Bar Harbor in the Off-Season
When in Maine, it seems mandatory to head up to Bar Harbor. Neither of us had ventured up there so we were very excited to see what all the fuss was about. The drive up was long, but we did find some gems along the way, including this insanely unique building that was surrounded by old cars, trucks and artsy sculptures.
It was the “off season”, which meant many, if not all, of the cute lobster shacks the area is known for were closed up for the winter… along with all the campgrounds. Whoops. Enter Shalom Orchard Organic Farm and Winery.
Shalom Orchard Organic Farm and Winery
This may be the most unique place we stayed during our trip, as well as the most unique winery we have been to. First, they are a fully certified organic farm and organic winery. It is a very small operation run by a husband and wife, along with a bunch of dogs and sheep running around.
We parked our home behind the winery next to the orchard. This was a fruit winery, so there were no vineyards. After getting set up and leveled, we ventured to the back of the orchard for an insane view and peaceful walk.
We also strolled around the farm, which had gorgeous veggies growing everywhere.
After we were welcomed by the owners into the winery for a tasting of their fruit wines. The owners weren’t entertainment themselves to watch. They were quirky, semi-grumpy, but also friendly at the same time and were continuously bickering with one another, making us uncomfortable but also entertained. The wines were very surprisingly great. We had never been fans of any fruits wines before, not that we had tried too many. Upon trying their blueberry wine we were so pleasantly surprised at the complex flavors and how it tasted like a nice red wine. Some of the other wines were a bit sweeter, but were still very drinkable. We also tried their Mead, which we had never heard of. The owner had an extreme passion for the medieval honey-based wine called mead – like we said, very unique owners. The honey mead was very good and we bought ourselves a bottle to enjoy later and as a souvenir from such a unique place.
The owners made a terrific recommendation to us as well. They explained that this time of year, as the wild blueberries the area is known for start to die off, the bushes turn a bright scarlet red, and gave us directions to a field to go take a look at.
They were not joking about the intense red, or about how many wild blueberries there were. It was breath taking and we spent quite a while just wandering around in awe of the continuing fields of red, along with the beautiful views around us.
It really took us forever to get anywhere in this area as we kept having to pull over to admire the views.
Like I mentioned, since we were in the area in the off-season, all the lobster shacks the area is so well known for had closed up shop for the winter. That was a bummer so we didn’t get to sample seafood around town.. but off-season was great for the lack of tourists though! It felt like we had the whole town to ourselves.
Atlantic Brewing Company
While strolling through the empty tourist town, we did get to stop in the Atlantic Brewing Company. Thy had some really great beers and had a surprisingly modern vibe, unlike the rest of the town. They also had a fairly large gift shop area with plenty of their beers to purchase.