Like many renowned beers from this part of the United States, this globally celebrated beer from Maine Beer Company greets you with the age old crafty conundrum around how to categorise it. Depending on your point of reference, you may understand “Lunch” – and no I’m not talking about the second meal of the day – to be an American IPA (a la Untappd). If you follow the path of reading reviews, warring factions of the beer drinking masses may have you firmly agreeing it either as a West Coast IPA or a New England IPA. A few may even sway you to identify it as something else – perhaps even a hybrid. You may be in the camp of not declaring it at all because who needs titles anyways?! All while the brewery itself describes it as an “East Coast version of a West Coast”. Regardless of where you stand, only one thing is for sure that is not up for debate – that like the brewery itself, this beer sends you down a wholesome path of thinking about “doing good” for the community around you and the environment.
Caution – Wordier Breakdown Below.
To those uninitiated, the brewery’s three other meal-inspired releases —‘Dinner’, ‘Second Dinner’, and the newest addition, ‘Breakfast’ — may have you believing otherwise, but ‘Lunch’ is actually named after a finback whale first spotted off the coast of Maine in 1982 by Allied Whale. According to the blurb on MBC’s website, Allied Whale is the “marine mammal lab at the College of the Atlantic” and is “home to the world’s largest library of photo-identified whales”. Lunch (the whale) was aptly named due to what appears to be a bite taken out of her dorsal fin, with her infamous silhouette mirrored in the outline just above the name on the Lunch label (no, it’s not a mountain).
Doing some additional digging on the internet in an attempt to clarify whether or not the beer itself raises money for Allied Whale through sales of the beer, I found that MBC partnered with the non-profit. While though they don’t appear to donate proceeds from every Lunch sold, they have done so during special fundraising events and according to one of their posts on instagram, a total of nearly $26k was raised this past August for a grant that was given to Allied Whale by MBC.
I reached out to MBC regarding further details to do with the partnership and charity efforts relating to Lunch, but had not heard back by the time of posting this blog in April 2025 (I’ll share any updates or amendments in future if they arise).
Maine Beer Company officially launched in 2009 by two brothers – David and Daniel Kleban – after experimenting with homebrewing. Roughly 15.6 miles (or a ~20-minute drive) north of central Portland, Maine, the Freeport-based brewery has grown from its inception as a bottle shop only located in Portland to its current home in Freeport since 2013, eventually expanding in size once again in 2019 to accommodate what Vinepair have reported to be a total of 450 guests.
But MBC’s motto of “Do what’s right” (it’s literally on their branding) doesn’t start and end with Lunch or Allied Whale. Driven by their purpose of “doing good through great beer”, they’re a self-described proud member of 1% for the Planet, with sustainability at the forefront alongside an “employee-directed giving program” that invests back into their team by offering them the opportunity to choose which non-profit MBC will be championing for the month (further details and a list outlining every charity dating back to the start of 2019 can be found on their website, here).
The values listed on their website are ones that I feel most of us could and should take with us wherever we go in life – “Take care of the Earth and encourage others to do the same. Be open and honest, even when it’s uncomfortable. Take care of ourselves and each other. Never let each other down. Always make things better. Be respectful and kind. Quality always.”
This feels imperative now more than ever. Having visited The Alchemist in Vermont this past summer and being incredibly impressed by their employee programmes, sustainability efforts, and commitment to giving back to the local community, researching MBC beyond the surface-level knowledge of a long-since expatriated New Englander has opened my eyes to how there is so much I thought I knew about the breweries “back home”, but haven’t actually had a clue about (in a good way).
As briefly highlighted, I found this beer to be discussed across platforms using multiple (and somewhat conflicting) styles as reference points – a general American IPA, a New England IPA (NEIPA), and a West Coast IPA (WCIPA). While there are some similarities between them, there are also some clear and identifiable differences.
Below I’ve summarise style guidance as provided by the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) and the American BA (Brewer’s Association) for anybody not already familiar –
NEIPA: Where the WC lean more toward the bitter side of life, the New England swings in the opposite direction, bringing juicier flavours to the party. In appearance, it ranges from straw colour at the lighter end of the spectrum up to yellow, sometimes with an orange hue. Unlike the other two, heavy haziness is expected with a more solid head atop it. NEIPAs tend to land more hoppy on the nose with bolder fruit aromas more commonly of the stone, tropical, or citrus variety that carry over into the taste. Like the bitterness in the WC and American IPA, the hoppiness should be pronounced here but not harsh or sharp in the linger. In mouthfeel, they sit more towards the mid to high-mid range regarding body, with a smooth mouthfeel – though not creamy or viscous.
Should you get your hands on a bottle of Lunch yourself and wish to drink along to decide which style you think it best sits under, the tasting notes provided directly from the brewery’s website are as follows:
“Aromas of caramel, orange, papaya, grapefruit, and underlying floral notes, with hints of onion and garlic”.
