#68: Matthew Bateman | Kennebec River Brewing

The beer industry and the state of Maine are both such special places to exist, due in large part to the people you meet within them. Both deserve equal credit for bringing this week's IN-STUDIO guest to us - Matthew Bateman. Matt works at Northern Outdoors, an operation in The Forks, ME that includes within it rafting, guiding, camping, and lodging services. Since 1996, the company has also included a brewery - Kennebec River Brewing, located within the Northern Outdoors lodge.
The BBB crew recently spent a couple nights on premise for a team getaway, camping a few nights, rafting the Kennebec (water) and thoroughly enjoying drinking Kennebec (beer) on-site. We met Matt as one of our boats' guides, only to find out he has also been cutting his teeth in the brewery since spring. We get into the many things that makes Northern Outdoors such a truly unique (and HIGHLY recommended), and Matt's life as both a whitewater rafting guide and new brewer. He gives us the ins and outs of rafting, talks about some of the craziest water he's ever been on, and defines the new-to-us term, "hydrology".
On the beer side, Matt talks about what makes Kennebec River Brewing so unique, touching on how it's bucked the usual brewpub pitfalls, avoided Ringwood in a pre-Y2K Maine, and had been run by ONE GUY (shoutout Mike!) from inception until Matt was brought on six months ago. We also get into his experience going from beer fan to actual brewer, discuss the distinct satisfactions he's taking from it, and mutually lament the punishing heat a brewery comes with.
This was an extremely fun one and felt particularly special in its full-circle nature. As you'll hear, we can't recommend the many things Northern Outdoors has to offer enough. Special thanks to Matthew for making the trip to Milo to join the shortlist of in-studio guests, and to all of Northern Outdoors for making our staff trip so special a few weeks ago!