We spent the long 4th of July weekend in what I believe is the southernmost part of Midcoast Maine: Brunswick, Bath, Harpswell, and vicinity. (Please correct me if I’m geographically challenged.)
With rain, rain, rain in the forecast we knew this would not be the ideal experience.
We are also trying to stick to outdoor dining so there’s that. But we had the holiday weekend free to roam because we had long ago secured a coveted boarding reservation for our dog. So we hit the road with our expectations in check.
Saturday afternoon we visited Moderation Brewing Company in the center of Brunswick. This small taproom has reopened and offers outdoor seating behind the building.
I tried a Grog Shop beer that my husband and I agreed was our favorite there. Flights of beer are temporarily not available, which has also been true at other taprooms we have visited so far in 2021.
No food or food truck onsite at Moderation, but you can bring in food or buy these ridiculously tasty Mill Cove crackers and a little tub of Maine-made goat cheese spread to snack on.
Next we drove onward to Bath, because my husband wanted to check out the Bath Brewing Company. Imagine a neighborhood brewpub in a historic New England town and you’d be right. We thought we would sit outdoors on their small upstairs deck. The wet windy, raw afternoon had a different plan. We bowed to Mother Nature and moved inside to their airy second floor space for a burger and beer. Proved to be an agreeable local spot for a simple early-bird meal—we found ourselves quite hungry after the drive up from MA.
Sunday was the 4th so we knew our food options would be limited. More rain was in the forecast. I had seen that Frosty’s doughnuts in the center of Brunswick had reopened (on limited days) as of July 1. Off we went to get doughnuts for breakfast!
We took away our Frosty’s doughnut haul for an in-car picnic in a park by the Androscoggin river. Take a look at the best blueberry fritter we have ever had, which we shared alongside cups of the shop’s very good coffee.
This was our first visit to Frosty’s. Impressed with their traditional-style doughnuts. We bought a Boston cream, a coconut-covered chocolate, and a maple glazed to stow in the hotel’s mini-fridge for the next day’s breakfast. Even day-old these were still a treat.
With the very soggy weather, trail walks and exploring on foot were largely out. So we planned to catch a late lunch at the scenic Five Islands Lobster Company in Georgetown.
Alas, we had to take the long way around to get there. Because peninsulas. And by the time we arrived a little past 2 PM, Five Islands had closed early for the day. Darn.
I’ll share the scenery anyway so you can see the beautiful setting where we almost had our July 4 lobster roll.
Hungry after our day of day-tripping, we wound our way back to Brunswick to Flight Deck Brewing which I knew would be open. Lots of outdoor seating, friendly folks, and a guest food truck and wood-fired pizza oven onsite. Sold!
Brews were agreeable at Flight Deck, if not my favorites, and it was really useful to have the food options available on the holiday.
My quibble Is that the pizza (not pictured), made with high quality ingredients, was fully blackened on the bottom instead of lightly charred. I have to imagine that their pizza making will improve with practice because Flight Deck clearly has put care into offering a pleasant experience.
We woke up to glorious sunshine on Monday because it was time to drive home.
So we decided to get our lobster roll before heading back. My husband wanted to drive out to Harpswell to check out Dolphin Marina & Restaurant. We decided to get there as they opened because we needed to be back in time to collect our dog from boarding.
Excellent call because we were able to have these simple, perfect lobster rolls with a side of handmade chips.
Blueberry pie with Gifford’s vanilla ice cream for dessert.
And a what a view of Casco Bay!
All’s well that ends well, right?