A breakdown of the ingredients itself shows the hops utilised are Amarillo, Centennial, and Simcoe, while the malt bill is comprised of American 2-Row, Caramel 40L, Red Wheat, Munich 10L, and Carapils.
Transparently, I purchased my bottle in the US back in late June/early July (2024) – so not necessarily “fresh”, but not heavily aged at the time of drinking (Jan 2024) in the grand scheme of things. While I loathe how most breweries in the US put a “born” (canned on) date only with no BBE (best before date) like we include here in the UK, MBC have put a helpful note on the label to drink within 90-days of the canning date stamped.
Trying this in January meant I was drinking 7 months after bottling, roughly 4 months later than recommended. I’ve tried to factor this in wherever possible as part of my tasting, but felt it was still worthwhile to drink and write about to see how it held up over time (especially where this could easily happen when sought after beers are amateurly imported into other countries and sold with aggressive mark-ups). As I’m a bit spoiled with trips to Massachusetts/New England yearly, where beers like this are quite accessible, I felt like the longer term goal would be to revisit with a fresher pint followed by a shorter review in the foreseeable future.
Breakdown of my tasting notes:
See
Initially poured with a more golden colour and topped with a foamy, bright white head. The beer had a light haze to it – the type you can see through, but objects on the other side of the glass appear distorted. Admittedly, the head lasted a fair amount of time through the dozens of photos I took and various glass movements from outside to inside, clinging to the sides of the glass for dear life. When topping up my glass later, the hop haze was amped up so you couldn’t see through to the other side at all, which shifted the colour inside slightly, inching closer to more of an amber hue. No hop matter or anything else was present in the glass, just an equally gorgeous-looking beer.
Smell
Before even lifting the glass towards my nose, there was a very clear and decidedly lemon-citrus smell that shot my way. This first aroma to hit me alongside the lighter malty/grainy notes were hard to describe in works, but were reminiscent of a brewing space on brew day —though not in terms of wort itself. The images conjured up were more like a fresh beer-y reward enjoyed after a hard day’s brewing work, lifting heavy sacks of grain and digging out the mash. Despite its age, there was a bright freshness to the aroma that had all the hallmarks of a refreshing ale – even more so on this particularly brisk but sunny day, perfectly capturing the chill of an early morning start. The lemon evolved into a more orange-forward note, with the grainy aroma bringing a hint of sweetness. After looking at MBC’s suggested tasting notes, I could see where one would get hints of caramel with the orange landing in more of an orange blossom (borderline marmalade) manner, bringing in the floral notes mentioned. After a fair amount of time taking in the aroma, a moderate booziness crept in, but I was stumped as far as the “onion and garlic” mentioned were concerned. At best, I could maybe argue for a very light note of green onion, but that might have been my brain searching for anything resembling those suggested notes.
Taste
With lower carbonation levels and a dryness towards the back end, a noticeable yet not aggressive bitterness lingered, even for a person such as myself who is quite sensitive to bitterness in beers. There was a minor taste I couldn’t shake at the start that I could only describe as plastic-y, but I tried my best to tune this out, aware that it could either be due to its age or because my palate was adjusting with a few different factors potentially influencing my perception. This note did fade away quite quickly, turning into more of a mixture of the bitterness alongside a dry finish, leaving hoppy notes intertwined with grainy goodness and a smooth mouthfeel. Once I noticed notes of orange blossom in the aroma, it almost immediately spawned within the flavour as well, potentially due to a trick of the mind. While it doesn’t feel as heavily hopped as I might have expected it to, this will almost definitely be because “hops fade fast”.
Looking at the descriptors against all the tasting notes mentioned above, I would say it does seem to fall more solidly into the general American IPA category. Having had this beer several times over the years (last documented in 2022), it’s not as refreshing as I remember – but AGAIN, this is well beyond recommended serving dates.
I chose to drink mine from my Shipyard glass because “Maine” and because I like how it looks like a glass version of a red solo cup. With the lobster on the front, it felt like it was giving both Maine and general oceanic vibes. With all things considered, Lunch hit the spot while also bringing into question just how much nostalgia can influence a person’s enjoyment of a beer.
Despite me hanging onto this, waiting for a special occasion that never came, the frost on the ground paired with the warming sunlight beaming through my window removed any ounce of winter misery and made it the perfect moment. It reminded me of growing up in New England and waking up incredibly early on brisk mornings to head to the slopes over February school vacation. The smell and atmosphere in my kitchen brought me back to the mountains, having a break from snowboarding over some late lunch with a sandwich or some overpriced chicken tendies, and got me thinking about how great that first afternoon pint might be now as an adult, sweaty and tired from that day’s exhausting activity.
