Aekeir Brewing owner Jeremy Meyers pours a beer behind the counter at his taproom at 111 Main St. in Wiscasset the afternoon of Monday, June 17. Meyers opened the taproom to the public on June 5. (Piper Pavelich photo)
A Boothbay man’s brewery has made its way to Main Street in Wiscasset to serve the community a taste of home through a variety of beers.
Aekeir Brewing’s taproom, at 111 Main St. in Wiscasset, opened on June 5, with owner Jeremy Meyers’ current signature beers on tap.
Meyers has been interested in brewing since he was a teenager, he said. Following a trip to Germany, where it was legal for him to try beer, Meyers began brewing on his own. He once thought brewing was a large-scale operation, but was gladly proved wrong when his own grandfather tried it at home.
“That, to me, was like a ‘eureka’ moment,” he said.
Meyers purchased a home-brewing kit when he was about 17 years old, and the rest is history.
“I brewed a couple of batches without my parents finding out, and then I think by the third batch, it was still not very good, but I was proud enough that I told my mom and I let her try some of my beer … From then on, I brewed with my mom’s blessing,” he said.
Meyers and his wife opened their first brewery in Virginia in 2021, operating a small, one-barrel brewery in a strip mall. They later expanded to a 10-barrel brewery, but found that to be more stress than it was worth.
The couple and their children made their way to Maine around the time Meyers’ mother was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away in 2019.
“She got 19 months, which was way better than the prognosis. So, here we are, and she would have loved to see this,” said Meyers.
While he’s not originally from the area, Meyers has been able to make his mark on the Boothbay peninsula. After making his way up from Virginia with his family, Meyers began his business in May 2022, distributing cans of delectable beer from his home in East Boothbay.
However, Meyers decided this was not a sustainable model for his business, so he decided to try to open a taproom location in his front yard. Before he could submit a permit application, Boothbay town officials told Meyers that this operation would not be allowed.
He then began looking at properties in the area, envisioning the kind of taproom he would open for the community to enjoy.
Meyers found the location at 111 Main St. in October 2023 and signed the lease the next month.
Aekeir Brewing, at 111 Main St. in Wiscasset. The company, owned by Jeremy Meyers, of Boothbay, opened the Wiscasset taproom on June 5. (Piper Pavelich photo)
“I just thought it had so much character, it was what I always kind of saw in my head as a place where I would want to have a brewery,” said Meyers.
One of his favorite parts about the location is the “pub-like” atmosphere, said Meyers, with the building showcasing many materials, such as stone, brick, and wood.
Overall, Meyers wants people to know that, as much as his brewery is a business, it is also his passion project.
“I don’t want to expand; I don’t want to have too much complexity because I want to make sure that the beer that I put out is the absolute best product that I can make, period,” he said. “I don’t want the grind … I don’t see it as a business as much as it’s just sort of an expression of what I like to do.”
Meyers said his number one priority is that his customers see that his craft takes precedence over anything else.
The menu at the taproom will be ever-changing, said Meyers. As current beers run out, new flavors will be brought in, encouraging customers to try something new each time they come in for a drink. The taproom does not have food on the menu, but outside food is allowed, said Meyers.
Aekeir Brewing is open Wednesday and Thursday from 2-8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 2-9 p.m. For more information, call 687-8084, email aekeirbrewing@gmail.com, go to aekeirbrewing.me, or find the brewery on Facebook.
