I recently visited Sweetgrass Winery & Distillery and had a very enjoyable experience. One of the…read morebiggest draws was their $1 tastings, yes, just one dollar for a taste of their ciders, wine and spirits, which is really fun and makes sampling without commitment super easy. The service was great, our server, Courtney, was exceptionally friendly, helpful in guiding us through the selection, and made the whole experience relaxed and enjoyable. I want to note, as a point of context, that in September the production facility of Sweetgrass's main operation in Union suffered a devastating fire. Despite that, the Portland tasting room remains open and functioning, which is a testament to their resilience. On the tasting side the variety was solid, and the $1 price point made it easy to try a bunch of things. The ambiance is cozy and inviting. If I were to pick one improvement, I'd say the tasting pours felt a bit light compared to some other spots I've been to....not a complaint, just an observation given the price point and expectations. In all, Sweetgrass is a strong pick if you're looking for a laid-back, local winery/distillery stop in Portland with friendly staff (shoutout to Courtney) and wallet-friendly tastings.

Sweetgrass Winery & Distillery is a farm winery and distillery that opened in Union, Maine in 2005…read more It was founded by husband and wife Keith & Constance Bodine. Keith has been in the alcohol business since 1992, and he earned his MS degree in Food Science and Enology. Constance has been called the heart, soul and brains behind the business. She spends most of her time in the fields, gardens and barns that produce the various ingredients used for making their wine and spirits. Sweetgrass is Maine's first farm winery & distillery; using over 70,000 pounds of Maine-grown fruit and grain each year. The distilled spirits are hand crafted in old world tradition with a copper alembic, still capturing the full flavors of their gin, rum, and traditional apple brandy. A secondary tasting room and retail shop opened on historic Fore Street in the Old Port section of Portland in February 2014. In September 2025, a debilitating fire destroyed the Union facility. The Old Port location remains open, but the future of the Union location remains uncertain. My extended family and I visited Sweetgrass's Portland location this past summer while we were vacationing in Maine. While exploring Old Port, we walked past their window and I said, "Hey, this looks like a cool place!" We went inside and signed up for a tasting. For just $10, customers can choose any five wines, ciders or spirits to taste. The five that I chose included "Maine Hard Imperial Cider" (Dry Cider), "Blueberry Smash" (Semi-Sweet Dessert Wine), "Back River Gin", "Cranberry Gin", and "Apple Brandy". The latter was easily my favorite of the tasting, but unfortunately they had no more bottles for purchase. I plan on ordering some online in the future. I am so happy that I discovered the Old Port tasting room by chance. I felt really bad when I learned later on that the Union location burned down. I'm happy to hear that no one was hurt and I hope that they are able to rebuild.

I had such a fantastic experience at Cellardoor Winery in Portland. The establishment is very…read morespacious with ample seating for wine tasting and group events. As a nice added touch, there are games to play while sampling different wine flights. My friend and I did a selection of red and white wines for our tasting. There is food available to purchase and merchandise. Excellent and quality care regarding the staff. They went out of their way to answer any questions about the wine. We also took our time with the tasting and played games. We never felt rushed. It was a great way to spend a rainy Saturday. I particularly enjoyed the sparkling and white wines!

What an amazing find!! Hands down one of the best tasting rooms ever. Local Maine wine with a…read moreselection of noshes to complete your experience. Everything was spot on!!

Delicious selections of wine for the wine consioure you must have a eclectic taste for wine to come…read morehere and enjoy! Don't talk about ALDI cheap red wines here it's embarrassing!

Always a treat. We don't live in Portland but we imagine it is such a gift to have a neighborhood…read morewine shop with a carefully curated selection of wines. This is one of the few places in Portland we try to visit every year when we visit and we're never disappointed. The tasting menu is always great and the owner is delightful, offering thoughtful notes on each of the wines. A great place to get out of the heat and relax during the summer. Definitely stop by!

Amazing store. We popped in for some fish, but came away with wine, cheese, and some other goodies…read more They have specialty items that are not found anywhere in Portland. This was like being in a bigger city! The cheese bar was open, and we were served a few delicious cheeses with full explanations. We of course ended up buying cheese to go with the wine we were not planning on purchasing. Then I found the wine, wow, what a selection. These are not the supermarket wines, these are excellent selections made by people that know what they are buying. Something unique, delicious, and bold. I loved it. It was pricey, but the service was excellent (until we went to the fish counter - maybe a bad day?). But everyone else in the store was very helpful, kind, and were smiling. The prices were a bit high, but the location is pretty, well organized, clean, and again - very helpful staff.

Only purchased the smoked salmon, but it is exceptional. They sell fresh fish and clams and…read moreoysters. Great location in Old Port. Prices are fair for the high quality.

What a amazing experience. My wife and I went to Portland to visit Maine (we fell in love with it…read morea few years ago and wanted to check out Portland). She searched for things to do and found this tour and I am sure glad she did. We did the biking tour with Don and it was wonderful. Was able to taste some local mead, beer, and rum and see parts of Portland. He was extremely friendly, fun, and informative. I am not going to lie...I was a little bummed when my wife said she booked this tour instead of the earlier biking brewery tour (visit 3 local brewery's as opposed to our scheduled mead, beer, and rum tour). But it didn't matter, it was a amazing experience. In fact, our guide pointed out man local establishments on the tour that we tried the next day (cough..cough..Forage Market) and was amazed; it truly added to our Portland experience. And we have a tour for the next time we come. All in all...6 out of 5 stars for this organization. I wish I was able to post some pictures, but to be honest, I didn't think about it as I was immersed in the moment and enjoying every second of it. So when in Portland...book your tour, you won't be sorry.

best 21+ cruise/ tour in the greater portland area by far. Both Joe and Pete have been fantastic,…read moreesp after bad trips with other companies. It was refreshing to have professional knowledge in a comforting setting!

