Yankee Brew News Archive

First Brewpub Opens in Maine's Lakes Region

Originally Published: 04/96

By: Tom Ayres

Maine's Lakes Region has its first brewpub.

Bray's Brewpub and Eatery opened in January in a picturesque, 120-year-old Victorian farmhouse at the crossroads of Routes 302 and 35 in Naples. An adjoining carriage house was extensively remodeled to house the brewpub's 3-1/2-barrel, custom-built brewhouse, featuring two fermentation and four conditioning tanks. A separate walk-in cooler is home to four serving tanks, from which the Bray's beers are pumped directly to the pub taps.

Mike Bray, a homebrewer who recently returned to his Maine roots after living in the Pacific Northwest for more than a decade, operates the brewpub and restaurant with his wife, Michelle Windsor. While laying plans for the newly opened Naples brewpub, Mike took advanced brewing courses at two of the country's foremost brewing schools--the Siebel Institute in Chicago and the University of California at Davis.

Bray's began offering Lakes Region denizens two different styles of pub brew just after the turn of the new year. Old Church is a malty pale ale with a fresh, flowery nose that reflects its dry-hopping. Brandy Pond Blonde is a light, thirst-slaking wheat ale planted firmly in the American wheat beer style--delicate and smooth, without the assertive, phenolic-and-cloves character found in German-style weissbiers.

Bray's plan called for the introduction of a third beer --Pleasant Mountain Porter--later in the winter. For the upcoming summer crowds and kids on school vacation, Mike and Michelle also hope to offer homemade root beer and other hand-crafted sodas.

Visitors to Bray's will also find a broad selection of food to accompany the ales, served in intimate, comfortable rooms with lots of Victorian ambiance. The restaurant seats 30. Reservations are recommended but not required.

Pull quote:

Bray's began offering Lakes Region denizens two different styles of pub brew just after the turn of the new year.

Photo caption:

Longtime homebrewer Mike Bray realized a dream when he and his wife, Michelle Windsor, opened the first brewpub in Maine's Lakes Region. Mike, center, hosted a group of touring homebrewers from the Green Mountain Mashers shortly after Bray's Brewpub and Eatery opened in Naples, Maine in January. (Photo: Tom Ayres)