HOULTON, Maine — Beer lovers were out in force Saturday for the second annual Blackfly Brewfest sponsored by the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce, with assistance from many local businesses.
Held at the John Millar Civic Center in Community Park, more than 60 Maine breweries brought more than 100 different Maine beers to northern Maine’s largest beer festival. Many wines and ciders also were available to sample.
“It was another great success,” said Jane Torres, executive director for the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce. “We kicked off the event with a meet and greet the night before to introduce the brewers to farmers, producers, restaurant owners and grocery store buyers. The brewers are always happy to make that connection in their quest for new, locally sourced product and wider markets for their brews.”
According to Torres, the event brought about 500 people into the community, with many of those staying at local hotels, eating at restaurants, and buying gas for their return trip.
“This is exactly what the chamber hopes for when they put money, time and effort into bringing brewers and vintners from all over the state,” she said. “Being the first brewfest sanctioned by the Maine Brewers Guild for 2017, we get a wonderful group of people who want to learn more about the craft. This year we attracted folks from as far south as Virginia and into Canada.”
According to Lt. Theron Bickford of the Houlton Police Department, there were no reported incidents either at the brewfest or with individuals driving while impaired.
“Things went very smoothly,” he said. “The two officers that were there had no issues with the patrons. Everything went very well.”
Travis Knight of Ricker Hill Farms in Turner, a ninth-generation farm since 1803, was showcasing some of the newest ciders at this year’s festival.
“We have done hard ciders for the past three-and-a-half years and the cider market is exploding,” Knight said. “The hardest part is making people aware of how great our product is. Our cider is made from fresh apples from our farm in Turner.”
Knight said he was very impressed with the people of Aroostook County.
“We have been treated extremely well,” he said. “It is a beautiful area. It was a long drive, but we also did shows in Presque Isle and Fort Kent. It really is weird to drive six and a half hours and still be in the same state.”
Rick Soloman of the Northern Maine Brewing Company in Caribou brought a local flavor to Saturday’s brewfest. Northern Maine Brewing Company uses local malt grown by Buck Farms in Mapleton and chooses from a variety of hops grown right in The County.
“We get invites to beer festivals in southern Maine, but it is hard being the small guy in northern Maine to get to those events,” Soloman said. “We will try to get down that way eventually. We opened in mid-June last year and are starting to look at distributing our beers locally.”
