Maine Beer’s steady growth is either confounding or obvious, depending on your lens. The brewery is on pace to brew 43,000 barrels of beer this year, up from about 25,000 in 2019 and 30,000 in 2021. Its leaders are working on a plan to hit 75,000.
So, let’s start with the head-scratching angle: This is a regional brewery, selling beer in 32 states and Washington, D.C., when regional breweries together grew production just 1 percent last year. (The Brewers Association’s journal, The New Brewer, last year described regional breweries as “pumping their legs as fast as they can, just to essentially stay in the same place.”) Despite that footprint:
- Maine Beer hasn’t released a new beer into distribution in three years; the most recent was Little Whaleboat IPA in 2021.
- It packages its beer entirely in kegs or in 16.9-ounce bottles affixed with simple, white labels.
- Whether on draft or bottled, those beers are routinely some of the most expensive anywhere.
- Maine Beer has only one tasting room and three employees on its sales team.
Now, here’s the same brewery viewed through a different lens:
- Maine Beer is synonymous with consistency and quality, offering retailers and drinkers a best-in-class portfolio of IPAs, the most popular craft-beer style in the country.
- It’s built a reputation for environmental stewardship, treating employees fairly, and charitable giving. By the end of this year, its executives say, the brewery will have donated $3.5 million to nonprofits since its founding in 2009.
- Maine Beer’s retail partners become evangelists for the brewery, as do drinkers who’ve been turned on to its beers. Many view it as living up to its motto—“Do what’s right”—earning respect in the industry and appreciation from rank-and-file craft drinkers.