After almost two years of fizz and fermentation Maine Booch Brewing will be closing its doors for good on Monday, March 27. Before it goes it will host a final slate of events, a celebration of a place that featured not only organic craft-brewed hard kombucha, but also local musicians, open mic storytelling, poetry readings, and what owner and founder Chauncey Erskine described as “the occasional raucous rock concert.”
Maine Booch also provided a haven – a place where people who may not be comfortable in conventional bar settings could relax, open up, engage in interesting conversations with strangers, form deep friendships or romantic entanglements, be themselves, laugh, and dance.
“Everyone feels safe here, said patron Caroline Long. “I met so many of my really good friends here, it draws in amazing people.”
In 18 months, Erskine created a community space open to everyone and anyone – the old, the young, the LGBTQ+ community, locals, tourists, and transplants alike.
“If you think historically, coastal Maine has been somewhat closed off to the idea of newcomers,” Erskine said. “There’s been a schism between those from here and those from away. This space has transcended that.”
Holly Zeller, the “booch tender” on Monday nights, started with the business just after it opened in August of 2021. She said she knew nothing about kombucha when she started.
“I still don’t,” she joked.
One of Zeller’s favorite duties was sourcing T-shirts from local thrift shops that could be upcycled with an imprint of the Maine Booch logo. The upcycled shirts are a favorite aspect of the business for Erskine too. He said he regularly spots them at concert venues, even in locations outside Maine, an indicator of a potentially enduring legacy.
Maine Booch began as a side project for Erskine, born out of his interest in fermentation and a serendipitous experiment mixing home-brewed kombucha with rhubarb wine while in lockdown during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hard kombucha, or “booch,” appeals to those seeking alternatives to beer, hard seltzers, or traditional cocktails but some are less enamored of kombucha’s taste and acidity.
Kombucha is a drink crafted from yeast, sugar, bacteria, and tea that initially became popular as a health tonic. The most familiar iteration of the drink is nonalcoholic, but Erskine said his product is inherently different from the traditional version.
“It’s intentionally alcoholic,” he said.
Erskine’s recipes feature more fermentation cycles as well as the addition of champagne yeast, which results in a drink with 6.5% alcohol by volume that is lighter in flavor and more appealing than many of the nonalcoholic versions.
Erskine said that over the course of the business, Maine Booch has poured in the neighborhood of 14 different flavors of kombucha. The hibiscus and ginger-flavored Aloha and the hoppy IPB with its hint of grapefruit are the mainstays with a third tap featuring rotating recipes.
Most recently Erskine brewed an emerald-hued blend of cardamom and cinnamon with a hint of coffee and “some of the luck of the Irish” for St. Patrick’s Day.
What Erskine likes about fermentation is that it embraces entropy, making something new out of something old.
“It stops the aging process,” he said. “Think about it. How long does a jar of pickles last?”
Erskine said the closing of the popular kombucha bar is the result of a confluence of factors – the recent sale of the building and the termination of the business’ commercial lease; the expanding family and consequent diminishing availability of his brew partner, Shea Quill; and his own restless spirit.
“I’m ready for a new lease on life,” he said. “I want to read more books, start writing, and finally learn how to fly fish.”
Still, he finds the closing bittersweet.
While much of the fixtures and decor will be sold, there are a couple of pieces Erskine will hold on to, like the painting of “Captain Kan,” an old salt standing at a ship’s wheel whose eyes have observed the bar from the starboard wall since the day the business opened, as well as several works from the first featured art show at Maine Booch coordinated by Portland-based Bomb Diggity Arts, a program that fosters artists with intellectual disabilities.
He’ll hold on to memories too, like the day he forced himself to stop working and watch local musician Caleb Jones perform from the customer side of the bar.
“I just took in the energy of being there,” he said. “And how appreciative the customers were of everything that was happening.”
He’ll remember the sunset sessions, when Jones and singer Olivia DeLisle performed from the upstairs balcony for people on the sidewalk as the sun sank behind the Damariscotta River.
He’ll remember the time two sailors, “50-year-old English blokes,” who had circumnavigated the world, came up the river and saw the bar from the water. Erskine said they called Maine Booch “one of the coolest pubs” they had patronized in their travels.
“To hear that from seafaring Englishmen meant a lot,” he said.
Erskine hopes that Maine Booch will be a model for future entrepreneurs. If anybody wants to step into the space that he is leaving behind, he encourages them to do it.
“It’s been a pleasure playing a previously unassumed role in the community and I’m really excited for someone else to step into the space that we’ve created and continue on this youthful energy because it’s what we need in an ever-aging town characterized by conservative values,” he said.
On Friday, March 24, from 5-9 p.m. Maine Booch will host poet and spoken word artist Gypsy Typewriter, who will compose verses to order in a manner reflective of her name.
On Saturday, March 25, from 5-7 p.m., open mic storytelling will feature themes of endings and silver linings.
On Sunday, March 26, from 4-6 p.m. Portland-based band S.C.O.B.Y will perform. Erskine said he first booked S.C.O.B.Y based on their name, but their self-described mix of math rock, metal, prog, dance, and “weird influences” became a favorite of Maine Booch customers.
While the band changes the meaning of their acronym at will (it’s currently “Salty City of Boring Yuppies”) the initials also happen to represent the “Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast,” a critical component of kombucha.
The band posted the news of the farewell performance on Instagram.
“We’ve had some of the best times as a band there so far, and we want to send them off from this current location with a bang. Come see us play for this spot for the last time, we are gonna SEND IT,” the post said.
Finally, on Monday, March 27, at 8:59 p.m. Zeller will likely perform her iconic rendition of Prince’s “Purple Rain” for the last few customers who are not yet ready for the song to end.
Maine Booch, located at 85 Parking Lot Lane in the Damariscotta municipal parking lot, will open from 5-9 p.m. Friday, March 25, 3-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 25-26, and 5-9 p.m. Monday, March 27.
For more information, find Maine Booch Brewing on Facebook and Instagram.