With a rating of 4.16 stars on Untappd and a whopping 97/100 on BeerAdvocate (where it is ranked #571) at the time of writing, it’s not shocking that Lunch would be recommended to me as a “Bucket List Beer” not to be missed.
Scrolling through endless reviews spanning years, I’ve selected a few good, bad, and expressive reviews that the internet has to offer that could be taken into consideration when making my final verdict.
The majority of what I could find seemed to be overwhelming praise:
Can never go wrong with Maine Beer Company's Lunch IPA. This is really a 'must try' if you see it at your local store, I have never met anyone who doesn't like this beer! Unusually clean and crisp flavor for a traditional IPA
Not necessarily my preferred style, but clearly a very high quality beer. Was amazing with a meatball sub and some coleslaw.
High class, easy to drink. The hop profile is perfectly refined. It’s so smooth it almost seems like they’ve skimped on the hops, but no they haven’t, they just got the hop medley bang on. I normally dislike centennial hops but this makes me rethink things.
Doesn’t get any cleaner than this. Perfect IPA
One of the best beers period
Truly the best example of a catch-all IPA
I’ve even had it way beyond it’s recommended best by date, and I was amazed at how good it was. I’ve since had it on tap and fresh bottles, but you literally can’t go wrong with it.
Some of the praise I found downright hilarious – including one Untappd review that was just giving a weather report and what they were having for dinner (not included below):
What else do you want bud? It's a Maine Lunch, nough said
A little bitter but I ain't mad
Diyum…. Brian and Trell weren’t playin! Legit top notch grade ale here
I think it’s better than Pliny and I’m from from Northern California
With some real effort, however, I eventually found some less than glowing reviews – but even then, it felt quite polite (all things considered):
Single most overrated IPA i can think of imo, maybe Hopslam is close. I’ve had a few from Maine Beer Co, none of them do anything for me. I was super excited to finally see them on a shelf for the first time a couple years back, I’ve given them multiple chances, now I just leave them alone. I guess I’m in the minority, but my IPA tastes usually line up pretty well with others in most areas (for example an untappd rating with a lot of votes has a strong correlation with my own preferences most of the time). More for you guys enjoy
I live in Maine there’s better beer in the state
The real sticking point by a mile eventually came to light while digging around Reddit, and it related to one element in particular – the price – summarised most concisely by the below comment:
I would buy it more often if they didn’t overcharge too much for it. I am really surprised Maine Beer still gets away with charging the prices they do considering how much competition there is now. This isn’t the old days when they were a ‘whale’ and one of the better among a handful. Now they are one of the better among a CRAPLOAD of cheaper options that are as good or better. But I agree it is a very good beer.
The general theme that steadily reappeared in reviews stretching across more than a decade seemed to be that the beer was absolutely high class and worthy to be talked about as a top beer, but with a price point that some argued edged on being too high to make it worthwhile. I think the best and most fair review that summarised the feelings of the majority came from Reddit user Harvey_Scorpius in their post here (big props also to them for describing their Sam Adam’s glass as ‘loopy schwoopy’, I particularly enjoyed that!)
Another Reddit post dating back 12 years ago also summarised well the sentiments shared by the Reddit community seen in the thread linked above from 3 years ago as well as many of the more recent (sub 2 year) comments I’ve read through, with the user’s “Overall Reaction” stating:
I hesitate to give anything a 10/10 or 5/5, especially with this being my first review on r/beer, but I can't find a flaw here. I don't have an established rating system, but I will give this fancy masterpiece 5 out of 5 Tophats. While I have had IPA's that have delivered amazing aromas, balanced taste and savorable finishes, I've had none so far that have managed such complexity on all three levels.
For the price, I paid 7 bucks for a pint. At north of 5 bucks per 12oz, this is certainly far more expensive than the myriads of awesome beer that can run 10-12 bucks a 6 pack. I know that many of the comments I've seen lurking here have lead me to believe that price is not something I'm really allowed to complain about, but when I pay significantly more than your common (but legitimate) craft beer, I expect the beer to deliver something special to the table in order to warrant a special price. 7 bucks is a worthy price to try something new, there's no doubt about it, but is it worth buying again? I can honestly say that this beer went above and beyond what I would ask for. This beer truly gives you what you pay for, and I'll definitely be buying it again
In MBCs defence, all of this showcases – in my opinion – just how consistent the brewery and the beer has maintained across more than a decade
For a person more sensitive to bitterness than others, I found it beautifully balanced and thoroughly refreshing. In terms of taste accessibility, I think it’s not too wild and out there, yet not bland of flavour. The fact this is what we in the UK would consider a core range beer for them – meaning it’s brewed all year round – further plays into how seasonless (and, based on comments, timeless) this beer is. It’s just as enjoyable after a snowy mountain run as it is seaside in the heat and humidity of summer. You can enjoy it on a whale watching excursion with the sea breeze in your face, celebrating hitting the mountain peak after a multi-hour hike, or hiding under a duvet on a rainy autumnal day while marathoning cult classics.
