McKay’s Public House

Visited in 2013, old notes from backlog. 10 taps, 2 casks. Nice selection of Maine beers including Allagash (FV13 at the time I was there), Maine (Mo) and a couple of slightly lower tier Maine stuff (it can’t all be Maine Beer Mo). The atmosphere here is pretty neat. Eclectic yet refined, nice copper bar, cool young energetic staff. Since we were doing a bar crawl sort of thing we only got the pretzels to snack on, but damn was the red dragon rarebit that accompanied it amazing. I want those at just about every bar. If I could only pick one bar in Bar Harbor to go to, it would be Blaze. If I could pick two, this would be a pretty close second in spite of the smaller tap list, just seems a really fun place to hang out.

Wow. Great food and a neat supply of local beers, all of which were new to me. Helpful staff.

Nicely landscaped quiet outdoor patio. Killer crab cakes. Tight maine focused micro brew beer list. Reasonable prices. Would return.

just sat outside in late sept ... the staff was helpful on the beer. More restaurant than beer. But both food and beer would good. Expect to spend some $$ (dinner for 2 with tip = $100)

Downtown Bar Harbor on a stormy night in March offers few options but this was pretty decent one. A nicely renovated old house with a cosy and comfortable feel. Although there are a few stools at the bar, the feel was more like a restaurant. Doing a brisk trade on a Tuesday evening although that may be because pretty much everywhere else was closed. Although there are a few brewpub standards (fish & chips, burger), the menu is in general quite enterprising (and short) and the food was very good. Some local beers from Atlantic and Sebago on tap. Did the trick nicely in the circumstances.

Thsi place is a must. The fiirst time was just at the bar, the bartender was just great, he suggested some beers according to what we liked, and he was one the nose. The second time was for supper. the service was great as was the meal and beer. Looking forward to going back.

Ma mêre et moi avions été deux fois, la première pour boire seulement et la deuxième pour souper. Le resto est très chaleureux, assez confortable et le service est #1, preuve: après avoir bu une Burton Bridge Empire IPA, je voulais boire quelque chose d’autre et le serveur derrière le bar m’a suggèré quelque chose qui n’était pas sur le menu, une Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA, MERCI! Donc si vous allez à Bar Harbor, buvez et mangez là, c’est le choix #1!

A very comfortable public house with warm decoration and carefully designed recipes. Our ahi tuna was especially nice. They have around 10 taps, half of which are local seasonals (Bar Harbor Summer Ale, Gritty McDuff’s Vacationland, Atlantic Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale, etc. when we visited), other half being the usual imports that are Guinness, Harp, Smithwick’s, and Stella Artois. And don’t forget PBR. What is really interesting here is that the person who designed the bottled beer menu has an obvious leaning for high quality. Ask for the Reserve Ale list when you are handed the menu. This time around, this menu offered us Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock, Arthur Le Coq Imperial Stout, Sinebrychoff Porter, McChouffe, J.W.Lee’s Harvest Ale, J.W.Lee’s Moonraker, Bar Harbor Cadillac Mountain Stout, Bar Harbor Thunder Hole, Burton Bridge Empire IPA, and Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted. In Maine, folks!! Such a highly impressive selection has to be praised. Beers were served very cold though, which is a downfall, but you really can’t complain too much in the heat of summer.