Besides the many versions of Rockland in Maine, Massachusetts and across the States, there is the added complication of Rockland and Rockport being neighbors. They are both on Penobscot Bay, both tourist destinations, both havens for art (Rockland has the Farnsworth Art museum, Rockport the Opera House), but you run out of similarities.

Rockland has a main street that only goes east, whereas Rockport is scattered from Route One down to the Samoset Resort and over to its wharf. Rockland is a city, congealed around Route 1 and 1A circling around the midtown. If you have business or hunger for good seafood, that’s where you go.

But Rockland has the reputation for lobster and good, reasonable food on the Bay. It even has a blues bar, the “Time Out Pub,” which I visited last night. I began at the Rock Harbor Brewery, where they had samples of their brewed beer along with inexpensive bar food. The Imperial Stout was better than any Stout I have tasted. I admit I do not care for the bite in some stouts, even in the immortal Guinness. They had another coffee-flavored stout (Spruce Head, I think), which was almost as good. The other two were lagers, and they were pretty smooth, too.

The “Time Out Pub” was a great local watering hole, with an upstairs stage and dance floor. Willy J Laws was featured on Monday, and he was great, by my uninformed opinion. He had a bass guitarist and drummer, who kept the joint hopping. He stuck to the best of the blues, but the only one I recognized was “Bare-footin'” This place evoked the Rockland I knew was there, but was hiding behind the tourist trappings.

You would not expect a “Time Out” in the refined Rockport. They are featuring a comedy act at the Samoset tonight, so I won’t say they have no nightlife. However, it is a charity performance, which brings dignity to the event. The Samoset focuses the tourist life in Rockport, but golf is its main attraction. The best restaurant used to be down by the wharf, but it seems to have vanished. The boat yard appears to have taken over.

Rockland is also the Farnsworth Art Museum, but that will have to wait for later this week. I didn’t want to let the nightlife slip by, and I didn’t want the city to be reduced to lobster and paintings. So lift one to the brewery and the blues pub. I admit I lifted more than one.