Urban Farm Fermentory

Average ales with crummy customer service results in a two star review.
Came here with family for cider and food stuffs. Waited at the bar for several minutes without any acknowledgment. Even after the bartender graced us with his attention, what we received was very curt and made us feel we were somehow intruding. At first I attributed the poor customer service to our tourist status. However after reading the reviews, it seems not to be something so sinister; rather the typical disregard of etiquette which seems to infect the fur faced hipster culture.
As for their cider, I have had better.

Wish I had read the other reviews first! Would give UFF 4 – 5 stars for taste and flavor; loved the blueberry and chaga chai. However, we almost left due to poor customer service. We waited 10 minutes before a server made eye contact, and then she proceeded to serve three couples that came in after us, before returning to take our order.
Like the product, but not likely to return because of the service.

Two incidents in a row of poor customer service. This most recent time, I waited over 10 minutes to get my growler filled, and no one even acknowledged me. I decided to leave after a saw the the servers pour for people that had just walked in and sat down at the other end of the bar. It’s pretty bad form, and you should make some sort of effort to at least greet your most loyal customers (i.e., the ones coming in with the UFF growlers).

UFF is a pretty hip place. Located in the Bayside neighborhood, where I just read is going to be the «next neighborhood in Portland to undergo gentrification». I could see myself hanging out here with a book or a couple of friends to play cribbage. There is a bar with maybe 10 or so stools and some tables and chairs set up in a pretty ample space.
Lately I’ve become an avid daily kombucha drinker. Why? I love the tangy vinegary taste and the prospect that it might have some health benefits. I figure the freshest booch I can find will be here at UFF rather than buying it at the grocery store (a little more expensive though too, I will say). On my first visit to UFF I tried a sampler of the ciders and the kombuchas. You can try a flight of 4 2oz pours for $ 4. Or 5 2oz pours for $ 5. I thought all of the ciders were a little too dry for my liking, I prefer them sweet. If you’re a dry cider fan though, this is your spot for sure. I loved all of the different flavors of booch. My favorite is the ginger, but the apple and blueberry were very good too. They also had two types of mead on tap, but neither flavors tempted me into tasting them.
You can purchase one of their 32oz «growlahs» for $ 5 and it is yours forever. You can come back and get refills of anything they have on tap (cider, kombucha, or mead). I did purchase one of these on my first visit and have since gone back for a refill of the ginger booch ($ 8). No, it’s not cheap. However, it’s fresh and local and I feel like I’m getting myself a treat. The cider and mead refills cost more, and add on another couple dollars if they consider it a specialty cider or mead.
Check my pictures below for the pricing. It looks like their prices have increased over the past month or so, from what I can see from past pictures.

I really want the old uff back. Recent product has been inconsistent, however I’ve moved out of town and no longer purchase booch fresh from the fermentory.

This place is unique, creative, and welcomed in the community. I’m an avid drinker of Kombucha and for many years drank GT’s. I never really ventured out and tried any other because I didn’t feel the need. Now, when I think about how things are made commercially I cringe. This place is the real deal, they brew their own and even have a tasting room to hang out in. Some may say it tastes a little too much like vinegar but thats what you want, again the real deal! You can buy it already bottled (many local stores carry it as well) or purchase a Growler and bottle it yourself.
If you have never had Kombucha now is the time to research it and all of the health benefits. Fermented foods are becoming more popular and should be a part of everybody’s diet.

Urban Farm is great. I have never tried kombucha before so this was a great start and their mead and cider is excellent. I tried the sour and semi sweet meads and they were great. The dry hoppah cider was good despite me not being a huge cider fan and my intro to kombucha was successful as the blueberry was very good. The space is also a major factor in the enjoyment level as it is filled with interesting art. 100% I would suggest stopping here if looking for something out of the ordinary. I came here on the Maine beer trail and left here with a new outlook on what is out there to try. I look forward to discovering new mead and kombucha!

Love, love, LOVE this place! I’ve recently been getting into kombucha, and I was so excited that Maine had a local fermentory. I came in and tasted everything they had on tap which was around 6 ciders and meads and 6 kombucha flavors. It was a wonderful experience and the bar tender was very helpful. I preferred the kombucha over the ciders and meads, which were both a little too sweet for my liking. But, that is my opinion of meads and ciders in general. Their kombucha is so good! It has the perfect homegrown taste. My favorites were the ginger and blueberry. The red beet was also very good and if your someone who likes beets a lot, which I am not, you would probably love it.
I would also highly recommend joining their «growlah» program if you’re a local. You purchase a $ 5 growler and for $ 7 can have it filled from the tap with whatever kombucha flavor (or a mix of flavors) that you choose. It is a bit more for the meads and ciders. I will be back to refill VERY often!