As a label magpie, I have no qualms in admitting that I also love the simplicity of this label and of all across the MBC range. The contrast between how understated their labels are versus how meticulous the brewery and their actions appear is striking, truly demonstrating the proverb “Actions speak louder than words”.
Overall, this beer – for me – was a thumbs up.
BEWARE – Serious number crunching ahead by someone bad at math! Let ye be warned!
As mentioned, the main bone of contention around this beer from the general public is that it “costs too much”. Comments from as far back as 12 years ago highlight a price point of $7 for a US pint (16 fl oz). Translating this for UK and European folks, that’s £5.46/€6.39 for ~473mL /47.3cL (as of early April 2025). It does feel as though this price has held steadily across time by the brewery. When looking at their tasting room for “takeaway” purchases, it does indeed show the price is still $7, but for a 16.9oz (500ml) bottle of Lunch – meaning it could be argued that, if the size is correct on the older posts, the money actually goes a little bit further…
The price for their draft offerings to be consumed on site – Lunch included – work out to a flight of 4 for $12 (£9.67/€11.62 – sizes not specified), 5 oz (~147.9mL/14.8cL) for $3 (£2.42/€2.91), 10oz (~295.7mL/29.6cL) for $6 (£4.83/€5.81), and the full 16oz for $9.
When comparing all of this to what we currently are pay on average for 440ml craft beer cans (~14.8 fl oz/44cL), this feels slightly wild to me – though imagine potentially $7 back in 2013 might have hit entirely differently. And while I recognise our markets and economies are arguably incredibly different, using a brewery such as Verdant here in the UK and a comparable beer available on their website more recently, it would cost ~£5.75 ($7.38 / €6.73). Having had beers in the UK for a similar price/ABV, if not more, that haven’t tasted as easily drinkable when fresh as Lunch did over half a year after bottling feels like the most apt way for me to demonstrate my point.
Also given the price of their product has had little to no movement in over a decade as well as the repeated comments seemingly suggesting the quality has also held steady, I feel this is 100% good value for money in terms of taste vs size vs price. Knowing my money is going to so many wonderful things backed by the brewery is just an added bonus.
The only caveat of this is that my feedback is based solely on having bought it for not much more than face value while in the US. When you have to start importing them and additional overheads start coming into play, this might be where I would change my mind. I saw some websites listing a bottle for close to (and sometimes over) £20 – shipping not included. This – for me personally – is when it stops being justifiable. Even more so if it’s not being cold stored throughout the shipping process, but take that all with a pinch of salt as I am also a person with the luxury to be able to realistically visit this brewery in person at least once within a 12-month period without much hassle.
According to the MBC website, Lunch is a year-round brew – so if you find yourself that part of Maine, this beer is incredibly accessible.
From my personal experience just visiting the smaller town I grew up in 20-minutes North of Boston, I’ve not struggled to try this beer on tap at local restaurants (to the point it felt quite commonplace to see it at one point only a few years back). I would feel confident enough to say that if you are even in New England in a broader sense, you won’t struggle to find it in one form or another.
On a grander scale, their website shows that they distribute in 32 states – which is quite good going IMO from what I understand of US distribution of beer across state lines – making its level of accessibility dependent on where you’re located outside of New England. For the rest of the world outside America, I imagine this won’t be quite so easy unless there is a tap takeover or a specialist distributor in your country importing them (either that, or a trip to Maine should be in your future). Having a quick look at the UK alone, I can see various websites having had them, but all out of stock and none seeming to be from any more recent than a year ago.
I initially rated this 5/5 stars because of how accessible it was within the US, but decided to bump it down by one with more of a global mindset in mind.
I can absolutely see how/why this beer would get the attention it gets. Holding its fair price point, quality levels, and taste for as long as it has in all senses, I feel I couldn’t in good faith give it anything lower than 4/5 stars.
Typically I wouldn’t even apply a rating to something past its best before date due to my own failing, but I’m thankfully able to draw on all my past experiences having had it fresh as well as wanting to be able to showcase that even 4 months late, it’s still quite lush.
Untappd user J.H. summarised the beer – including what it’s taught me about Maine Beer Co. in general – best and feels the most suitable to end this post with: “Do what’s right, drink lunch.”
To find out more about Lunch/Maine Beer Co click here (their website) or on the College of the Atlantic “Allied Whale” news article
Link to Lunch on Beer Advocate
Link to BJCP Website for varying style guidelines
Link to BA Websites for varying style guidelines
Reach out to me at adventuresinhoptimism@gmail.com if you want to recommend any Bucket List beers for me to try next or to share your own opinions on this beer with me!