Had a little time to kill prior to a dinner reservation and there is no better way to spend it than…read moretrying a bit of wine. Que up Blue Lobster Urban Winery and enjoy a great spot to quench that wine thirst. I have to say was intrigued by the whole wine in the can scenario, but the selection does not disappoint and the atmosphere is enjoyable at this location. Staff was extremely friendly with quick service. Normally food truck supported and have some interesting night festivities from time to time (salsa night for example). Definitely worth checking out and enjoying a sip!

This place is super chill, especially on a Sunday afternoon when they have live jazz. We didn't try…read morethe charcuterie truck but we all liked the wine choices. Perfect for summer lyrical libations in this alcohol alcove of Portland. Despite being in cans, the friendly helpful bartenders will let you taste first, too.

An ad randomly popped up on Facebook and I decided to purchase this as a Christmas gift for my…read morehusband. We flew up from Pittsburgh and had an amazing time. What a great evening on the sunset wine and sail with an extremely knowledgeable sommelier. We highly recommend this for anyone visiting the Portland area. We tasted 5 wines and received a charcuterie box as well. We now want to travel to Fort Lauderdale to say we did both locations!

This was my third time on the Frances. It's one of my favorite wine sails of all time. Every time I…read morecome back to my #1 vacation spot of Portland, this is where I book first. The host was different and I was a bit irritated by the amount of her narrative/talking but otherwise we had fun. The little box of snacks was okay. On precious sails, I recall getting a glass tray where you can hook your wine glass and they'll give you cheese on there to enjoy. I preferred back in the days and am hoping this was just a slight glitch bc I'm still coming back! One of my best memories there.

Our tour guide made the ride from one brewery to the next as enjoyable as the stops, filled with…read morefun brewing history and information. The bus was clean and comfortable. 14 people got on the bus as strangers and bonded quickly over beers and brew tales. This really seemed like the kind of adventure you could do again and again. Can't wait to go back and share the Maine Beer Tour experience with others. The one downside was that, as someone who is perpetually early, the lack of signage to be sure I was in the right place made me a bit nervous that I was where I was suppose to be to catch the bus. We hung out in front of the Portland Lobster Co. For a few minutes before others arrived to reassure us we were in the right spot. Overall, this was a fantastic adventure for this beer lover. I learned new things about breweries I thought I knew everything about and was introduced to Bunker Brews and Ice Tea Mead. We'll be back.

Great harbor tour. We thoroughly enjoyed the beer and the commentary. I would highly recommend.read more

Awesome tour! My wife and I attended the Seafood Tour in Portland with Pete and we had a fantastic…read moretime! We went to Andy's, Gilbert's, Rigby Yard and finished with some sweet treats to wrap up the tour. Pete had such a knowledge and love for Maine that we wanted to hang out with him after! I highly recommend the trip and doing it early in your trip any extended stay in Portland - we added a long list of ToDo's that Pete recommended and have not been disappointed by a single one. Highly recommend. Thank you, Pete M!

I attended the Portland: Old Port Culinary Walking Tour on Sunday, June 14, 2026 at 10:30 am with…read moreAnne and Ross. Usually, there is only one tour guide and it was supposed to be Anne only but Ross joined in as well. The Old Port Culinary Walking Tour is a foodie tour with a mix of history and culture. Our group consisted of 13 people. The tour starts at Andy's Old Port Pub with an introduction from our tour guides. At Andy's Old Port Pub, we were seated in the backroom and had a seasoned, grilled fresh haddock with house-made pickled vegetables, pico de gallo and lime crema in a corn tortilla and Andy's house Lager. Ross talked about the suspicious happenings and history at Andy's Old Port Pub. They both talked about Harbor Fish Market which was right across the street and how the seafood never see the back of a truck. I thought the fish taco was okay and was probably my least favorite food item from the whole tour. Andy's house Lager was very smooth and I really enjoyed it. Then, we walked next door to Gilberts Chowder House where we had a choice of Clam Chowder, Haddock Chowder, Corn & Chicken Chowder, Seafood Chowder, or Seafood Chili. I chose the Clam Chowder. The Clam Chowder was thick and not as creamy as I usually like my clam chowders. Here, Anne was showing us pictures of lobster abnormalities. After having our chowder, we walked to the historic U.S. Custom House and old fishing docks. We even got a postcard of the old fishing docks which was a nice souvenir. Next, we stopped at Rigby Yard and were seated in a small private room. We were offered several drink options; I chose a glass of prosecco. We had the Fresh Maine Lobster Roll with fresh Maine lobster meat Maine-style, tossed lightly in mayo, lemon, and sea salt served on a brioche roll with chips. The lobster was definitely fresh and good. The last two stops were dessert spots: Dean's Sweets and The Gelato Fiasco. We had a needham which is a confectionery dessert bar made from sugar, chocolate, coconut, and potato and we had the option to choose another truffle. I chose a blueberry one. At The Gelato Fiasco, we were able to choose 2 different flavors. Funny enough, I had went to The Gelato Fiasco the night before and it really is delicious gelato. I was glad to try different flavors. The tour finished about 1:45pm. The tour guides thanked us for spending our time together. The Portland: Old Port Culinary Walking Tour was fun and I enjoyed meeting the other people in our group. Anne and Ross were very knowledgeable with Portland's history and food scene. They had good recommendations for other things to do in Portland. The food we had on the tour was okay according to my opinion, but it was definitely a good variety of Maine dishes.

Great atmosphere and the staff is always friendly and eager to tell stories of old. We originally…read morebegan going to the winery in Lincolnville and we were so excited when the o e at Thompson's point opened! We've now been regulars there as well. It's wonderful when the atmosphere, the wine and the service are excellent!