Happy New Year all!

Greetings beer lovers,
Well, here it is the last day of 2011...... WOW! That was a fast year! I hope all have had a good year and are looking forward to 2012. That whole Mayan calender has me a wee bit wonderin' but I am more interested in making beer and have a good time in 2012! We have just brought another beer back into the fray.... our Munich Dunkel which is a lovely well balanced dark amber lager that should quell all you session lovers!! Be careful tonight and have a safe and Happy New Year and look forward to our milk stout coming in the first of the new year.... Cheers! Todm

Satchmo in da house!

Greetings beer lovers,
We got lucky and snagged a few logs of the limited release Satchmo, from Smuttynose, that will be our Sunday special beer!. Satchmo is an English style brown porter with black Trumpet mushrooms foraged by no other than Evan Mallet of the Black Trumpet restaurant here in Portsmouth. The collaboration between Evan and Smuttynose has had a great effect on the use of non traditional ingredient in the Smutynose short batch and might get Dave and crew to think about other weird ingredients(?). The mushrooms add an aromatic quality to the beer that Charlie Ireland from Smuttynose calls "Fun-guy" (fungi- yuk-yuk!). The brown porters of England have a well balanced body with a touch of residual sweetness and not a huge amount of alcohol either(approx 4.5%abv.) making for a great drinking brown porter. Lastly, the addition of sherry soaked oak chips during conditioning adds in a "barrel" character to this unique short batch series. Come on in on Sunday and enjoy a pint or two of this wonderful brown porter. Cheers! Todm

More Information Regarding Kate Day 2012

Good afternoon,

Most of you know by now that Kate Day, the day we release our highly regarded Russian Imperial Stout, will take place at the Portsmouth Brewery on Monday, March 5, 2012. Up till now we haven't posted many details because, frankly, we hadn't worked them all out. I'm writing today to provide more information about this popular annual gathering, pointing out similarities and differences between the upcoming Kate Day and previous years' events. As in the past, I'll use a Q&A format (which will allow me to cut and paste shamelessly from my last year's post):

• When will Kate Day take Place in 2012?
Kate Day will take place on Monday, March 5, 2012.

• How much Kate the Great will be brewed?
Tod and Brian have brewed a somewhat larger batch than in years past: fourteen barrels, divided more or less equally between draught and bottles.

• I heard a rumor that you’ll be using different bottles this year. Is that true?
You heard right. We have decided to abandon the familiar 22-ounce “bomber” bottle and have chosen instead to use the classic “Steini,” a  bottle most commonly associated these days with beers such as Duvel and Piraat.

• But don't Steini bottles hold less beer than bombers?
I'm glad you asked. Yes they do - 11.16 ounces versus 22, to be precise.

• Does that mean you’ll be offering more bottles for sale?
Another great question! Yes. This year we will make 2,000 bottles available for sale. More than double the number from years past. (Yes, sometimes less truly is more.)

• How much will these new, smaller bottles of Kate cost?
Last year we raised the price of 22 ounce bottles to $15. This year we have pro-rated the price to account for the smaller bottle and will charge $8 apiece.

• Will growlers of Kate be available?
No.

• Last year you switched from using calendar pages to a lottery system using scratch tickets as a means of distributing bottled Kate. Do you plan to use scratch tickets again this year?
Understanding that no system is perfect, we really like the way the scratch tickets worked last year. It is an equitable way to distribute a limited number of bottles where demand greatly exceeds supply; it reduces the crowds forming on our doorstep and down the block on Kate Day, which keeps our neighbors and the local constabulary happy; and it enables us to raise a significant amount of money for local non-profits. Consequently, we WILL be using scratch tickets this year, as well. Here's how it will work:

- 15,000 tickets will be available, with 2,000 “winners” mixed randomly among them.
- These tickets will be sold at the Portsmouth Brewery for $2 apiece starting ABOUT three weeks prior to Kate Day, until they run out.
- 100% of the revenue generated by the sale of these scratch tickets will benefit five non-profits, including the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire. (For the curious, the Portsmouth Brewery does not take a tax deduction for these funds.)
- Sale of scratch tickets will be limited to ten per person per day.
- Scratch tickets must be purchased in person at the Brewery. None will be sold by mail.

