Join the Maine Grain Alliance at Bissell Brothers for an evening celebrating local grains through thoughtfully paired beer, bread, and cheese. Guests will enjoy Bissell Brothers beers alongside breads sourced from area bakers and artisan cheeses from Crooked Face Creamery, exploring how these simple ingredients come together in delicious and surprising ways.

Through tastings and conversation, we’ll explore how local grains contribute flavor, texture, and meaning to the foods and beverages we love. Each pairing will highlight the connections among Maine’s farmers, bakers, brewers, cheesemakers, consumers, and the regional grain economy they help sustain.

You’ll be served five pairings featuring local grain including bread, pastries, Maine craft beer, and artisan cheese, along with guided tasting notes and stories from the makers behind each bite and sip.

Award-winning author Maria Speck will discuss what inspired her new book Baking with Ancient Grains—Mediterranean-Inspired Recipes for Living Well, her roots in Greece and Germany, countries with centuries-old grain traditions, and why she believes we need more colors, textures, and flavors from whole flours in our baking. Maria will demo a recipe from her book, using oats, the most important grain grown in Maine. Naturally sweet oats—be they old-fashioned rolled oats, textured steel-cut oats, or oat flour—are highlighted in many recipes across the book.