(Portland, ME) – Sebago Brewing is going to release its Local Harvest Ale on tap tonight (in just a few hours!) at the Great Lost Bear (6pm). All three Sebago brewpubs will have it on tap by Friday as well as some other spots. More importantly, for those not in southern Maine, the brewery is bottling some for the first time and will distribute it in 22 oz. bombers by the end of the month [ed. note: is this Maine’s first-ever bottled fresh hop beer?].

According to Head Brewer, Tom Abercrombie, “We ended up getting about 90 lbs. of locally grown hops to split between two 40 bbl. batches.” On its Facebook wall, Sebago posted that brewing took place on August 20th: “The brewhouse smelled incredible and we made twice as much as last year. We will be dry hopping with Willard Beach Cascade hops.” Says Abercrombie, “Most of last year’s description holds true [see below]. We just had way more hops per addition this time. All of the locally grown hops were used in the mash, for hop tea, or as dry hops.”

Some of the hops come from Irish Hill Farm in Monroe [I presume this is in Maine but couldn’t find a website].

Here is the label description: “Sebago Local Harvest Ale is brewed with hops grown in Maine. The abundant aroma of citrus, pine, and lemon grass come from hopping this beer four ways: in the mash, in the kettle, steeped, and dry hopped. This auburn Autumn classic is balanced with the careful addition of chocolate and caramel malts to create this extremely Single Batch Series ale.”

Last year’s description describes the hopping process in more detail though it may have changed a bit in the current year: “First we mash hopped it with the locally grown hops from Pine Point in Scarborough. The brewhouse had a wonderful flower hop aroma steaming out of it. Secondly, we traditionally hopped in the kettle with Amarillo, Cascade and Centennial pellets. Finally it is both dry hopped and wet hopped in a conditioning tank with whole leaf local hops from South Portland and Scarborough.”

Finally, this year’s beer edition hits 6.2% ABV and 55 IBU versus last year’s 35 IBU’s and 4.8% ABV.