Slick Nick’s local roots

Slick Nick Wicked Winter Ale’s full-bodied malty goodness returns on Thursday, October 31st this year, crashing even one more holiday with a Halloween release!

There’s something special in Slick Nick’s sack this year: ONE TON (that’s 2,000 pounds) of malt from Maine Malt House in Mapleton, Maine. The Buck brothers (Jared, Joshua, Jacob and Caleb) have been supplying our brewers with malt for more than a decade.

Sebago first started working with Maine Malt House for our annual tradition Local Harvest Ale. Over the years, they’ve grown their operation and the ranges of malts they produce. As a result, we’ve gone from making a single beer with their malt to using some in all of batches we produce throughout the year!

Peter Dahlen, our Director of Brewery Operations, says, “We value the direct relationship we have to one of the key ingredients for our beers — they grow it and malt it, which really connects the journey of grain to glass.”

Our brewers continue to work with Maine Malt House because they care about the quality of malt they supply and the people that use it. Plus, the Buck family is great to work with because they’re kind, responsive and have their standards for quality are high.

For many years our brewers have been relying on imported English malt to create the rich flavors that everyone loves in Slick Nick, but the Maine Malt House team developed a malt that was able to deliver that rich character and depth of flavor that they’d been looking for in malt from a local supplier.

Peter sums it up: “We don’t use local malt as a substitute or because it’s convenient, we use it as an important part of our recipes because it creates the flavors and aromas we’re looking for.”

Slick Nick is available at all Sebago locations in 16oz 4-packs, on draft, and growlers to go. You can also grab 4-packs at Hannaford and other stores.