The Liberal Cup and Run of the Mill Public House are combined in this blog because they are another of Maine’s incestuous brew pubs.  I had no idea on these two were basically the same until I was told by a truly independent brewer. I must say that the fact that these are owned by the same people and carry the same beer was a bit disappointing. They both had so much character and charm that I wanted to see them show that in their beer selection.

The Liberal Cup is located on the main street in Hallowell, Maine. The town has so much character and looks like a fall back to the 1800’s. The brew pub sits in an old rowhouse surrounded by local restaurants and shops.  The feeling within the pub is homey and makes me nostalgic for my times in Old Town Alexandria.  The atmosphere is so homey in fact that you can imagine sitting inside on a cold day with the snow falling outside while having a rich, dark porter.

The Run of the Mill Public House is also located in a historic building but in Saco, Maine which is much closer to Portland.  Here the brew pub is located  in an old mill house.  The atmosphere is still charming, but not so much so as at The Liberal Cup.  In both locations, staff and patrons seemed friendly, making the place even more enjoyable.  Next to the Run of the Mill is a small university so I imagine that during the school year the place is hopping with local college kids.

While the locations are unique, the beers unfortunately are not.   The best beer of the lot was the Bug Zapper Super Lager. I am generally not a lager fan and I really wanted to like the other beers, especially the for Richer or Poorter and the Ex-Wife Extra Bitter. By far, these beers had the most creative names of the Maine breweries I visited and I always like to give extra points for creativity.  However, I didn’t find that the tastes stood up to the creative names.