Beer is driving Maine's economy forward, one bottle at a time, in microbreweries all over the state.

This is very good news.

Maine is carving a niche and earning a reputation for the very best beers, while the nation's favored brew, Budweiser, goes international with the purchase of Anheuser-Busch by Belgian brewer InBev, a huge conglomerate that now can boast a bevy of brews from Beck's to Bud.

There's nothing new about this, either. Fifty Maine breweries prospered during Prohibition, causing the state's governors to occasionally call out the militia to stop the illegal beer brewing. Today we're taking a different approach.

In 1985, Maine was one of the first states to allow microbreweries to serve their own brew on premises. Many of these brewpubs whipped up such delicious concoctions that they expanded into the retail market.

I'm learning a lot about beer by reading son Josh's beer blog (www.joshsbeerblog.blog spot.com). What father wouldn't be proud of a son with his own beer blog?

OK, his mother and I are most proud of Josh for his chosen work at My Brother's Keeper at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, serving the most needy in the Brockton area.

But Josh's beer blog is really interesting. He's broadened my beer horizon with detailed analyses of more than 450 beers: stouts, porters, ales of every kind.

I was hooked the first time I tasted excellent beer on our honeymoon in Germany.

When we returned to Munich a few years later for Oktoberfest, sitting in huge tents with 5,000 others, eating slivers of salted white radishes, drinking hearty, tasty beer in huge steins, I knew I'd found my beverage of choice.

For years, I bought German beers St. Pauli Girl and Beck's until great beer came to Maine, made by our very own microbreweries.

We have some of the world's best and that's not just bragging. Maine brews often top their competitors at national and international events.

There are plenty of good ones nearby, including brewing companies Sheepscot Valley in Whitefield, Kennebec in Gardiner, Oak Pond in Skowhegan and Kennebec River in the Forks.

Preferring stouts and porters, my personal favorite is Sebago Lake Trout Stout (of course, a fish on the label!), with a score of 9 from Josh using a scale of 0-to-10. It's difficult to find locally, but Bridget Palmer at The Lighthouse Wine and Seafood Market in Manchester special orders it for me.

When I turn to ales, Shipyard often is the top choice and its Prelude is a winter ale that I continue to enjoy through the summer. It's a great beer that gets a 7 from Josh.

I stockpiled some of it after a visit to Shipyard's interesting brewery in Portland.

Over Father's Day, we gathered some of the family at a camp at Round Pond on the coast, and Josh treated me to a carefully selected six-pack. I felt a bit like a traitor with the selection of a Smuttynose Robust Porter (a 10 from Josh), brewed in Portsmouth, but this one has quickly become a favorite.

Of course, there have been brews that disappointed, no more so than a splurge on a $6.75 imperial coffee stout brewed with "real fair-trade coffee" by Montreal's Brasserie Dieu du Ciel.

The stout is called Péché Mortel (French for "mortal sin."). It was not sinfully delicious. I learned that I like coffee and I like stout, but I don't like coffee stout.

After the first sip, I remembered Lin's admonition that, "It should be spectacular. No beer should cost that much!" It wasn't and it shouldn't.

But it might be a great breakfast beverage.

Of course, I'm kidding. Surely I don't have to caution you to drink responsibly and never operate any kind of motorized vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

One of the great aspects of microbrews is that they're designed to be savored -- not chugged. And they are expensive, too. These are beers for "when you're only having one."

Actually, I'm sitting here right now, sipping my one beer for the evening, an Andrew's St. Nick's Porter (an 8 from Josh), brewed by Andy Hazen and his son, Ben, in a Lincolnville barn shared with a 32-year old goat.

Andy puts his Golden Retriever "Miller" on the label along with "Brewed in Maine" in bold. You've got to love that.

Join me, won't you? It's good for our economy.

George Smith is executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. He lives in Mount Vernon and can be reached at george@samcef.org.