Celebrate, Food

A Birthday Celebration at Maine Beer Company

52 Comments

This week, I’m going to take a break from focusing on loss and politics to write about something more joyous—a trip to Maine Beer Company in Freeport, Maine, to celebrate my son-in-law Mike’s birthday. Even those of us who are obsessed with politics and the state of the nation need to take regular breaks to refresh the spirit. So bring on the birthdays!

Mike and my husband Clif are beer enthusiasts, and Maine Beer Company makes some of their favorite beers. There are also fresh pretzels,

tasty pizza,

and crunchy, utterly delicious cannolis. (Alas, I forgot to take a picture of them.) Wine for Dee, diet soda for Shannon, and root beer for me. In other words, something for everyone.

The tasting room is large with long tables and benches, a bar, and rooms upstairs. But the first thing I noticed was a long, elegant whale skeleton soaring across the ceiling—so long I could only capture a portion  of it with my phone camera.

I wondered, was the skeleton real? As it turns out, it is. The skeleton came from a female fin whale (Finny) with a too-short life—between three and five years old—who washed up on a Maine beach in 2023. With support from Maine Beer Company, Finny’s skeleton was recovered and reconstructed by Whales and Nails. As beautifully described on Maine Beer Company’s website, the skeleton gives “a second life to spark curiosity, and connection to these magnificent animals.”

As Mike pointed out, Maine Beer Company is unabashedly progressive. On their website, they are not ashamed to state openly: “Our commitment to the environment is a core part of Maine Beer Company’s values. We aim to create a company culture of sustainability with projects ranging from our use of clean energy, to our donation of spent grain to farmers, and our work improving our recycling and compost systems.”

Do they have solar panels? Yes, they do. (I guess I can’t keep politics out of any post, even when it’s about a birthday celebration.)

But back to the birthday…We had a wonderful time talking and eating. We are a present-giving family, so there were presents, too. No better way to spend a February afternoon than with family at a business that is trying to make the world a better place. (Whoops, I drifted back to politics.)

A very happy birthday, Mike!

*********************************************************************

Listening

Tiny Desk Concert: Billy Strings

Along with being on the same page politically, Mike and I also share similar tastes in music, which we often discuss when we get together and give each other suggestions. Billy Strings came up, and we discovered that we are both big fans of his music, which ranges from bluegrass to Americana to roots rock.

Somehow, most of my musical pathways seem to lead to NPR’s Tiny Desk, and with Billy Strings, it’s no different.

52 thoughts on “A Birthday Celebration at Maine Beer Company”

  5. I so agree…despite the crazy politics and so much to worry about, we gotta have some fun and find the joy!
    That fresh pretzel 🥨 looks wonderful! 🤤

  9. A very happy belated birthday of course! And . . . just love the whale skeleton and everything this place seems to stand for. Solar panels . . . hugely accepted in Australia . . . see them on almost every roof in some streets and one cannot watch TV without their ads (and how cheap they are!) on every night!

  10. Happy birthday to Mike! Sounds like a wonderful place you picked to celebrate, Laurie.

    I am enjoying listening to the Tiny Desk concert with Billy Strings. I was not familiar with his music.

  12. It is lovely the way your family celebrates birthdays! Thank you for sharing this one with us. The pizza looks mouthwateringly good 🙂

  13. Sounds like a great time. We have a nature reserve we sometimes visit which has whale bones deteriorating by the visitor centre – so much better to have them properly preserved. As for politics (and I will keep it light and in a party mood) it’s sad that renewable energy has become politics instead of common sense.

      1. There must be a way of trapping politicians in a small area and collecting the hot air to power something. It would be a small but valuable contribution towards saving the planet and possibly the first useful thing many of them had done. 🙂

  20. Getting back to politics: right before I read this I saw a NY Times piece: “Trump Allies Near ‘Total Victory’ in Wiping Out U.S. Climate Regulation.” Heartbreaking. How nice there are people out there still trying to do the right thing.

  21. Finding spots of joy in these horrifying times we’re living through is so important and such a balm for the soul. Your voice, whether talking about the hard things or the happy things, is a gift. I’m always happy to find you in my feed. Hope you’re carrying that joy with you through this week and beyond.

    1. A-w-w, thanks so much Yes, what horrifying times, with January being especially horrifying. I am hopeful that there will be a blue tsunami this fall that will stem the far right, at least for a while. But, to borrow from Brandi Carlyle, the devil don’t take a break.

  24. Pingback: This week's small pleasures from lunches to friendship.

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