• If I don’t live near Portsmouth, how will I be able to purchase a ticket?
This is where you become resourceful and ask your Aunt Tillie in Kittery or your BA trading partners to help out and buy tickets for you.

• So I've got a winning scratch ticket, now what to I do?
A WINNING SCRATCH TICKET HAS NO CASH VALUE - it merely entitles the bearer to purchase a single bottle of Kate at his or her convenience any time from March 5 through April 15, 2012. An individual can purchase as many bottles of Kate as he or she has winning scratch tickets. Winning scratch tickets become invalid after April 15, 2012.  Any bottles of Kate remaining unsold after that date will be made available to the general public in our retail store.

• When and how will people be notified when scratch tickets go on sale?
We'll post on our Facebook page and send out a tweet the morning they go on sale, ABOUT three weeks before Kate Day.

• How is draft Kate going to be released?
We plan to use the system we employed last year: the Portsmouth Brewery will open its doors for business at 11:00 am on Kate Day. We will let people into the building in groups of 50, spaced 15 minutes apart, until the restaurant is fully seated. This is to assure that service (and beer) flows smoothly, enabling us to provide the best hospitality throughout the day. The official tapping of Kate will take place around 11:30 am.

• If I come with a large group of friends, will we all be able to sit together?
We'll do our very best to accommodate groups of all sizes on Kate Day, but we can't make any promises.

• Will we be seated with people we don’t know?
Perhaps. In order to make sure that all of our guests are seated and served as expeditiously as possible, a certain amount of communal seating is required. Kate Day is probably not ideally suited for a romantic date, but it is a great opportunity to make new friends!

We will provide more details over the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Please keep in mind, the purpose of Kate Day is to have fun, to celebrate good beer and gather with friends, old and new. At the Brewery we try to do our best to deliver on that. We look forward to serving you. 

Cheers,

Peter Egelston
Proprietor

Happy Holidaze!!

Greetings Beer Lover,
A happy Holidaze to all! Hopefully, all of you have finished your holiday shopping and are just about ready for some Holiday cheers! In the unlikely event that we run out of Holidaze Porter before the official Holiday...... Oh wait.... we just ran out of Holidaze Porter!! Shoot! Anyway, we have replaced Holidaze with another cheerful beer our Imperial Porter. Dark and chocolately this one is just missing the ginger spiciness but it is..... oh so good! Lots of roastiness rounded out with some residual sweetness from the crystal and caramel malts plus some flaked barley, this porter rocks the Christmas tree! So, be sure to stop in for a couple of pints and be sure to say hi. Have a safe and merry holiday. Cheers! The Brew Crew, Tod and Brian

New Weekly Specials!

While this isn't explicitly beer news, it's definitely worth posting.

Chef Todd Sweet and Sous Chef Jon Hebert have created a new menu of Weekly Specials.  These new dishes incorporate elements of Korean, British and New Orleans cuisines just to name a few.  "Our goal with this menu," said Chef Sweet, "was to serve dishes that are grounded in something familiar but also offer something unique.  We like the idea of dining by appointment, so what you're seeing here is our best attempt at giving you seven delicious reasons to visit the Brewery."

The new specials menu also offers a significant increase in vegetarian options from its predecessor.  Take a look:

Sunday 
Stout Shepherd's Pie- Lamb and local carrots simmered with herbs in our Stout and baked with "neaps and tatties"  $15.95

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie- Tempeh, forest mushrooms and local carrots simmered in our Stout and baked with "neaps and tatties" $14.95

Monday
Veggie Gumbo- A hearty stew of Dirty Blonde Ale-braised greens, chick peas and seasonal veggies served over basmati rice $14.95

Tuesday
New York Strip with Lobster- A chargrilled, center-cut New York Strip served with chunks of lobster and a Smuttynose Star Island Single Hollandaise $34.95

Wednesday
Brewhouse Duck- A crispy duck thigh and seared duck breast served with an Old Brown Dog au jus, barley pilaf and bok choy  $24.95

