Saturday, March 28, 2009

Not on now.... the Imp.Porter that is.

Well greetings beer lovers, Todm here wishing you a very hoppy Saturday. As it turns out the Baltic Porter held its own for a few days allowing us a wee bit more time for the milk stout to conditions. I have just finished the transfer and have been "polishing up" the CO2 level to make this lovely beer presentable! Should be on by 2:00 PM. As far as things in the works we have lots of pokers in the fire tempering just so. But I do want you to know we've got WheatWine almost ready, for when the Bigfoot kicks. For those of you at the Beer VS. Wine dinner you had a sneak preview of the Wheat Wine which we added some dried apricots to to bring the complexity level up one notch. It was quite tasty! The IMP. IPA is coming along nicely and looks like it will be dry-hopped with a massive amount of Warrior/Nugget/Simcoe and Columbus! WHOA!! Be on the lookout for this gnaurghly elixir in mid April, as well as the Weizenbock and Springtime Saison. I am still waiting patiently for these two to come around and it looks like another week or two for both. Well, I've got to put on the milk stout to get the bartenders off my back. Cheers! and good drinking. Todm

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Just for a bit.

Hey all,

It must be getting close to summer because beers life on tap here is getting shorter and shorter. So the Oatmeal Stout is gone and was loved by many. We were going to back it up with the Milk Stout, but in our planning the brew schedule we didn’t expect the Oatmeal to kick until this weekend! So we put on the Imperial Porter to tide over the "dark" beer drinkers out there. I know it doesn’t have the body of a stout, but at a higher alcohol content the stout and with a similar chocolate back note we think it will be an ok substitute. We hope to have the Milk Stout on for Friday when the Baltic/Imperial Porter will go back into condition mode until we put it on for real the next time.

Well I'm off to enjoy the beer vs. wine dinner here at the brewery.

cheers,
Tyler

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Britt for an American

Hey all,

There has been a few changes to the on tap menu here at the brewery. The British mild has been replaced with its American counterpart, the American Mild. This beer is light in body and alcohol (giving it it's Mild part of the name) and then it is hopped similar to and American IPA. Hence, the beer style name of American Mild. It was named Whipper Snapper by a patron the last time it was on. So the boards will say Whipper Snapper while the tap markers still say the old name of American Mild.

Secondly the Winter weizen has gone away and been replaced with out XX Bitter. This, again, is a beer that is on the lower end of the alcohol spectrum at only 5.25% abv. The XX Bitter is hopped similar to an ESB, but then we tweak the style by fermenting it with a Belgian yeast strain. You know us, no beer can be completely strait forward.

Cheers,
Tyler

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Since you asked...



Howdy,

I noticed that several of you wrote in response to Tyler's post about tapping the final keg of Portsmouth Lager and wanted to throw in my two cents’ worth. Here's the short story:

Yes, Portsmouth Lager has been retired, and yes, you surmised correctly that it will be replaced at the Portsmouth Brewery by Smuttynose’s new Star Island Single.

If you’d like to read my long-winded explanation for why we decided to phase Portsmouth Lager out of the Smuttynose lineup, you can visit my blog, Smuttynose Tavern, where I go into it at some length.

In the meantime, enjoy the last of the Portsmouth Lager, and please let us know what you think of Star Island. (I’m heading into town shortly to have one myself.)

Cheers,

P-

Thursday, March 19, 2009

So long...farewell...auf Wiedersehen and good buy :(

Hey all,

So, I just went into the cold room and noticed that we have taped our last keg of Smuttynose Portsmouth Lager (PML). Since we took the last shipment of the PML from Bayside, and Smuttynose is discontinuing the brand, I fancy to say that we have the last keg of PML in New Hampshire, if not the world!

So I hereby declare this the unofficial farewell hour/day/weekend (depending on how long it lasts) for the Smuttynose Portsmouth Lager. Come on in and get a last pint of this brew and say your farewells to a long standing regular tap here at the Portsmouth Brewery.

Cheers,

Tyler

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Top of the mornin' to ya!

We are counting our lucky stars and feel as we found a pot o’ gold because of the return of Murphy's Law Red Ale. Ye say you like-a the Irish Red Ales? This beverage is for you. Come on in and get a pint of Murphy's Law or a pint of Oatmeal Stout, “they're magically delicious”.

Man I am running out of St. Patty's day references, I had to stoop to a cereal commercial. I'm going back to brewing.

Sláinte!,

Tyler

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Solo brew day for me.

Hey all,

Why is Tyler all alone on a brew day? Is Tod on Vacation? Has he gone skiing? No he is brewing at another brewery!

Not permanently though, no worries. He is down at Mayflower Brewing Co. in Plymouth MA brewing the symposium ale for the upcoming Craft Brewers Conference (CBC). Tod Mott and Will Meyers of Cambridge brewing Company went down this morning to meet up with Matt Steinberg (head Brewer at Mayflower) to play with his new system and make a new beer for the CBC. I can’t wait to see what these guys make!

On the home front we have changed a few beers. First off the Le Chat has beer replaced by one of my favorite of our stouts; the Oatmeal Stout. It has a nice chocolate flavor that hangs on your palette because of the oats, and the slightly roast nose is a great complement.

Secondly the Belgian Triple is gone. But ,"The eagle has landed!" a quote from our salesman from the distributor we work with. Meaning that we can get Serria Nevada's BigFoot. This is the classic American Style Barleywine. Lots of malt and lots of hops make this beer just a stumble away from an Imperial IPA. At 9.6% more then one might make you stumble so be careful. Although I had a '04 Bigfoot the other day and the bar tender said that the abv was 11.4%? Was he mistakenly reading the date or have they cut back on the ABV throughout the years? I am going to have to look into this.

See you out and about this weekend. There is some good music being played in Portsmouth this weekend, so you will see me at the brewery having a beer or two before the shows!

Cheers,
Tyler

Friday, March 6, 2009

It's Baaaack!

Hey all,

The Flanders makes its triumphant return to the taps for a limited quantity engagement. We blended the remaining Flanders Red with the year old Sour Brune, lambicus and some tart cherries to make a pseudo Kriek Lambic. Traditionally we would have to age the blend for at least a year to call it an official Lambic. But it is close enough for us American brewers here at Portsmouth. The blend is very nice, the aged Brune plus the Lambicus really rounds out the tartness. The tart cherries give a very nice background of fruit in the aroma and flavor. Plus the color is killer! We only have 30 gal of this beer so again no growlers on this limited one of a kind beer. Come and give it a whirl.

Cheers,
Tyler

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The 5 C's IPA is gone!

Hello all,

The 5 C's is gone and we are going to have to make it again at some point this year. Is it that much better then the Bottle Rocket? Or, is it just a nice change of pace for you guys? Any who it went quick as Tod mentioned.

To replace it we have a very limited amount of last years Sour Brune, 10 gals to be exact. This beer has Lambicus added to it to aid in the secondary fermentation and add another interesting layer of sour character to the beer. Because of the limited quantity we are serving the beer on draft only. But the brewery is always worth the trip!

Cheers,
Tyler