Saco River Brewing’s Newest Beer Is A Nod To WGME’S Charlie Lopresti

Charlie Lopresti  is the Chief Meteorologist on WGME/FOX23 weeknights. he grew up in  New England, and was fascinated by the area's exciting and sometimes wild weather. At and early age, he knew his love for big storms and weather extremes would some day lead him to a career in meteorology.

But not a lot of people know he also grows pumpkins. HUGE, award winning pumpkins. Why are we talking about pumpkins in the spring? Because now is the time to plant the seeds, which is why Saco River Brewing decided to launch their "P-Funk" beer yesterday, a pumpkin porter.. according to an article on WGME.com.

So what does all of this have to do with Charlie? The owner of Saco River Brewing wanted to grow a big pumpkin, like big enough to raft down the Saco river and it just so happens he's been getting his pumpkin seeds from Charlie for the past few years, according to the story. The pumpkin didn't grow quite big enough to raft the river, but it did get big enough to use as a fermenter. Instead of pumpkin spices to flavor the beer, the gang at Saco River Brewing used the recipe for their popular Old Course Porter to ferment INSIDE the pumpkin, genius.

There's only about 5 gallons of the beer so it won't last long, it's a limited release good for maybe 50 12 ounce pours, draft only. Saco River Brewing says it will probably be gone soon so hurry in if you want to try it!