Thursday
Korean Barbecue Beef Tacos- Sesame-soy grilled beef in whole wheat tortillas with avocado, daikon and chili paste.  Served with house kim chee and cucumber-rice salad  $14.95

Meatless option with marinated tofu  $13.95

Friday
Sage-grilled Local Pork Kabobs- Grilled, marinated Breezy Hill Farm pork with an orange-rosemary glaze and served with winter squash, broccoli rabe and a risotto cake  $18.95

Saturday
Curry Rice Noodles with Seared Scallops- Rice vermicelli stir-fried with shiitake mushrooms, bell peppers and bean sprouts tossed with curry spices and tamari  $23.95

Meatless option with marinated tofu  $13.95


Remember, you can order each dish all day long on its designated day.

We hope to see you soon at Portsmouth Brewery!

Special Beer for Sunday is Throwback's Maple-Kissed Honey Porter

Greetings beer lovers,
I just wanted to send out a heads-up for Sundays beer special. For this Sunday we're running Throwback's Maple-Kissed Honey Porter from our neighbors down in Hampton NH. Annettes' unique porter is brewed with maple syrup and wheat..... (duh!) as the name implies!! It is a medium bodies black porter with a touch of sweetness from the maple syrup with deep chocolate notes and a nice finish. Would be really great with the Pastrami sandwich, strip steak, Ziti and the Stout cake!! Just saying..... Cheers! Todm

Wow! 4 years went by really quickly...

Greetings beer lovers,
So, with a saddened heart we all say farewell to Tyler and best of luck at Smuttynose. I know I'll miss Tyler and all he brought to P-Brew but he'll only be a stones throw away over at Smuttynose and hopefully won't be a total stranger. We are in the process of interviewing candidates to step up to the task of assistant brewer along with Brian Routhier. Brian, BTW, has been on board for about 3 months and is doing a stand up job filling kegs and bottling that beer, transferring beer, cleaning tanks, harvesting yeast as well as brewing beer. That is about all we do here. BUT THAT IS PLENTY TO DO!! The new assistant will be responsible for all of the above as well and also being an integral part of the Portsmouth Brewery community. We are excited to bring someone into the system that has a new perspective on all that is The Portsmouth Brewery.
Enough of the sadness...... we are running some great early winter beers which include the Winter Rye and Winterweizen both excellent examples of warming winter beers. If you have not had the pleasure of having a wee bit of the Scotch ale you ought to get in here soon as there is not much left. However, there is an even bigger beer to follow. This years Wheat Wine which has that crazy toffee-like character as well as the dry hops( this was new for this year.... 10 pounds of leaf Cascade into the conditioning tank. Yum!) KtG is starting to condition and we just put in the Imperial Porter. Lots of black beers. In addition to those dark beers is the 5 C's Pale Ale. Just a little bit smaller than the IPA version at 5.5% abv. but all the same hops and great flavors. Can't wait. The end of this week brings a collaboration with Mitch Steele of Stone Brewing Co. Dave Yarrington, Executive brewer at Smuttynose, Mitch and I will be brewing an old school IPA using Cluster and Bullion as well as Tomahawk in a beer we'll be calling Clusters Last Stand. It is an IPA and won't be out 'til later in Jan. but should be a great one. I gotta get back to work so we can ready the brewery for all of the aforementioned work. Hope you are enjoying the Holidays and be sure to stop in for one of our tasty winter beers. Cheers! Tod M

The rumors are true...

Hey all,

For those of you whom subscribe to the Portsmouth Brewery/Smuttynose Newsletter this isn't new news. But, I have accepted a position as Smuttynose Brewing Co. I'll be starting with them December 12th. Emotionally it was an extremely hard decision to leave The Portsmouth Brewery because of YOU! I love all the fans of the Portsmouth Brewery out there. I love sitting next to them at the bar chatting about the beer in front of them. I love running in to you in the restaurant during one of my shifts and stopping and chatting with you. I love talking tourist though the paddle in front of them in the summer. I love running into you at festivals. This brewery has become a big part of me in the 4+ years i have been here.

