We Should Really Go Barhopping!

Portland, Maine, USA

This was my brother Ben's big request. Apparently, Portland has the best barhopping scene in the country, with the most bars in a single square mile, so he thought it would be good if Lil and I came down to Portland, went barhopping, and crashed on his (formerly my) futon. So this afternoon, we gathered up our pillows and quilts, and made our way down to Portland.

I had called along the way to say that, while I don't like beer, I was rather in the mood for some cider, if he knew where it could be had, so we started at a brewery where Ben knew there was cider on hand. While we drank, he picked my brain about how he might write a grant proposal that would pay for his Model UN team to go to the international Model UN in Taiwan in the spring.

Then Lil said, if we were bar-hopping, we'd better have our second round at a second bar. Ben knew of another brewery, and we were off.

But when it came time for a third round, Ben confessed that he only knew 2 bars in Portland, plus Sebago's where we'd had dinner on my first night back, but it was more a restaurant than a bar. So we went wandering through town, but I guess we're getting too old for bar-hopping. Several of them were so loud, we couldn't have heard ourselves think, let alone talk! One was offering 50 cent PBR, and another offering 50 cent Long Islands. Eventually we decided that Portland's bar scene was too frat-boy for us, and went to Sebago's anyway, where we had more drinks with munchies.

From Maine 2009

And in fact, though some might think us sad and boring with our 3-bar tour, we had a great evening!