FAQs
No. In Portland, we open at 12PM Monday-Friday and 11AM on Saturdays for can-only sales, until noon. In Milo, we open at 3PM on Thursday and Fridays and 12PM on Saturdays and Sundays. We do not do presales or releases at different times other than stated.
An allocated amount of cases are released each week to our distributor, Sleek Machine, who places them on the shelves of the small list of local, independently-owned retailers we work with. Contact Sleek Machine for info on where the beer is going on a given week.
Portland: We do not offer growlers in our Portland Taproom.
Three Rivers: We do offer a selection of beer to take away in growlers in our Three Rivers Taproom.
No.
We do not offer flights, but encourage each beer to be enjoyed individually. We offer pour sizes depending on the beer you order. 20oz pours of our lagers, and 12oz or 16oz pours of the other beers in our lineup. We also offer half-pours of all of our beers. Customers may purchase one beer per person each time they come up to the bar. Buying a round of beers for your group or table is fine as long as every person in your party has presented their ID to the staff.
Currently there is some type of line most can release days. We do nothing to orchestrate or encourage this, and we are always working to improve service and figure out ways to process more people in less time. We are also growing, which will hopefully lead to a new normal—where the beer is consistently available in cans throughout the day, and there is no need to queue.
We are often asked on social media or through email, “what will the line be like today?” Please understand and respect that we cannot accurately predict this. Many factors, such as time of year, time of the week, type of beers offered on a given day, school vacations, holiday weekends, etc. play a factor in the size of the line. As a rule of thumb, Tuesdays and Thursdays are generally our slowest day of the week. Wednesdays and Fridays are usually similar in volume, and Saturdays remain the busiest day of the week, regardless of season. Beyond these general guidelines, we cannot offer anything beyond updating social media throughout the day on can amounts. There have been days we thought we’d be slow and were blindsided by the volume, and have had turnouts far below expected on days we thought we would get hit hard.
Not yet, unfortunately. We are still selling out of cans many days of operation. Our flagship Substance Ale is the only beer that we allot a set amount for each day. We start each day of can sales (Tuesday–Sunday in Portland) with an amount of Substance cases based on the total yield from the week’s packaging run. All other beers are sold on their release day until they are gone. Some sell out that day, others will last through several days. The speed of these sales involves many factors—days of the week/seasons, school vacations, weather, popularity of different beer styles, and total amount of cases on hand. For your convenience, we plan our releases far in advance to allow you to make arrangements to come to Bissell Brothers for your favorite beers. Please see below for our can release schedule for Portland.
Please note: can availability on Sundays is determined by what is leftover from earlier in the week. Often, we have no cans available on Sundays. For the most updated information on can availability, check social media.
We don’t, but our neighbor right next door does.
Be sure to check out Locally Sauced when you visit. You may purchase and bring their amazing food into our taproom. Please note that we have a carry in/carry out food policy—if you bring food into our tasting room, we ask that you dispose of it when you leave.
No.
Tours in Porltand are given via the Maine Brew Bus.
Portland: As much we love dogs, we do not allow them in our taproom.
Three Rivers: We do allow dogs in the Three Rivers Taproom, but they must be on a leash at all times, and must also be well behaved.
We are honored you would think of us for your special event, but we do not rent out our taproom.
Portland: We do have an online store that offers a small variety of merchandise that we will ship upon order.
Three Rivers: We do have an online store that offers a small variety of merchandise that we will ship upon order.
No. In Portland, we open at 12PM Monday-Friday and 11AM on Saturdays for can-only sales, until noon. In Milo, we open at 3PM on Thursday and Fridays and 12PM on Saturdays and Sundays. We do not do presales or releases at different times other than stated.