All that being said, since i am still going to be within the same "company umbrella" you have not seen the last of me. I will still be coming in to the bar from time to time, and will definitely stop and talk with you all. I will just be talking about the beers on the other end of the tap lines :) I am sure that Tod and Brian will be able to keep the blog rolling smoothly and keeping you all in the loop of what is happening at the Portsmouth Brewery.

Thank you all who have been following my blog post throughout the years, and as always, I WILL see you in soon for a pint.

Cheers,
Tyler

Ready for Turkey?

Greetings beer lovers,
Been a long time since my last post and tons of water (beer) has flowed under the bridge! Besides the fact that Tyler is adjusting to married life well and with the advent of the cold(?) weather we're putting in some great styles of beer for the colder times ahead. On tap now is my favorite beer of all times, Sierra Nevada Celebration. A true hop lovers delight. We'll be running this delicious amber IPA 'til News Years, I think!! We have our Wheat Wine in condition with 10 pounds of Cascade dry hopping this big bold Wheat beer getting ready for a late December unveiling. Along with some typical big beer styles we have our Winter Wiezen, Winter Rye and our Holidaze Porter all in the final stages of primary fermentation. But the big beer news is that Kate the Great is finally going into the fermenter this week. Patience is for those who can wait...... many months and March 5th KtG will make her annual appearance.We are trying something new this year and we have Ron, the blacksmith over at Strawberry Banke, making us a wooden Firkin to put Kate into to add the oak character. Should be a great addition to what is a fairly decent beer already!! Yuk-Yuk. Anyway, both winter Rye and Weizen are just bigger versions of our Rye Not and Hefeweizen and the holidaze Porter is our holiday version of our robust porter with the addition of honey and ginger. All make for nice wintery elixirs. Well, I've got to prepare for the big brew day tomorrow. So, have a great Thanksgiving and don't eat too much. Cheers! Todm

Side by side Celebration...

Hey all,

We are kicking of the late fall/early winter with a side by side Sierra Celebration on tap. We have the 2011 and the 2010 on right now. We only have one keg of the 2010 Cele, so get it while you can.

Cheers,
Tyler

a little mini Belgain Fest

Hey all,

Hope you made in in over the weekend to try our Double and Triple that went on back to back. I my self didn't make it in, but Tod said that the Double and the Tripple were SOOOOOOOOOO good with 8 months of age on them. Hope you guys enjoyed!

Cheers,
Tyler

Saison d'Automne!

Hey all,

The Saison d'Automne hit the taps on Sunday, and boy is it a "gourde"-ous beer. A lame attempt at a pun. Come on in and give a Butternut squash saison a try and let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Tyler

Pumpkin carving...

Hey all,

Make sure to carve a frowny faced jack-o-lantern because the Portsmouth Brewery's Pumpkin Ale is gone for the season. We replaced it with the Smoked Dunkelweizen. This beer features house apple wood smoked malt that comes trough right at the end of the swallow to enhance the phenolic characteristics that the Dunkelweizen already has. This is a great food paring beer, since you can use the malt sweetness to help quell any spicy food you might be enjoying, and the smoky/phenolic flavor and aromas go amazingly with grilled meats.

But don't you fret if you are a gourde beer lover, we still have a few tricks up our sleeves. The Saison d'Automne,that was made with Butternut squash, is conditioning and will be ready in a few more weeks. Plus Dogfish Head's Punkin'ale should be walking tough the door any minute now to replace the next beer that will kick.

I know you are going to start to see the winter beers hit the shelves soon at you local supermarket/bodega. Fight the machine! Fall beers are what we want to drink now! And will be fore a few more months :)

Cheers,
Tyler

I'm Back!

Hey all,

So I have been back for a few days now. there was so much to catch up on ate being gone for 15 days that this is my first time to have a few minutes to sit and fill you all in. I got married on October 1st to Rachel who i had been dating for 6 years already. So to answer the inevitable question...not to much has changed...other then my left hand feeling oddly heavy :) We headed up to Bah Habah, aka Bar Harbor if my down east accent didn't translate correctly, for the Honeymoon. We spent the days in Acadia National Park, hiking and biking, and the evenings eating and drinking our honeymoon away. We had an amazing time up there since it was our first time, but we both decided it wont be our last. I am excited to be back at P-brew making beer again. Not making beer for that long i went though a bit of withdrawals, but I feel back into it like I was riding a bike.

