The Wheels on the Bus go?

Round and round, Right? Isn’t that how the song goes?

Well right now that’s not the case for Maine Beer Tours bus, unfortunately their bus has seen its last tour and they need a new one.  Maine Beer Tours began operations at the end of August 2012; they have guided 85 tours and had over 1000 guests aboard the bus in their first year of operation. Maine Beer Tours offers one tour on Friday that hits Rising Tide, Maine Craft Distilling, Sebago and Shipyard brewing, Saturday they tour Allagash, Rising Tide, Urban Farm Fermentory and Bunker Brewing.

Mark and Nichole Stevens of Maine Beer Tours have turned to crowdsourcing to raise the funds for a new bus by starting an Indiegogo campaign. At the time of writing this they have raised about 32% of their $4500 goal with 5 days left to go. They are offering a variety of perks for different donations levels, from stickers and cozies to private tours and tastings at Rising Tide and Baxter Brewing for you and 12 friends for a $500 Donation.

I haven’t had the opportunity to ride the bus on a standard tour day but Maine Beer Tours donated a tour to a group of beer bloggers prior to the start of the Beer Bloggers Conference pre-excursion that took place in Portland in July. The tour I took was definitely not the standard tour but it had all the basic components in brewery tours, Maine beers on the bus (from breweries not part of the tour), water, snacks (the fresh baked pretzel was awesome), history and trivia. I would definitely recommend a ride on the bus to anyone who loves craft beer and hates picking a designated driver.

I encourage you to check out Maine Beer Tours Indiegogo page and make a donation, this is a local business that helps promote the craft beer industry here in Maine and as a bonus keeps tourists who don’t know the streets of Portland contained for a few hours.

Cheers!

Chaddah

Chad Lothian

About Chad Lothian

Chad Lothian lives in Old Town, Maine. He is a craft beer enthusiast and homebrewer. Chad has travelled to brewpubs, breweries and brewfests all over New England.