Sea Dog brewpub in Bangor

For the past few months, the Sea Dog in Bangor brewing again. Good news for me, since I'm in Bangor often to see Pattie.

One qualm with the article:

'For people, it’s just the novelty of the thing,' said Sea Dog general manager Larry Killam.

I think there's more to it than that. When you brew on premises, you can brew what you need as you need it. I hope that's what they'll be doing. Fresh beer is almost always better, of course, especially with Shipyard stuff. Last week I got my hands on some Gritty's IPA set to expire way off in September, and it's as fresh-tasting as anything you'd get on tap at the brewpubs. I can't say that about any Gritty's bottles I've bought before.

I recommend the Sea Dog. Great pub food -- it could go toe-to-toe with Gritty's in that department -- and the one in Bangor usually has 2 ales on cask. Last night, that included Old Thumper. It's clearly the center of the Bangor social scene, though, so good luck getting a table on the weekends. If you haven't been, though, don't judge them by their fruity wheat beers. They brew an English-style pale, a roasty stout, a mild porter (the other cask beer last night) and a highly-quaffable brown.

Otherwise in Bangor, there's Paddy Murphy's, which doesn't make great food but has a cooler atmosphere/people, and Christopher's, which is usually kind of dead and is expensive, but it's got the best bottle selection in town.