It started with a homebrew kit and a cold garage
Nine years, one old boat shop, and a roadside flower that wouldn't quit.
Lupine started in 2016 when Cal and Maren Doering blew out the breakers in their Newcastle garage one too many times and decided to do it for real.
They took over an old boat-repair building on the river, scrubbed it for a winter, and fired up a secondhand 10-barrel system. The name came from the lupines that take over the Midcoast roadsides every June — stubborn, beautiful, and unmistakably Maine.
We still brew everything in that same building, still answer the door ourselves, and still think the best beer is the one you drink where it's made.
27 River Road
An old boat shop on the Damariscotta
Cal grew up patching boats two doors down. When the old repair shop came empty, taking it over felt less like a business plan and more like coming home.
We kept the beams, the wide-plank floors, and the big west windows that catch the river light. The brewhouse runs along the back wall in plain sight — there's no curtain between the people drinking the beer and the tanks making it. That's on purpose.
Small, local, and honest
- Brew to the seasonBright and quenching in July, dark and warming come November. We let the weather write the recipe.
- Source close to homeHops and grain from Aroostook and Knox County farms, salt off Pemaquid, blueberries picked wild in Maine.
- Independent, no investorsFamily-run and locally owned. The people who own it are the people who run the crew and answer the phone.
- Best where it's madeThe full and freshest selection is always at the source. We'd rather you drink it warm and fresh from our tanks than cold off a far-away shelf.
Sixty-plus recipes, two gold medals, and nine winters on the river — and we're just getting comfortable.
Come say hiThe door's the one we answer
There's a good chance the person who pours your pint also brewed it. Come find out what's fresh.