black bear brewery

We stopped in for a beer after dinner. The bartender said it was close to closing (9) but he could pour us each a pint. He asked what kind of beer we both liked and pointed us in the right direction. We both thoroughly enjoyed our pints and if I'm in the area again I definitely intend to come back and sample more of the beer offerings.

We stopped in at Black Bear as part of our Maine Brew Trail. Orono looked like a cute little college town. The students weren't back yet when we visited, so I imagine the brewery picks up quite a bit with school in full-swing. My husband and I got a flight in order to try all the beers on tap. The Liquid Sunshine and Best Bitter were the winners in our opinion. Wednesday night they have food brought in which we loved. We'd never had Moe's BBQ before and we went back for another order of the pulled pork sliders. We even bought a growler to take back to our friends at the campground.

This is a bar No food available except on Wed. nights. The staff is very personable. Orono is a college town and this is the best great brews and interesting conversation. The decor is austere but made up by the beer. The selections change daily. I highly recommed the lighter brews just remember that a light craft beer is a heavy mass produced never. Lots of taste.

The food and service is usually pretty good at the Brewery. The restaurant itself needs some work. Everything is a bit worn out and it could be cleaner. We had dinner on the upper deck a couple of times. The tables were sticky and the spiders are really big.

We stopped by this local brewery last week. It was almost 100 degrees outside and a cold beer sounded like a good thing. We have consumed Black Bear brews in restaurants and decided to stop into their tasting room on our way home. What a nice little place they have here! The L-shaped bar seats about 8, and there are maybe 5 or 6 tables also. Beers on tap are what's most recently been brewed, and they cost about $3-$4 a pint. The friendly barkeep didn't ask for cash up front; instead she asked for our name and ran a tab for us. NOT that we asked- my guess is that experience has led them to know that customers will have more than one beer! YOu can also get a beer flight of 5 ounce samples, and purchase growlers to go (which we do regularly... $8 for a half-gallon of beer, $2 deposit on the bottle which isn't charged when you go back for a refill- which you will!). The only food they served was unlimited popcorn BUT they have a selection of take-out menus from the surrounding in-town restaurants and encourage you to order "to go" and bring the food in to enjoy with your beer! I really liked this!! We were there for quite awhile, in incredibly hot weather, but even without a/c, just fans, it wasn't uncomfortable in the tap room. It was a Thursday night, and the place really filled up with grad students on their way home from work, and there was a small combo playing live music. It was really quite nice!! Be aware though; Black Bear Brewery's tap room is only open Wed-Sat, from late afternoon until early evening (8 or 9, depending on day/crowd), although you can make retail purchases anytime you see anyone in the building. We had a really nice, unplanned evening hanging out at the Brewery, drinking FANTASTIC beer (sure do wish they'd do pumpkin stout again this fall... hint, hint!), and are hoping to repeat the experience soon!

Awesome place! Great fresh beer & terrific owner! You can buy pints, tastings & growlers to go. Just like "Cheers"......"everyone knows your name" there.......yummy popcorn......