PORTLAND, Maine — Spruce tip ale, Belgian white, farmhouse pale ale.
What makes these Maine craft beers special is the art behind the science of brewing.
Brewing is an age-old practice, but crafting new flavors sourced in the Maine woods, hiring art directors and meeting with farmers to create a unique blend of hops and malt adds new depth to the trade. A handful of Maine brewers, from Newcastle to Biddeford, gathered in Portland recently to discuss all the elements behind your favorite local ale.
“You are all really yeast farmers,” said Luci Benedict, a University of Southern Maine associate professor of chemistry, who added gravitas to the art and science of beer conversation facilitated by Maine Center for Creativity and held at the Oxbow Blending and Bottling facility.
To the roomful of beer lovers of all stripes, the chemist explained that water, malt, hops and yeast comprise quartet that composes the symphony of beer. Yeast converts sugar water into alcohol — and that’s where the fun begins.
“There is a huge art component to beer making,” Rob Tod, founder of Allagash Brewing Company, said. Known as “The Tod father” of Maine brewing, the Portland brewer has a history of creative fermentation.
“This is a special time to be a beer drinker in Maine,” said Tod, who 20 years ago launched his Belgian-style brewery because “no one else was doing it.”
Now there are 70 breweries and counting in Maine and nearly 15 in Portland alone. How do they stand out?
Limited editions, popular in wine and fashion, is one key. Diversity is another, along with sourcing local ingredients.
Ian McConnell of Banded Horn Brewing Co. in Biddeford is cultivating a spruce farm in his hometown of Etna. This spring the brewer will forage for tips for his Greenwarden beer. Believed to be the only brewer in Biddeford, past and present, Banded Horn offers a taste of Maine to a city on the rise.
Like coffee roasters and bakers, beer makers lay a foundation for greater community.
Beer is a universal beverage. A century ago every village had its own distinctive bakery, a blacksmith and leather maker.
“Beer basically creates society,” Dustin Johnson, head of Gneiss Brewing Co. in Limerick, said. “Every town needs a brewery.”
That and a person able to draw from the left and right brain to pull it off. “Brewing beer is all about science,” Benedict said. “The reactions that take place during the brewing process is what makes each beer unique. It’s not just about turning starch into alcohol.”
Science sheds a new light on beer making to give the brewer more control over the process. Brewers can directly influence the outcome. Centuries ago the process was trial and error.
Oxbow co-owner Tim Adams takes the art of marketing further than most. His on-staff art director paints catchy labels suitable for framing.
“We are producing this by hand in Maine,” said Adams, who showed a video of his label creation, from a brainstorming session to picking up labels from a local printing house. “There is so much fantastic beer being made here. People are coming to Maine just for the beer.”
And, like the state’s burgeoning food scene, “if you can think it, you can do it,” Johnson said.