Since I've been back we have made the Biere de Garde, Le Chat Noir, Wheatwine and a Berliner Wiess. Nothing like some fun beers to get the brewing juices flowing again.

See you soon for a pint!
Cheers,
Tyler

Where's T$ anyway!!

Yes, all you beer lovers attuned to the P-Brew notes our Tyler Jones has been on his honeymoon with his sweetie,Rachel. The two were married in Chocorua NH on the first of the month and while they were off in the wilds of Maine we've been here holding down the fort. It seems that is about all I could do and was unable to blog because I leave that to the young ones. Plus Brian, our newest member of the P-brew brew squad, and I were busy trying to catch up with the movement of the ebb and flow of early Fall here in Portsmouth. So, lot's of beer changes in the last few days and hours...... Pumpkin replaced the Hop Harvest 2 (sad face :-{(} w/ mustache and clean beard) and is made with 200 pounds of organic Dickinson pumpkins from Blueberry Bay farm in Stratham NH. Gently spiced with ginger,cinnamon,allspice,nutmeg and cloves this beer is a gem of a vegetable beer with light aromatics and a easy medium body for drinkability. The Alt came on with the passing of the Octoberfest. This German style brown ale is conditioned to a dry finish. This ale starts with a malty medium body and ends with the kiss of hops making the finish nice and dry. Lastly, the Rye Not pale ale took the place of the Ginga Ninja. This crazy ale has 55% malted rye in the grist profile making it taste big and malty but not cloying. The finish is where the balance comes on and takes the beer to the next dimension with good hopping and a delightful finish. There are some great beers on now and we're hoping to keep the goodness coming with some great fall beers. Stay in tune and be on the lookout for Tyler's return tomorrow. Cheers! Todm

Where's the highschool French teacher when you need one...

Hey all,

So we made a new beer for this fall, a Fall Saison, which we used Butternut Squash in the mash and only spiced with a three peppercorn blend. I'm really excited to see how it is going to turn out. But now i want to name it correctly. With my English grammar/tenses already not my strong suit, how do you say "Fall Saison" in french?

Is is Saison Autumn, or Saison l'Autumn or Saison l'Automne, or has i missed it completely. Let me know.

Cheers,
Tyler

Uno, Dose, Tres... Catorce...

Hey all,

So that U2 song has always annoyed me. I know they were on a big South American tour when the song came out. I mean they were so big that Drama from Entourage finagled tickets to go see them during that tour. Go Aquaman! But any one that has pass 8th grade Spanish knows that they are saying 1, 2, 3... 14. Just one of those things that makes my neck tweak every time I hear it.

All that being said... Hop Harvest "Uno" went on tap last night! This is the Hop Harvest where we used locally grown Chinook Wet hops for. Big piney/spicy flavors with the resinous hop flavor helping enhance the malt sweetness

Cheers,
Tyler

Changing over beer..

hey all,

Just a heads up i am changing over the Milk Stout to Coffee Milk Stout as you read this. yummy!

Cheers,
Tyler

Get your Firkin drinking shoes on...

Hey all,

Firkin Friday is among us once again. Today we are tapping a Smuttynose Gravitation dry hopped with Saphir. The Firkin will be sitting on the end of the bar waiting for you. And we are using a technique from our brethren at Breckenridge Brewery. "Gravity activated pouring."

Cheers,
Tyler

GABF beers in the house...

Hey all,

So this is the time of year the beers coming on tap are beers we are sending to GABF (Great American Beer Festival). So new additions to the tap line up are the Gose and the Kolsch. Both are being sent to GABF along with the Coffee Milk Stout (that is backing up the Milk Stout that is on tap now), Fruit Gruit and a Judge only beer of the Flanders Red Kreik Blend. Both brewers are not going to be present at this years GABF though. Since whom ever scheduled this year event didn't consult me and put it on the same weekend as my wedding! So we are sending Anthony, who is one of our fabulous bar tenders and Ben from the management team. Have fun for us guys!

Cheers,
Tyler

Firkin Friday is coming back...

