Maine's Baxter Brewing Co. Coming to New Hampshire

The Maine brewery just announced plans to distribute in New Hampshire.

You should absolutely support New Hampshire breweries, but there are also some fantastic craft brews available at Granite State shops and bars from our neighboring states. Like New Hampshire, Maine is home to a booming craft beer business from larger-scale operations like Shipyard Brewing Co. or Allagash (both based in Portland), to smaller, perhaps more experimental, breweries like the popular Maine Brewing Co. in Freeport. All three of those breweries offer at least some of their beers in New Hampshire, and now we can add one more Maine beer to the list – Baxter Brewing Co. of Lewiston will soon be distributing here in the Granite State.

It's confession time: I was born in and grew up in Maine, and though I gladly stuck around in New Hampshire after graduating from UNH, I still regularly visit my family in the Portland area, which has allowed me to stay somewhat in the loop of Maine's beer scene. There are many (maybe too many) NH beers that I love, but let me tell you there are just as many popping up in Vacationland. I am very excited to learn that Baxter Brewing will soon distribute in New Hampshire. This all-cans brewery (they don't use glass bottles at all) was the first of its kind in New England. Happily it's not just a gimmick brewery – the beer is, in my opinion, very good!

Baxter currently produces three year-round varieties (my favorite of these is the Stowaway IPA) plus three unique seasonal offerings, and all will be made available to retailers, restaurants and bars throughout New Hampshire by Bayside Distributing, of Brentwood and Amoskeag Beverages of Bow starting in January.

Here's a little more information from the Baxter Brewing press release:

“There is already a terrific craft beer culture in New Hampshire,” said [Baxter Brewing Company] founder and CEO, Luke Livingston. “We’ve wanted to be in the state ever since we first moved beyond Maine into Massachusetts, but until now we hadn’t been able to make enough beer to even supply our existing markets.” Recent new construction has expanded the brewery’s capacity by more than 400 percent, and “so at last, we can supply our nearest neighbors,” Livingston said.

Livingston mentioned that Baxter’s policy of packaging only in kegs and cans is well suited to New Hampshire lifestyles and values. “Cans are the most environmentally friendly form of packaging there is,” he said, “and they are completely portable – they can go to mountaintops, to the lake, to ski slopes, to the woods.” And because cans prevent any contamination from either light or oxygen, beer will stay fresh longer in a can than in a bottle.

Here's a list of NH specialty beer stores that are likely to carry Baxter Brewing Beer. Always call ahead if you're looking for something specific! This list has a number of restaurants and bars that typically offer craft brews.