Travel + Leisure Magazine Features Kennebec River Pub & Brewery

Kennebec River Brewery Rated One Of  "America's Coolest Breweries" by Travel & Leisure

The quality and care that goes into the brewing of Kennebec River Brewery's beer is no local secret. We're pretty pleased that some others have discovered our special brewery as well. Travel + Leisure Magazine recently featured us as one of America's Coolest Breweries in their latest brewery roundup! Favorites like Let 'Er Drift Summer Ale, Bear Naked Black Lager, and Big Mama Blueberry Ale flow freely from the taps and are savored by the microbrew connoisseurs who frequent this pub & brewery located at Northern Outdoors' Adventure Resort in The Forks, Maine.

When you take a look at everything our Maine brewery has to offer, we think we've created an atmosphere that is not only conducive to enjoying a high quality beer, but to really kick back, relax, and escape in beautiful western Maine. Kennebec River Brewery is particularly unique in that its the only brewery we know of that's located onsite at a year-round adventure resort. This means pub-goers can take part in some of the best recreational activities on the East Coast in addition to sampling our ales. There is nothing better than spending a day whitewater rafting, snowmobiling Maine's famous wilderness trails, hiking through the Bigelow mountains, chasing wild rainbow trout, or hunting trophy white tail deer, only to return to the restaurant and brewery. Having worked up a healthy appetite, our guests can indulge in sirloin steak, Atlantic salmon, and of course, the lobster in the pub! The best part though, we have an outstanding beer to match every season or beer drinking mood you may be in.  Kennebec River Brewery is featured on the Maine Beer Trail.

You can find a guide to some of our favorite brews below:

Sledhead Red – An incredible smooth red ale with moderate bitterness up dront, which gives way to a delightful malty finish. Brewed using five European malts and three varieties of domestic Northwest hops. 

Let 'Er Drift Summer Ale – A classic American pale ale crafted with domestic malted barley and fresh Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest. An excellent choice for those new to microbrews, it's as refreshing as a ride down the Kennebec "Rivah"!

Magic Hole IPA – Our flagship ale, this was our first brew ever made in 1997. This copper colored, American style India Pale Ale is crafted with abundant amounts of North American malted barley for a full malt flavor. The aggressive bitter bite comes from a generous infusion of Magnum hops, with late additions of Columbus and Summit adding abundant hop flavor and aroma. Dry hopping with Summit adds to the big hop aroma on this brew. Learn more here.

Sustainable Business Practices and Our Brewery

We work hard to incorporate sustainable business practices into our brewing process. Reducing consumption, reusing and recycling raw materials are core components of our operations. Here's some of the things we do:

• Office paper, cardboard, plastic wrap, glass and pallets are just some of the many components recycled at the brewery. All are diverted from the landfill. 

• All our spent grains are delivered to a local deer farm for feed. 

• Hot water produced during the process of cooling down the wort during the transfer to fermenters, is saved and reused for future brews as well as for cleaning. 

• We do not use electrically run chillers and compressors to keep our beers cool while fermenting. Chilling is done geothermally, by circulating the cool waters from our 300' deep well.

• Spent vegetable oil used in fryolaters at the Kennebec River Pub and Brewery is donated to one of our long time river guides Peter Brown. Peter converts the spent oil into fuel on his homemade biodiesel plant in his garage in Portland. 

Stop by and enjoy a beer at the Kennebec River Pub & Brewery, one of America's Coolest Breweries!