USA, ME: Oxbow Brewing Company to acquire Rising Tide Brewing in Portland

Oxbow Brewing Company announced on December 4 that it would acquire Portland-based Rising Tide Brewing in the coming weeks, Bangor Daily News reported.

Oxbow, which was founded in 2011 in the Lincoln County town of Newcastle, said it would acquire Rising Tide later this month. Oxbow founder Tim Adams said that Rising Tide founders Heather and Nathan Sanborn were “instrumental” figures in Maine’s brewing industry, and that Rising Tide’s selection of beers would complement Oxbow’s.

“Their team does an amazing job and their brewing values are in line with our own,” said Adams, in a Facebook post announcing the acquisition. “They take their time and make decisions with a quality-above-all-else mentality.”

Rising Tide, founded in 2010, was one of the first breweries in Portland’s East Bayside neighborhood, which is now a nationally recognized craft beer destination. It specializes in traditional American and European beers, and its flagship beer is Maine Island Trail Ale, a session IPA that benefits the Maine Island Trail Association.

Adams said Oxbow would still produce Rising Tide beers, with Nathan Sanborn continuing to brew those beers. Rising Tide’s Portland brewery will also stay open.

Oxbow has three locations statewide, including its original brewery in Newcastle; its popular Portland location, Oxbow Blending and Bottling; and the Oxbow Beer Garden in the western Maine town of Oxford. It specializes in farmhouse ales and lagers, including its flagship Farmhouse Pale Ale, which is distributed across the Northeast.

Adams said that while Oxbow and Rising Tide produce very different types of beers, the beer-drinking public is increasingly more interested in traditional, less complicated brews.

“The pendulum is swinging back to traditional beers, and between Oxbow and Rising Tide we’ve now got those bases fully covered,” he said. “Bar menus and retail shelves are steadily becoming more balanced and approachable, while an increasingly educated and discerning consumer is demanding higher quality.”

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