Not sure where the urban farm comes into play, but I don’t really care because their kombucha and cider are amazing. My husband and I shared two flights and tried almost everything on tap. The mountain top was the sweet fern kombucha. We left with a growler fill with that and had to come back the next day for more. The staff was super friendly and talked kombucha shop with my husband. Would highly recommend stopping by for the well traveled epicurian.

Perfect for a fun afternoon with out of town friends. We stopped here on a walking tour of some of the breweries in the area (local tip — check out the brew bus stops to create your own tour. We did Maine Mead Works, UFF, Bunker, Rising Tide, and Maine Craft Distilling, all within a mile of each other). The staff at UFF were so funny and friendly, explaining ‘booch to all of us and suggesting tastes. We left feeling like trendy hippies. I’m a convert! I bought a growler and will be back weekly for some fresh kombucha.

I absolutely loved going here. I can’t see myself getting a bottle of their kombucha anywhere else but at their own tasting room. The mint kombucha was amazing. And so was everything else. I didn’t know they did mead as well. I’m very happy this place is down the street from where I live and work. I can totally see myself grabbing some cidah and sitting in their lovely tasting room reading a book. :) loved it here.

This place completely changed how I feel about kombucha. I’ve bought kombucha a few times from a local co-​op and other stores and didn’t feel too strongly for or against it. UFF was our first stop in our visit to Portland and it did not disappoint!
We visited mainly for the hard ciders and decided to give the kombuchas a try. There were 4 ciders (dry, pink peppercorn basil, o’ cranny, honey ginseng) and 7 kombuchas (original, ginger, blueberry, original, wintergreen, balsam fir, apple) available to taste. We were blown away by how much we enjoyed the kombuchas. Is it because it was from the tap, the ingredients are just fresher, or the flavor combinations just kicked it up a notch? Probably all of the above. Surprisingly, the flavor that I ended up liking the most was a coffee flavored kombucha. I bought a growler for myself and as a gift for another, who ended up devouring hers before I finished mine.
The atmosphere was very laid back and we learned a lot about the wares and the area from the engaging and friendly staff pouring the tastings. I would be parked here all the time if this was in my neighborhood. Now if only I could get UFF to ship to the co-​op near me…

Great little stop for the kombucha lovers and first-​timers alike. Huge number of innovative and seasonal flavors like dandelion, nettle/​mint, rhubarb, etc — anyone can find at least one they will like. Try the pink peppercorn/​basil cider mixed with half ghost-​chili kombucha. Great as a mixer with vodka too. You can sample at the place for few bucks or get a growler to take home with you for $ 7 – 11.

This place is amazing. Super chill place for a great Kombucha experience.
Make sure to taste the ginger, strawberry and ol cranny. And most definitely sit at the bar and chat with the staff here. They are friendly, knowledgable and will make your experience way better. They also sing along to the music.
Party on.

As a booch brewer myself I love seeing all the awesome flavors that the Fermentory comes up with. My favorite and albeit one of the more tame flavors is the ginger kombucha. This kombucha is awesome for a queasy hangover belly. ;-)
Since it is winter in Maine I am having a hard time brewing my own kombucha at home so I have taken to loitering on the stools at the fermentory on Saturdays during the farmer’s market. I thoroughly enjoy the tastings and the atmosphere. Even more cool is that they allow you to bring in Mexican food from the truck that parks out front of the market. Delicious combination if you ask me.
The music they play is a happy mix that is mellow enough to not be overwhelming in the already crowded market.
I will be going back for sure to fill up my three growlers. See you this Saturday!

