The Maine Beer Box has arrived in the United Kingdom for the Leeds International Beer Festival, loaded with more than 400 kegs from 65 breweries, and 78 different beer varieties, ranging from New England IPAs and sour ales to an oyster-infused stout and a spruce pine ale.
Carrying forward an international beer trade launched last year with Iceland, brewers from across the state filled the Maine Beer Box with fresh craft beer and sent it aboard a freighter ship over 5,000 kilometers to Leeds.
The Maine Beer Box is a custom-built, 12-metre long, refrigerated shipping container, complete with 78 beer taps on the side and a fully self-contained CO2 draft system. It allows Maine beer to be served anywhere that can be reached by land or sea, and serves as a symbol of the collaborative spirit of Maine’s brewers.
The Beer Box and Maine brewers will be the centerpiece of the festival, which runs from September 6 to 9 and which draws more than 12,000 international beer lovers to the Yorkshire region. Festival attendees will have the chance to try 78 different Maine craft beers over the course of the four-day festival.
Festival organiser, John Kelly, said: “We are thrilled that the Maine Brewers’ Guild have chosen Leeds International Beer Festival as the UK destination for the Maine Beer Box.
‘Exciting addition’
“With the shared aspiration of promoting and supporting breweries and beer making in our own parts of the world, the Maine Beer Box will be an incredible and exciting addition to the seventh LIBF. The festival is also proud to act as a platform and host this reciprocal initiative.”
More than an outlet to introduce beer to new markets, the Global Brewers Trade project is a way to forge collaboration between brewers across the globe and give brewers from both countries a change to discover new flavours, techniques and styles.
Representatives from 25 Maine breweries have travelled with their beer to the United Kingdom, where they will meet with local brewers, share their craft and pour beer side by side at the festival.
Sean Sullivan executive director of the Maine Brewers’ Guild, said: “For decades, American brewers have looked to European and British brewers for inspiration. Now, brewers and beer lovers around the world have their sights set on New England as the hotbed of global brewing innovation, and Maine is leading that charge.”
After global beer lovers get a taste of Maine beer at the Leeds International Beer Festival, brewers from across the United Kingdom will load the Beer Box with their own craft beer and ship it back across the North Atlantic to Portland, Maine, where beer from regions across the United Kingdom will be featured at the Guild’s Winter Session Beer Festival in November.
