The Liberal Cup

Best burger in the state, great pub menu, service ALWAYS on point. Not a bad thing to say about this amazing establishment.

Solid food. Not anything crazy. Meatloaf was bland. Did not get to try beer selection, but it looked great. Quite the afternoon drinking crowd. Fun place.

Not nearly up to the hype. Overpriced for modest portions and so-​so cuisine.

Love this place! It’s my favorite brew pub and I compare every brew pub I try to it. The food is fantastic, I’ve never had a bad meal here and there are a lot of options to choose from. The house brews are amazing as well and only $ 4 a glass! You won’t find a finer brew pub for miles.
This place is often packed, and can get pretty loud when it is, so if you are looking for an intimate meal where you can talk in a normal volume, try going during off-​crowd hours. Lunch time is very tame, dinner time around 4 or 4:30 is also fairly quiet.

Went to stay at a Bed and Breakfast and ate at this awesome place for dinner. High quality food, excellent selection. I had the fish clam chowder soup and it was outstanding. The best I ever had I think. My lamb dish was very good as well. My husband had Fish and Chips and it was very good. Less batter more fish! This place also makes their own beer but since I am German I am too picky to have an American beer. All in all an awesome place, go and eat there!

High quality food. A great selection of beer. Daily specials available. I love the fish and chips and shrimpcargot. Was in Maine for a week, ate here almost everyday. Try the French onion soup too, it’s really good.
Veggie options are limited by they make up for quantity with quality.

Great service! Awesome atmosphere! And the beer battered deep fried chicken tenders are AWE-​MAZE-​ING!

Love this place. One of my favorite places to eat. Food tastes home made. Service is always friendly.

My favorite pub in the state. I’ve tried just about everything on the menu over the years. Favorites include fish and chips, buffalo wings, haddock chowder, Reuben, turkey dinner, and salmon. They do some good steaks and burgers too. Oh and the beer is some of the best I’ve had anywhere. It’s made right on the premises. Gets very busy on weekends so be prepared to wait at supper time but it’s worth it. Service is very friendly and fast.

Great beer, an amazing selection of food, and not bad prices!

Had the haddock napoleon and could not be more pleased. Will need a wheel barrel to leave this place. Different return visit in the future.

This was my «go-​to» place while in Augusta for the month. I didn’t get to get out much, as I was being over-​worked, but when I did get out — this was the place. The place is always packed. Seems a lot of locals are around all the time and I can see why. If I lived near Augusta, I would be here all the time. The food is excellent (especially for the price). The burger was cooked to order and tasted delicious! The fries were just average, but the burger made up for it. The shepards pie was to die for! That was something that would make me drool just thinking about it. The muscles were also quite delicious, and the salads have the dressing mixed prior to bringing to the table (which I love). The music on Sundays (not sure about other days) is nice, but it’s a little loud and difficult to hear yourself think (or have a conversation if you are so inclined). The beers are good, but not great. And they have other options booze-​wise too. Overall great little place to eat and drink. Thank goodness for this place… otherwise I might have lost my mind.

Best restaurant and bar around. The beer cheese soup is excellent with pretzels. The beer cheese soup changes daily with the combination of beer and cheese. It is always good and I always get it. The veggie burger is also great and homemade. It comes with fries which are also extraordinary. The meatloaf is also good, wrapped in bacon with two sides. The selection of homemade beer is always vast and changes daily. I go here every time I am in Hallowell. They also have live music all the time too at nite. It is situated in a quaint old building in downtown Hallowell. It is a wonderful restaurant and I truly recommend it to anyone.

They brew lots of beers but have 6 on tap at any one time. I had their summer ipa on cask and then on draft. Both were awesome. My wife had the bug lager. Also a great beer. We both had small chicken salads served on their garden salad with dijon balsamic. Freaking delicious after a vacation week of fried seafood and lobster. 530pm, late august, weekday. Mostly a local crowd after work. Manager brought my second beer and asked me my opinion on the beer – a very nice gesture. Server was super nice and responsive. Didn’t remember their names. She had a bunch of tattoos. Thanks again for great beers and dinner!

