LEWISTON, Maine — UPDATE: Luke Livingston retired from the business on Friday, September 13th, passing the torch on to new president, Jenn Lever, who has been Baxter's operations manager.
In a state packed full of breweries, it's hard to pick favorites when all seem to be trying new things or finding their own creative ways to stand out. With new ones opening every year, it's impressive to see one that's been around for a while continue to grow.
Like Baxter Brewing Company.
Eight years ago, a very young Luke Livingston moved from brewing in his home bathtub, to industrial tanks inside the Bates Mill in Lewiston.
"When we designed Baxter and built Baxter, a lot of people don't remember this, but it was illegal in the state of Maine back then to sell beer for on-premise consumption in a brewery," Livingston recalls. "You could get a four ounce sample in conjunction with a tour or you could pick up a four pack to take home, but the taproom model that is prolific in the state right now didn't exist back then."
When the law changed, Livingston knew he wanted to expand his taproom into a pub, he just didn't know when or how. Until now.
The Pub at Baxter just opened in mill space next to the brewery. It features more than twenty varieties of Baxter beer on tap, pub-style food, and an atmosphere that pays homage to the once working mills. The bar top is made up of floor boards found in the old space; an old generator is one of the first things you see when you enter the new space; and a massive ledge cuts into a wall near the new Skee-ball set up.
"Between the mills there were more than 5,000 people working here and it was loud and dusty and dangerous and gross, so I think people don't necessarily think of the buildings as beautiful until you get to see what's possible in them, and hopefully that leads to continued preservation of mills throughout the northeast," says Livingston, who's proud to showcase not only the mills but a product he and his team have continued to adjust and sell to the people of the greater Lewiston/Auburn area.
"I grew up in Auburn and graduated from Edward Little and saw these mills sitting dormant for most of my childhood so it was really excited to have the opportunity to breathe life and breathe manufacturing specifically back into the mills," says Livingston, who says he's glad he made the choice to open here.
"We've always been a big fish in a small pond, even in 2010 when we broke ground there were already a dozen breweries in Portland - now there are 12,000 - but at the time there were a dozen and there were no production breweries in Lewiston/Auburn so the community even back then really rallied around us because of that."
For updates on The Pub at Baxter, click here.