This past Saturday was a glorious 55-degree day in Southern Maine, so my husband and I decided to get outside and enjoy the great combination of sunshine, mild air, and snow. We headed west to Oxford, where Oxbow Brewing Company has opened its third location on a property with cross-country ski trails. Formerly Carter's XC Ski Center, there's a few miles of trails through the woods and fields here where you can ski, fat bike, and snowshoe.
I rented skis at Gorham Bike and Ski in Portland, but the Portland Gear Hub has just opened a shop at the Oxbow Beer Garden, renting bikes, skis, and snowshoes, so you can come empty-handed.
After we swished through the woods and worked up a sweat, we headed back to the parking lot to retire our gear and explore the pizza and beer options. The brewery has a bottle shop and restaurant on site, perfect for rewarding yourself after a woodsy workout.
We hit up the bottle shop first, where I found a two Oxbow beers I'm excited about—Magenta, a mixed fermentation farmhouse ale refermented with Concord grape juice, and a 4-pack of Surfer Rossa, a salted grissette with blood orange. There were easily dozens of other choices.
Next, we headed into the restaurant, which has been beautifully done with a great mix of modern and farmhouse elements. The space has two seating areas on two stories and bar stools, topped with the signature repurposed signs made by their artistic director, Will Sears.
The menu is small, with one soup, a salad, four kinds of pizzas, and two desserts (a build your own pizza option is available too). We opted for the Caesar salad ($7) with bacon croutons and a delightfully mustardy dressing, and a cheese pizza ($13).
The pizza was about 12" and delicious—a thin, floppy sourdough crust made with Maine grains that had tons of flavor. I don't normally eat pizza crusts, but I ate all of it here!
We also enjoyed beers from the 18 on tap—a India Pale Lager and a New England-style IPA brewed in collaboration with Brooklyn's Other Half Brewing. The bartender was friendly and our food came out quickly.
The beer garden also has live music and has started hosting a pop-up sauna built in an Sprinter van on Sundays. There's talk of revitalizing the disc golf course to use the property in the summer. In short, there's a lot going on and it's only going to get better and better. Be sure to add Oxbow Beer Garden to your list of places to visit out of Portland.
