Sacred Profane chef and partner Carson James serves up a pork schnitzel sandwich with black forest ham and cheese sauce. The brewery and tankpub opened in Biddeford Sept. 1. Photo courtesy of Sacred Profane

The eagerly awaited Czech-style brewery and tankpub Sacred Profane opened in Biddeford last week, notching some early raves from lager lovers.

The Washington Street brewery specializes in complex-tasting lagers brewed using old-world Czech methods and equipment. Since the Sept. 1 launch, beer fans have left mostly positive reviews of the new brewery’s pale and dark lagers on the brew-tasting app Untappd.

“Delicious, crushable lager,” wrote one, while another happy customer said his beer was “everything I look for in a lager – crisp, dry, subtle sweetness/bitter balance.”

Sacred Profane’s beer – crafted by head brewer Brienne Allan and operations manger Michael Fava – has dominated talk about the brewery for months now, but the European beer hall food appears to have earned plenty of praise on its own since last Thursday.

Sacred Profane partner Erin Sheehan said the menu was influenced by Eastern European pub fare and includes dishes like crispy pork schnitzel and beef tartare. Customers can also find some French Canadian treats as well, like cretons – similar to pork rillettes – and poutine.

“Lots of people’s grandmothers made this food for them, it’s very nostalgic, and so we wanted to make sure it was great,” Sheehan said. “We’ve had an excellent response to it so far.” Sheehan’s husband, Sacred Profane partner Carson James, serves as the brewery’s chef.

The brewery has 28 seats in its dining area, with another 50 beer hall-style seats upstairs. Sacred Profane is open 4-10 p.m. Monday and Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

SEAWEED CONFERENCE COMES TO TOWN

The first international Seagriculture Conference comes to Portland on Wednesday and Thursday, drawing roughly 300 attendees from around North America and Europe to examine the future of ocean plant life and the seaweed industry.

The Seagriculture Conference has been held annually in Europe since 2012. Conference organizers said they chose Maine as the location to launch their new Seagriculture Conference USA series in part because the state is a “hot spot for the seaweed industry in North America.”

The sold-out, two-day gathering is based at the Westin Portland Harborview and features 27 speakers on topics such as using seaweed to benefit the climate, innovations in seaweed farming and processing, and framing ocean plants as a natural capital investment.

Maine-based speakers include Everything Seaweed President Jessica Chalmers to discuss manufacturing seaweed nano-fibers, activist Severine Fleming to describe a right-sized seaweed economy, and Atlantic Farms CEO Briana Warner, who will talk about how line-grown seaweed is an umami-rich superfood. Biddeford-based Atlantic Sea Farms will close out the conference Thursday with a live-cooking demo.

MAINE ORCHARDS MAKE THE LIST

Cayford Orchards in Skowhegan and Super Chilly Farm in Palermo were the two Maine apple orchards included in Yankee magazine’s list of the 13 best orchards in New England. Courtesy Cayford Orchards

Two Maine apple orchards made Yankee magazine’s list of the 13 Best Apple Orchards in New England.

Cayford Orchards in Skowhegan and Super Chilly Farm in Palermo were Maine’s honorees on the regional list, compiled by Amy Traverso, Yankee senior food editor and author of “The Apple Lover’s Cookbook.”

Traverso noted that Cayford owners Jason and Heather Davis have been reviving and adding to their heirloom apple trees on the 18-acre orchard since the 1990s, allowing the orchard to offer heirloom varieties alongside mainstream apples like Cortland and Honeycrisp. Cayford has operated for six generations, and Traverso writes that for the Davises, “this work is rooted in a passion for preserving their family’s heritage as well as that of the apple itself.”

The list says Super Chilly Farm is not a typical pick-your-own orchard, but well worth a mention – even an off-season visit by serious apple lovers – because it’s owned by renowned apple preservationist and historian John Bunker.

Bunker has “devoted four decades of his life to tracking down rare and unusual apple varieties and preserving and propagating them all over the state, including here at his own farm,” Traverso writes. “His orchards are a living catalog of global apple varieties, and Mainers have come to savor these fruits through the ‘Out on a Limb’ heirloom apple CSA he operates each fall, with multiple pick-up locations from Portland to Mt. Desert.”

LOBSTER BAKE FUNDRAISER

The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association is throwing a lobster bake Saturday on Peaks Island to raise money for its programs.

The event is set for 5-7 p.m. at Island Lobster Co. on Island Avenue. Tickets are $100, available online, and include a full meal of lobster, mussels, baked potato, corn on the cob, whoopie pies and the association’s Maine Coast Monkfish Stew.

Organizers said the event is limited to 100 attendees. All proceeds will go to the association.

Ferry service is available through Casco Bay Lines to transport guests to and from the event.