Red Hands

from Portland Monthly Magazine Summerguide 2023

Hiding in Maine. With Us.

£12.99

If you guessed that the name is inspired by the Portland Rum Riot violently suppressed by Mayor Neal Dow, reward yourself with a drink. At Liquid Riot, we nd ourselves in the company of kindred spirits. e interior features dark industrial brewery decor: tree-slab tabletops, barrels, and rusty iron ttings. e brewing area is visible in an enclosure behind the bar, and column and pot stills appear in a separate glassed-o space near the front of the building. Warm in winter, it’s cool and comfortable in summer. e back deck is roofed with corrugated berglass and enclosed by plexiglass. Every table on the deck has a heater hanging from above. Lobster boats dock just a few steps away. While we are there, a bulk cargo ship motors upriver.

Liquid Riot distills more whiskeys than any other local distillery, so we honor that choice by having an Old Port Whiskey Flight: bourbon, rye, single malt, and their Bon re Spirit e Old Port Bourbon is not too di erent from Evan Williams, though a blind taste test might reveal distinctions. e Old Port Rye is spicier than the bourbon but without the aggressive bite of many mass-produced ryes. We enjoy it. e Old Port Single Malt is peaty, smoky, and wouldn’t be out of place in the Scottish Isles. e Bon re, called an “American spirit,” is a tasty whiskey made from Sebago Brewing

Liquid Assets

Company’s Bon re Rye Ale. Bon re, like the Sebago ale, could easily be a fall favorite.

We must mention the Fernet Michaud, a multiple-award-winning spirit. It may be the single best way to nish a meal. Drunk neat, it’s a bit of an acquired taste and a medicinal cure-all.

As be ts a self-described “resto-bar,” Liquid Riot pays attention to food. We try an order of fries and some ribs, both tasty.

e ribs have a sweet and savory Korean barbecue sauce. Drinking cocktails at $14$18 a pop is not for the budget-conscious. Pair their house staple cocktails—Old Port Fashioned, Painkiller, or Blueberry Island— with tacos or a sandwich, and nish with the Fernet Michaud.

Last But Not Least

All good safaris must come to an end, and our spirited evening stops with the last swallow of Fernet Michaud. We haven’t hit all the distilleries in Portland. Batson River Brew-

Liquid Assets

ing & Distilling, the Bayside ne-dining restaurant, distills on the premises and is worth an evening’s exploration on its own. Sweetgrass Winery & Distillery has a tasting room for its distilled spirits on Fore Street, and New England Distilling o ers tours by appointment. Stroudwater Distillery has taken a temporary hiatus from on-site tastings, but stay tuned for their eventual return.

Dare to explore. n

Editor’s Note: Historically Portland played a signiﬁcant role in transatlantic human trafﬁcking by producing and exporting rum, one of the products most commonly exchanged for human beings by slave traders, thus linking the economic prosperity that Portland and other colonial New England cities enjoyed to the exploitation and suffering of enslaved people in the Caribbean and Africa as well as in what is now the United States. This cheap, potent rum produced in colonial New England was largely superseded by whiskey as a trading commodity in the 19th century. Today, rum production in Maine is pursued by small-batch craft enterprises focusing on premium quality. For further reading, see Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776 by Ian Williams and Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History by Sidney W. Mintz.