Booch and I have a complicated relationship. At best, I think it tastes lightly like vinegary urine, thusly, I entered UFF a solidly fairweather fan of the tango that tea, sugar, bacterial strains, and time must do to create this beverage — but somehow we found ourselves here — perhaps it was the residual buzz from our tour of Rising Tide brewery down the street that made a visit to UFF seem like a good idea or our innate senses of adventure — who knows — but as I tromped back to my car 2.5h after entering, 10 flights of ‘booch and 2 to-​go growlers later, I knew that my life had changed for the better. I had become a ‘booch queen.
Housed in a converted warehouse, the space is kind of weird — there’s a cozy 10 person bar that with its knotty blonde wood looks straight out of Middle Earth — but also a few old couches and the odd folding chair that kind of give off that dirty frat house vibe — worth being aggressive to get a seat and the bar to get up close to the fermentation masters — ours was Luke, who immediately revealed that he only consumes ‘booch (who, unlike me, calls kombucha «booch» in a totally serious, unself-​aware way, so I instantly adored him) and coffee… and knew we were in for quite the experience.
Started with a paddle of five flavors — balsam fir, oaked ‘booch, chai, pink peppercorn cider, and mead — and much to my surprise, the flavors were light, crisp, and refreshingly effervescent — nothing like the aforementioned bodily fluid — like… this shizz was good. Clearly one paddle was not enough as I needed to give every flavor a whirl on my tongue, so I then hit the ghost pepper chili, sumac, hopped ‘booch, and two ciders — dry and blueberry. The mead and ciders were my least favorite — and it was in the ciders that I found that astringent bite that had me saying hard pass — but even the ghost pepper chili, which gave my lips a light sear and put a warmth in my belly had me thinking that all these effing hippies around me are onto something.
Booch really is beverage of the gods. Oh, and it has an ABV of 4−5%, which may have also contributed to my love. Who knows. Regardless, the product coming out of UFF is good enough to make a lover out of even the staunchiest anti-‘booch fighter.
Equally important as the brew, UFF happens to be home to some of the friendliest regulars in the world — no more than 30m into our visit had we already started sharing herbed popcorn and tostadas w our neighboring ‘booch fiend, whom you might have expected to look as though he got lost finding his way around Bed-​Stuy and ended up in Portland, but no — our pal oddly looked a bit more like he belonged on a Gloucester fishing vessel w a pipe in his mouth and a 200lb cod slung over his shoulder — and throughout the hours we were there, it was constantly slammed with a crew ranging from the expected white chick with dreads to the most adorable 75yo lady and her hubby, here for a wild booch ride.
Overall, absolutely worth a trip — sips are $ 1, 12oz pours range from $ 5 – 7, and growler refills are $ 7 – 15. I challenge you not to come away high on good vibes and fermentation.

An alien-​like creature from the blue lagoon watches you as you enter. That there SCOBY looks like it’s seen plenty of delicious tea and sugar. Authenticity check passed, you head to the counter for a plethora of options, priced just right at $ 3 for 4 2oz pours.
As a kombucha homebrewer, I can tell you they are doing some fun and creative things here. Constantly changing flavors and also offerings of cider and mead keep it more than interesting. It’s slightly sweeter than the home version, perhaps to help blend the various flavors together. Effervescent, light, and crisp, it’s everything you hope this kind of kombucha can be.
Warning: be wary of anything spicy. It’s got serious staying power.
Hot tip: the proprietors just might throw another sample or two your way for the hell of it.
How can you not love it here?

I love this place. Homemade kombucha? Check. Homemade cider? Check. Awesome samplers and bar to chill at? Check. They also seem to do a lot in the community/​with the community and I think that’s rad. I’ve got a growler hanging out in my car that needs some filling, I should stop in soon. It’s hidden away in East Bayside, an up and coming little ‘hood.
Definitely check it out to try something that is unique and different… Not just another brewery feather to stick in your cap, hipsters. This place is awesome.

I went to a wine expo in Boston and met two of the guys that were from Urban Fermentory. They were the funniest guys there.
We actually ended up running into them later and they told us to pay a visit to their fermentory up in Maine, so we did (many months later). I love their blueberry and ginger kombucha. The flight was nice ($ 3) and service was okay. The guys we met weren’t there :(.
The ciders are REALLY dry, way too dry for my taste. I really enjoyed all the other flavors. Great place to go!

At some point in the past few years I decided that I loved kombucha (I can tell you the exact moment it was: I was lying on the beach at Willard having just purchased a ginger and berry-​flavored one from Whole Foods on a whim… all that sun, surf, and booch made it one of the best summer days in recent memory and I became an instant fan of the stuff); so to have a fermentory just a couple miles from my home here in Portland is bliss!
Urban Farm Fermentory makes both cider and kombucha (fermented tea) in a seriously unique space. If you’re a fan of both versions elsewhere, you’ll appreciate and probably love UFF’s non-​pedestrian options. The cider comes in a variety of flavors, my favorites being the dry (crisp, tart) and the sour (a combo of kombucha and cider). The komucha (by the way, fun fact from the UFF website: did you know Urban Farm Fermentory is one of three companies in the United States making «old school» kombucha with an alcohol license?) comes in options like Chaga Mint, Oak, and Turmeric (a little potent/​extreme for me, but I can see the draw for people who love that flavor profile). But the best two in my opinion are blueberry and ginger alone or mixed together. They’re flavorful, effervescent, and I’m convinced the ginger has some kind of healing properties to it.
Eli and his crew are friendly, knowledgable, insanely passionate about what they’re producing/​their brand/​the booch movement, and probably some of the nicest alcohol-​tour folks I’ve ever met (having been one myself, I can tell you that they’re a million times nicer than I ever was).
Finally, I really like their involvement with the community — that they allow four other businesses to call 200 Anderson Street home, that they’ve given the Saturday Portland Farmers’ Market a home in the winter, that they are crazy committed to using as many locally sourced ingredients as possible to highlight the greatness that is the state of Maine. I’m looking forward to the day their greenhouse is built!