Alex Kolb, photographed in 2022, is one of the owners of the Winterport Winery and Penobscot Bay Brewery, which is for sale for $575,000. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

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After nearly 25 years in business, the Winterport Winery and Penobscot Bay Brewery in Winterport has closed.

The business, which sold to a group of five young pharmacists in 2021, made a range of beers, ciders, and fruit wines and also operated a tasting room and event space.

The business itself is not for sale, but the building that houses it is, with a listing price of $575,000. Kitchen equipment is included in the price but wine and distillery production equipment is being sold separately for an unspecified amount, according to the listing — leaving open the possibility that another wine or beer producer could move into the space at 279 South Main St.

In a statement posted to social media earlier this month, two of the owners, Alex and Katie Kolb, said they are closing the winery to focus on family. The couple has a young son and their priorities changed after becoming parents, they wrote.

“Time that was spent growing and nurturing this business gradually shifted to what truly matters most to us,” they wrote.

The business owners did not respond to requests for comment.

Mike and Joan Anderson started the business in 2001 as a winery and tasting room and later opened Penobscot Bay Brewery as a sister company in 2009. For a time, the site was also home to a restaurant, Pairings, which closed in 2011.

Bridget Huber is a reporter on the BDN's Coastal Desk covering Belfast and Waldo County. She grew up in southern Maine and went to Bates College and The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies and now lives...

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