A Whale of a View: Fin Skeleton Finds a Home at Maine Beer Company

Visitors to Maine Beer Company’s tasting room will soon find themselves looking up at an extraordinary new feature: the skeleton of a young fin whale suspended overhead.

According to WGME 13, the remains were first discovered along the shoreline of Steuben, Maine, where the College of the Atlantic’s Allied Whale program led a recovery effort. Students and faculty carefully transported the bones back to the college, where the skeleton was cleaned, studied, and ultimately reassembled as part of a hands-on learning project.

Fin whales, the second-largest species of whale in the world, are rarely seen up close. For students, the recovery and reconstruction provided a rare opportunity to work directly with one of the ocean’s giants, while also contributing to marine science and conservation, the news station reported.

Maine Beer Company partnered with the college during the recovery and has since been gifted the skeleton, which is now being prepared for display above the brewery’s Freeport tasting room. The installation is designed not only to highlight the scale and majesty of the whale but also to raise awareness about marine conservation.

A formal unveiling ceremony is scheduled for October. The event will feature remarks from Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban, who is also running as a Democratic candidate in the U.S. Senate race and U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree.

Proceeds from the event will directly benefit the College of the Atlantic’s Allied Whale research group, which studies whales, dolphins and porpoises in the Gulf of Maine and beyond. WGME explained that the program has been active for decades, maintaining one of the longest-running humpback whale photo-identification catalogs in the world.

For Maine Beer Company, the collaboration reflects its broader mission of environmental stewardship. The brewery, known for its commitment to sustainability, has long supported conservation efforts, and the whale skeleton will serve as both an educational centerpiece and a reminder of the importance of protecting Maine’s coastal ecosystems.

With its combination of science, history, and community partnership, the fin whale’s new home promises to make the tasting room a destination not only for beer lovers but also for those with an interest in marine life and conservation.