When Mainers were stuck at home early in the pandemic, sales of beer- and wine-making supplies boomed at Central Street Farmhouse in Bangor. Then they slowed, and stopped, and didn’t pick back up.
The store, which carried materials, organized workshops and held events for homebrewers and fermenters, closed in late November after 14 years in business.
The closure is the latest sign of declining interest in homebrewing in Maine and also reflects the fact that people are drinking less even as the number of craft breweries has grown.
With Central Street Farmhouse closed, Bangor lost a source of education and a place to gather. Homebrewing is mostly what it sounds like: making beer or wine at home. But it’s also a group activity that produces drinks to share with friends and discuss with other brewers.
“Homebrewing, and beer itself, is a very social thing,” said Steve Johnson, committee chairperson of the club Home Brewers of Greater Bangor. “Most of us brew beer not just to drink beer.”
When the pandemic paused gatherings, some stopped homebrewing and never picked it back up, Johnson said. He suggested others find it too expensive now, pinched by inflation and high costs, and the hobby isn’t as visible anymore with fewer events happening.
The 10-member club, which he estimates is the most active one left in Maine, started around the same time Central Street Farmhouse opened in late 2010.
The downtown store supplied Bangor’s growing do-it-yourself and craft brewing scenes. It held local events and offered classes in brewing and other fermenting projects, supplies and finished beer.
Current owner Josh Parda was an early customer, then became a manager before buying the business in 2017.
For Parda, brewing fit in naturally with the other homesteading skills he was learning in his early 20s. He liked making something out of raw materials and enjoyed the unpredictability of working with a living thing: the yeast that transforms ingredients into alcohol.
Interest in homebrewing was growing around the country, too. In 2018, the American Homebrew Association had 46,000 members. Six years later, there are 30,000.
Skilled homebrewers can also go on to work at craft breweries, and many in the state have. Parda estimated 10 to 20 of his best customers now work for breweries around Maine.
Some got into the hobby because craft beer was hard to find, which is far from the case today. In 2014, Maine had 65 active licensed breweries, according to the Maine Brewer’s Guild. Eight years later, there were 165.
A number of them have closed across the state recently, and homebrew supply stores across the country are closing this year too after waning interest briefly shot up during the pandemic.
Some studies have shown alcohol consumption goes down during tough times, though the Farmhouse opened in the Great Recession and thrived. Parda also said making beer is cheaper than buying it.
But people’s drinking habits are changing: Sixty-two percent of adults under age 35 drank in 2023, down from 72 percent two decades ago, according to Gallup research. They’ve also been drinking less often and in smaller amounts. For middle-aged people, those figures have remained roughly the same.
“I don’t even brew as much as I used to,” Parda said. “It’s hard for me to hold it against anybody. I don’t drink as much as I used to. I get it.”
He’ll continue brewing for himself, but doesn’t expect to go back into business — the handyman skills he learned while homesteading provide steadier income. Some parts of homebrewing culture have purists, and learning how requires more studying than many other hobbies, he said. He reminds people to relax and enjoy the process, even when something unexpected happens.
Talking shop like this was a favorite part of running the store. People can get some supplies locally at the Natural Living Center, but former customers in person and online lamented the loss of Parda’s in-store expertise.
That’s a void the homebrewing club is trying to fill, Johnson said. His club, which meets monthly, plans to add events at Geaghan’s Pub and Craft Brewery and welcomes anyone with an interest in beer, whether they want to brew themselves or not.
Homebrewers love having someone to show the process to and sometimes share equipment, Johnson said. The club next meets for a holiday beer exchange on Dec. 14.
Giving homemade beer as a gift is one of the main appeals for John Sullivan, a homebrewer from Bangor who visited Central Street Farmhouse on one of its last days. He started 25 years ago, but takes breaks when his time and resources need to go elsewhere.
Technology has advanced to make homebrewing easier and less time-consuming as fewer people do it, Parda said. Acid-based sanitizers make the cleaning process faster, yeasts create different beers, more local ingredients are available and all-in-one electric brewing systems make everything more efficient and convenient.
Through all these changes, new people are still drawn to homebrewing. While Sullivan browsed the discounted equipment, a first-time visitor stopped in. He wanted to learn how to make his own beer.