Love the Liberal Cup, one of our favorite spots in Augusta area. Pretty awesome and eclectic menu, make their own beer, and pretty casual and friendly place to hang out

This is our go to place for well crafted micro brews. We love the Alewife and the Tented Kilt Scottish Ale.
I recommend the clam appetizer, it’s so soft and mouthwatering. We have had the fish platter which had home made French fries.
There’s nothing I don’t like about this place. If you’re looking to experience an old English style pub this is the place and the music just adds that special ambiance!

Came here on a rainy Sunday, and it was very busy. We were seated right away, but waited a while before seeing a waitstaff. Tried a beer sampler, and all the beers were so-​so, nothing I loved or would rave about (I am a craft beer enthusiast).
Their menu is large with lots of selection. I wasn’t too hungry. So I got the beer cheese soup and a side. Soup was good, other food just okay. Service remained very slow for our whole visit. Cute place, in a cute town, but don’t go out of your way to try it.

Lively!
We arrived here on a lively Saturday night around 8 or 9 pm. We came on the strong recommendation of some patrons of Baxter Brewery.
The atmosphere was alive with scores of conversations garrulously chattering over the live band. The band was enjoyable, they covered recognizable tunes of from the late 50s through early 80s. Things you could identify and tap along to if you weren’t talking to anyone, and if you are carrying on a conversation you didn’t have to shout to hear yourself.
I had a summer wheat and my wife got the porter. The vastly dissimilar styles were both well-​executed, kudos to the brewers. I can only assume the other selections were equally good, and hope to experience them next time I’m in the area. I wish there were a brewpub like this within walking distance from me. Perhaps I need to move to Maine?

Delicious and affordable food abounds at the Cup. The chefs are always adding new and interesting things to the menu. There’s enough variety in the types of available beers to meet anyone’s zymurgical desires, from the light and tasty bug lager to the cask-​conditioned Backhouse Bitter.
We live locally and we regularly choose the Liberal Cup for a lunch or dinner outing. It can get very busy and the music pumps loudly on some nights so this restaurant is not for the faint of heart. If you arrive on a weekend between six and eight, expect to be bumping elbows with many other hungry customers. Enjoy!

My parents and I stayed one night in Augusta as part of our road trip around Maine. By the time we were settled in the hotel, it was already 8 PM, which worried me a bit since a lot of the restaurants listed on my trusty Unilocal app would be closing by 8:30 or 9.
Luckily, The Liberal Cup satisfied the following requirements:
1) Open past 8:30 PM.
2) Short distance from our hotel, only a 6 minute drive.
3) Served local beer.
4) Had an unusual item on the menu: beer cheese soup! Intrigued, I knew I had to check it out.
For a Wednesday evening, TLC was hoppin’ (literally and figuratively!) There were so many locals enjoying their brews that we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. We decided to order some beer while we waited, which did help pass the time.
Since I wasn’t too hungry, I ordered the fabled beer cheese soup and a Caesar salad. What’s cool about the soup is that it changes daily; they do different combinations of beer and cheese each time. That day, I was able to correctly identify blue cheese; the beer they mixed with it was their flagship alewife ale, which is an amber beer that’s bitter and sweet. I thought the consistency was perfect; not too thick or too runny. I also liked how it came with salty pretzels so the heavier blue cheese wouldn’t be so overpowering.
The Caesar salad ended up being a good ol’ American sized portion (read: a lot more than I expected!) The only problem was that I ordered grilled chicken but instead they gave me the spicier Cajun grilled chicken. I believe they were the same price, though, so I chose not to return it. My only feedback was that I thought it was a bit too salty and over-​grilled.
With witty beer names like «State Budget Red Ale», «Ex-​wife Extra Bitter», and «For Richer or Poorter*) The Liberal Cup is my type of joint. Definitely stop by if you’re passing through Augusta!
*I would’ve loved to serve that at my wedding.