Beer Spotlight!

Maine Little Whaleboat

$7.99 for the 16.9 oz bottle
Hazy IPA

Maine Beer Company — in Freeport, ME — has added a new IPA to their year-round lineup.

At the very end of 2021, Maine conservation organization the Maine Coastal Heritage Trust completed a project to purchase and, thus, bring under their management and protection, the Little Whaleboat Islands — a collection of three small islands and ledges in Maine’s Casco Bay, just down the way from Maine Beer Company. Not only does this purchase allow these islands to remain undeveloped providing boating and camping opportunities, but also it preserves these islands as important feeding and nesting areas for several animal species. Maine Beer Company was an important partner in The MCHT’s fundraising, having offered a $50,000 matching grant! Maine Beer now offers the Little Whaleboat IPA to further raise consciousness of the trust’s efforts (and, we suppose, to celebrate the completion of the Little Whaleboat Island Project).

The Little Whaleboat uses malt from Maine malters Maine Malthouse and Blue Ox Malthouse. Maine Beer takes their malts and makes an IPA with a dry, light-bodied backbone. That malt profile tells us that this beer is all about showcasing its hops — Citra, Columbus, Mosaic, and Talus. What Maine gets from them is a citrusy IPA with slight floral and fruit notes.

If you want an IPA that gives you plenty of hop flavor but doesn’t have the heaviness of a Double IPA, then the Little Whaleboat is the beer to try. Also, if you just trust that Maine Beer is not going to put out a bad IPA (and why wouldn’t you), then you have another reason.