LEWISTON — Local residents and beer fans got a chance Wednesday to try the beer at the city’s new brewery as Baxter Brewing Company opened its taps for the first time.

About a dozen people attended Baxter’s first tasting at noon at the brewery in the Bates Mill complex. On tap were Stowaway IPA, a strong, West-Coast style ale, and Pamola Xtra Pale Ale.

The Pamola Xtra Pale ale is very light, brew master Michael LaCharite said. “That’s why we call it ‘Xtra.’ It’s extra pale. It’s at the very lower end of the pale ale category as far as specifications go. One thing that we do here that’s kind of unique is that we condition the beer longer than most breweries. What that does to beer is it really smooths it out, almost makes it more like a lager.”

The Stowaway IPA is an aggressively hopped India pale ale, LaCharite said, but it will be conditioned like the pale ale. “A lot of hops go in (this beer),” he said. “You get a lot of bitterness, but mostly what you get is hop flavor, and hop aroma. This beer is also very smooth, so you get that massive hop flavor, and hop aroma, that we want from a true IPA.”

The batches served today were test batches made on a 15-gallon system, LaCharite said. That’s about one-sixtieth the size of the batches the brewery will produce when it starts distributing statewide at the end of January, brewery owner Luke Livingston said. The small batches will be available on tours until they run out, Livingston said. “I hope (it lasts) more than a couple of days, but I can’t be sure.”

The tasting was well-received by the attendees of the event.

Chris Cavallari of Lewiston described the Pamola Xtra Pale Ale as having “a good smell right at the nose. And it’s pretty smooth. It’s got a nice little hop bite right at the end.”

Jay Sloate of Auburn came for the tour and the first tasting. “I think it’s really a great idea they’re putting the beer in a can,” he said. “I really do. There is a lot of places you can’t take glass into, and this is just perfect.”

A business trip brought Frank Norek of central New Jersey to Maine. As a hobby home brewer and beer aficionado, he’s traveled around the state testing beers from several breweries.

“Both (of Baxter’s) beers were excellent,” Norek said. “The lighter pale ale will sell because its very drinkable. It had a very, very nice taste — an incredible bouquet, meaning the early part of the beer was excellent. I’d love to taste it out of the can to see if it holds up as it did on the small batch today.”

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