Golfing in Maine? You'll have some great beer to choose from

NEWRY, Maine - I’m sitting on the slopes of Sunday River Ski Mountain, at the Sunday River Brewing Co., drinking the Sunday River Summer. Yeah, it’s Fall, I know, but this brew is seriously quaffable.

Which got me thinking about some of the secondary benefits of golfing in Maine. Pretty much everywhere you’ll end up will have a microbrewery nearby. This state is replete with really solid local brews - in Carabassett Valley, in Farmington, in nearby Bethel. Check out the Granary Brewpub in Farmington, the Sugarloaf Brewing Co. in Carabassett Valley, or stuff from the Casco Bay Brewing Co. or Stone Coast Brewing Co. in Sunday River.

Indeed, you could almost tailor your Maine golf vacation along a beer trail. And it’s not just in Maine: New England has always had a good tradition of local brewing, and even the beers that have long since ceased being local secrets and have entered wider distribution are still loyally drunk by locals.

In a few days I’ll be in Vermont, and I’m already anticipating some Catamount seasonal or something from Otter Creek.