By Virginia M. Wright
Photos by Tara Rice
From our August 2024 issue
Since Shannon’s Unshelled seafood shack opened a decade ago, customers have been able to wash down their lobster rolls with Maine’s official state soft drink: bitter, gentian-root–flavored Moxie, sold in arresting orange-labeled cans. Now, they can savor the love-it-or-hate-it soda atop their sandwiches too, in the form of a Moxie glaze. Shannon’s, a small shack in Boothbay, built its reputation on a signature offering: undressed lobster overflowing a griddled hot-dog bun. “We serve it that way, with sea-salted garlic butter on the side, because I want people to taste how fresh the lobster is,” says owner Shannon Schmelzer, who buys picked meat wharfside in Boothbay Harbor daily.
Over the years, she’s expanded the menu with fried seafood and chowders. Missing, though, was a one-of-a-kind item, something no other eatery served. Schmelzer zeroed in on Moxie, created as a nerve tonic by a midcoast physician in 1876. Last summer, she experimented with Moxie butters before settling on the Moxie reduction, handing out free samples to customers, who gave it the thumbs-up. “It’s sweet, with just a hint of bitterness, almost like a balsamic glaze,” says Schmelzer, who admits, “I don’t like Moxie, but I like this.”
Shannon’s Unshelled Moxie lobster roll is offered as one of a trio of half-size sandwiches. 798 Wiscasset Rd., Boothbay. 207-350-7313.
