New Brew Thursday: 'Holy Donut' from Lone Pine Brewing

While it has been about a month since I returned from Maine, I still have a few beers from the trip. One of these beers is ‘Holy Donut’ from Lone Pine. As I was looking at breweries in the Portland area, I came across Lone Pine. Upon learning they had this beer that was not only a collaboration with The Holy Donut, one of the best donut shops around, but was also described as an Imperial Double Sour Ale with Donuts, blueberries, vanilla, and lactose I knew it was something I had to try.

‘Holy Donut’ pours into the glass as a cloudy bluish, purplish beer with a light pink head and smells exactly like a blueberry-vanilla donut. With strong notes of both blueberry and vanilla, with a subtle note of a freshly baked and glazed donut it is a sweet and fruity smelling beer. The flavor is awesome. The initial tartness of the blueberry gives way to the sweetness of the vanilla and the lactose before returning at the end for a lingering tartness that stays on the middle of your tongue. The lactose also gives the beer extra body as well, giving it a slightly thicker mouthfeel than your typical sour. Even though it is labeled as an ‘Imperial Sour’ and has an ABV of 7.5% it is extremely refreshing and quite crushable.

While I will not be coming back to Maine anytime soon, you bet that one of my first stops will be to visit Lone Pine.

Maine Trip

We have been back from Maine for about a week now and it was an awesome trip. While we only went to two breweries, Maine Beer Company and Rising Tide we were able to get cans from Bissell Brothers, Liquid Riot, and Lone Pine. We also visited a bunch of restaurants and walked all around the Old Port. It was a bit surreal at times as it was empty due to various social distancing restrictions but it was still fantastic. Here are some highlights:

- It stunk not being able to get pours at Bissell which is always one of my stops in Portland. But I was able to pick up one of my favorite beers 'The Nuclear Whim With The Fuse Of A Mile.' It is an exceptional beer with an even better name. As I've written before I am always a sucker for a good name.

- We were not able to get to Allagash but had a few of their offerings at some of the nearby restaurants. I was a little disappointed they didn't have 'Sixteen Counties' but it has been distributed nearby so I will be on the lookout.

- The food was incredible, we did not have a bad meal the entire time we were there.

- There were a lot of good summer beers around. Very good lagers, pilsners, and sessions as well. However, one of the best beers from the weekend was 'Totally Tubular' from Orono Brewing. This double IPA was super juicy and really nice.

- While it was an awesome trip there were lots of breweries that were not open for pours that we couldn't get cans at: Sebago, Shipyard, and Austin Street just to name a few. We will definitely be back next year.