The Distillery Built by a Zoologist and a Blueberry Farmer

May 21

On a recent afternoon at Blue Barren Distillery on Camden’s waterfront, a cocktail made with kelp-infused vodka sat beside a plate of scallops and apples while boats drifted in the harbor below. Behind the bar stood a former zoologist and a ninth-generation blueberry farmer explaining how any of this came to exist.

The original plan was not hospitality.

Years ago, Jeremy Howard and Andrew Stewart were sitting inside Stewart’s Hope General Store talking about wild blueberries and the economics of farming in Maine. Blueberry wine had already been done. So had jam. They started wondering what would happen if they distilled the fruit instead.

“In Scotland, the biggest way to make a profit from barley was to turn it into whiskey,” Stewart said. “So I was like, well, we should turn the blueberries into alcohol.”

At the time, neither man was running a distillery. Howard had studied kinesiology and grown up around his family’s blueberry land. Stewart had studied zoology, worked in restaurants around the world, managed the Hope General Store, and once planned to pursue a master’s degree studying cheetahs in Botswana.

Now Blue Barren has locations in Camden and Portland, with shelves lined in Harbor Gin, maple rum, amaros, blueberry liqueurs, and experimental spirits flavored with ingredients sourced from around Maine. Their seaweed vodka, made with kelp harvested in Frenchman Bay, started almost as a joke.

“We thought we were going to make a flavored vodka,” Stewart said. “Then we came back to: let’s just keep it simple and infuse kelp and distill it.”

The restaurant itself feels intentionally unfussy despite the ambitious drinks program. Burgers, fish and chips, cocktails, and scallop salad arrive at tables overlooking Camden Harbor. The space is airy and industrial, softened by nautical flags and rows of bottles catching the afternoon light.

The business grew quickly, accelerated by COVID, a fire at the boatyard, and an unexpected expansion into hospitality. But the spirit of it still feels closer to experimentation than corporate strategy.

“Whenever there was a harvest that season,” Howard said, “we’d say, ‘Well, let’s try it.’”

Famous for:
Distilling Maine ingredients into inventive spirits, from Harbor Gin and seaweed vodka to wild blueberry cocktails, alongside approachable waterfront food in Camden Harbor.

2 Wayfarer Drive, Camden, ME | 324 Fore Street in Portland, ME | bluebarren.com