Embedded Files
By Caleb Guy
First Mile Brewing is a small town brewery located in Fort Kent, Maine, welcoming to all. Opened in November of 2017 for a love of good beer, the five original owners were all in a home brewing club, and after a while of talking and thinking about the idea, they started the business. “We all had an interest in craft beer. We decided one evening after a homebrew session that this might be something we would want to explore further,” said Travis Guy. What the creators thought originally was that the town did not have a lot of options for places to go out, and opening a brewery would add another place for the residents to go on their nights out.
Owned by Travis Guy, Travis Jandreau, Matt Deprey, Dr Rodney Lahren, and Nathan Boynton, the brewery has faced many challenges over the years but has remained successful in the community. “It took team work and a lot of dedication to get here,” said Jodi Jandreau-Guy. The group has recently changed, with one of the original owners, David Saucier, making the decision to sell his share of the business to the head brewer, Nathan Boynton. When first starting out, the group's hardest challenge was the location. Because of the location not being downtown and the brewery
The five original owners. Photo credit: Jodi Jandreau-Guy
model not being familiar to the area, they were not sure how they would be received. To overcome this struggle, they made sure to be family friendly for all ages, so anyone was able to come in to have an enjoyable experience.
The brewery, on average, has ten plus employees working weekly, with two of them being full-time employees. Most of the individuals who work at the brewery have it as a second job, with many staff members being full-time teachers. The most interesting part about this business is the community surrounding it. The community around the brewery is a wide range of individuals, some being parents coming in with their kids to enjoy a pizza since the brewery recently introduced the pizza, and others being individuals looking to enjoy a beer after work.
Some of the original beers the brewery introduced. Photo credit: Jodi Jandreau-Guy
The biggest challenge the brewery has had over the years is COVID. “It really slowed everything down and complicated things for us,” said Jodi Jandreau-Guy. Jodi Jandreau-Guy is the wife of owner Travis Guy and has played a big role in the brewery since it was just an idea. Jandreau-Guy said that during the COVID years, the brewery struggled a lot more to bring in customers to the establishment. The brewery also distributes its beer to roughly 40 different locations to help get a wider fan base. Another good thing the brewery does to bring in a crowd is that they recently introduced brick oven pizzas in the tap room, which has increased the amount of taproom foot traffic.
one of several new menu items. Photo credit: Nathan Boynton
First Mile Brewing has made a wonderful example of perseverance over the years with all of the struggles it has gone through. From Covid to the remote location of Fort Kent, the brewery has thrived and continues to grow and provide new products like their recent introduction of pizza, nachos and other snacks, with more introductions on the way. Their story not only tells about the success of a business, but also tells the story of the wonderful community behind it.
Page updated
Report abuse