles, and Oxbow really knocks it out of the park. Let’s see what’s in the glass, though! The draft menu was mostly saisons and farmhouse ales – lots of mixed-fermentation beers between 3.50% ABV and 7.50% ABV. They had 4oz samples for sale, so rather than slamming back six pints, I decided to do a short survey of samples.

 First up is “Household”, a 6.00% ABV Euro-hopped saison made with rye.

Interesting – lots of rye notes here, a touch metallic and pretty biscuity with a modicum of yeast. Aftertaste is strong with lots of grainy, chewy wheat flavors. Definitely on the full end of saisons, with an aggressive character and perhaps a bit too strong for how like the style to be. But great for fans of rye whiskey or harsher beers.

Second is the “Italo Disco”, a 7.50% ABV mixed-fermentation farmhouse ale aged in Brunello di Montalcino oak foeders.

Brunello di Montalcino is an Italian red wine, one with a natural intensity and moderate acidity. This beer has major oak sour on the nose – very much a sour. Tastes strongly of oak, with the acidity of the wine barrels coming through like crazy. It doesn’t have that puckery, fizzy fruitness that a lot of sours have, thought, and the beer but relies on the oak. My brother Dan, tasting with me, is pulling out some lemon zest flavors, kind of like a lemon cough drop. Easy drinking and pretty snappy, this beer is super tasty!

“Metal Fruit” is the third beer we had, is a 6.50% ABV mixed-fermentation farmhouse ale with blueberry and strawberry juice.

Super good and nicely drinkable - there's a full fruit flavor, lots of blueberry juice and fruit skins. Dan is detecting a Chardonnay or Champagne crispness - I agree, but there's not a lot of carbonation. There's a touch of sour on the end, with a touch of yeast. I really loved it - it's not a beer that you drink mindlessly...the flavors really make you pay attention to it.

That was it for our visit - on to the next one - but Oxbow’s got a cool atmosphere and a taplist geared for lighter beers, so definitely worth a visit especially if you like funkier beers. It was raining heavily so unfortunately I couldn’t sit outside, but would be nice to sit out under the umbrellas and enjoy the beer. Or maybe grab a growler to go!