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Swig of the Month


Old Course Porter with Coffee

Saco River Brewing

10 Jockey Cap Ln., Fryeburg, 207-256-3028

Why we dig it

Mason Irish first tried his hand at brewing in the ’90s, in his UMaine dorm. After almost two decades as an arborist, he came back to home brewing during a bad ski season (a previous lackluster winter, he’d learned to knit). In 2016, he and business partner Kevin Antonucci opened Saco River Brewing, where Irish steeps whole-bean coffee, from nearby Maine Morning Micro Roasters, in batches of his Old Course Porter. The coffee imparts a light acidity and toasty quality, he says, complementing the porter’s chocolaty notes. And this winter he’s introducing canning, so the java brew might start showing up statewide in the not-too-distant future.

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