Seadog Brewing Co.

The state’s brewing landscape is dotted with breweries and pubs in farmhouses, homes and old industrial structures. For Pete Camplin Sr., the ideal spot for his Maine coast brewery was a 128-year-old former woolen mill in Camden. Camplin, a homebrewer by hobby and contractor by trade, saw a chance to combine his passions in the dilapidated mill. After an arduous rehab of the building that began in mid-1992 and ran through the next winter, Camplin had created a 240-seat brewpub and kegging brewery. The Sea Dog held its grand opening on May 17, 1993. The coastal brewery started with a fairly modest output, with production around 2,200 barrels a year by 1994. Still, between the success of the brewery with locals and the growing popularity of craft beer, Camplin saw room for expansion. After another property rehab (this time of a forty-five-year-old former shoe factory), Sea Dog Brewing Company opened a second location in Bangor. The larger 540-seat restaurant and brewery nearly quadrupled production, putting out 8,000 barrels of beer in 1995 and adding bottled distribution to the Sea Dog portfolio. By the end of the decade, Sea Dog had added a pub in South Portland and Topsham.

When the craft beer bubble popped at the turn of the century, Sea Dog nearly sank with the industry ship. Facing debt and cash flow problems, the Sea Dog Brewing Company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in November 2000. The company had completed its reorganization by September 2001, but problems continued and the company defaulted on its debt payments a year later. By the end of 2002, the company had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Luckily for the lovers of Sea Dog, Shipyard’s Fred Forsley and Alan Pugsley—who were already contract brewing Sea Dog beer at their Portland brewery—swooped in to purchase the company.