Hey all,

So we just got word that Smuttynose is filling some firkins for us! Not this Friday but next Friday (9/9) we are going to have a firkin of Smuttynose Big A IPA getting tapped at noon. Then the following Friday we are getting some big beer love. On 9/16 we will have a firkin of Smuttynose Gravitation getting tapped at noon. For those if you who are still learning about the cask beer world, a firkin is an 11 gal cask, that will be sitting on the end of the bar. The beer is gravity poured, served a bit warmer and a bit less carbonation (both help the flavor of the beer come out). the best way to enjoy a beer!

Cheers,

Tyler

Noonan is gone...

hey all,

Just a heads up that the Noonan is gone and has been replaced with the Smutty IPA. the Wit^2 kicked last night, I cleaned the lines this morning and put on the Saison which is tasting amazing! Great peppery finish on this beer. Such a perfect summer saison. for all of you out there that are keeping tabs on our guest tap. I just got word that North Coast Brewing is in the state so we are staring you off light with their Schrimshaw Pilsner from them. We have been told by the distributor that we should be seeing them on Friday. So look for it to hit the taps Friday afternoon or Saturday Morning.

Cheers,
Tyler

IPA madness...

hey all,

So I know that international IPA day had come and gone. But here at the Portsmouth Brewery we are having our own little IPA celebration. The Suttynose IPA is on along side of our Bottle Rocket IPA. A cask of Bottle Rocket IPA dryhopped with Magnum is getting tapped today. Plus, on Tuesday we are pouring The Smuttynose Noonan which is their Black IPA. Better late then never!

Cheers,
Tyler

For our Friends, Saccharomyces...

Hey all,

I wanted to give a shout out to the unsung hero here at the P-Brew, Saccharomyces! This amazing little single cell organism is who is puling the graveyard shift here at P-brew turning our sweet wort in to delectable beer. I was reminded of them when we added the peach puree to the Fru-it Gruit.

The Fru-it Gruit had gone though all of primary fermentation and the air lock had slowed, if not stopped. The millions of yeast cells who had done their job of converting the sugar we made in the mash tun days before into alcohol were spent. They were going into a nice relaxing dormant stage and staring to slowly settle to the bottom of the fermenter for what is normally a week or so of rest and relaxation. But, being the crazy mad scientist beer makers we are, we decided to awake these sleeping beauties buy dumping some Delaware peach puree into the fermenter. The puree was made from peaches from the same farm that Dogfish gets theirs from for the Festina Peche. The 30 lbs of peaches were blanched, skinned, pitted, pureed, pasteurized and cooled. After all that we had an amazing, frutose filled, aromatic love bomb just begging to be added to the Fru-it Gruit. As the puree hit the beer the last few yeast cells that were still in the krausen parted very quickly. It was as if Charlton Heston was standing on top of the fermenter yelling, "Let my Peaches GO!" The fermenter was re-capped and the airlock returned to its rightful place.

This is where I was truly reminded of the amazing things yeast do for us.

If you think about it, these yeast just had a hard 24 hour a day work week and were just settling into their week long vacation that was much deserved. Then on Friday at 4:35pm the "Boss" drops a stack of papers and folders that is 16" tall into the inbox and says, "If you could get these done by Monday that would be Grrrreat." Then just before he leaves the Yeast's cubical the Boss spins back around on his heals, just slow enough to not spill his coffee, and says, "Don't forget to fill out the TPS reports for these either. OK." But, rather then slumping in their chairs and zoning our for 15 minuets, the air lock on the frementer started bubbling! And I am talking seconds after the tank was sealed back up. These guys are such go-getters.

So to make a long story short, the next time you are sitting at the bar at P-brew and enjoying a delicious pint of beer that Tod and Tyler made. Don't forget the Saccharomyces that are working hard while we are sleeping!


Cheers,
Tyler

Big A!!!

Hey all,

So we got a hold of some Big A IPA Kegs from Smuttynose. I know some of you out there think that four Smuttynose taps is a bit much. But, It's BIG A!!!! I am so excited to be pouring this beer. I think it rivals any Impy IPA out on the market. Big resinous mouth feel with the hop nose and hop flavor linger to let you know you are drinking an Impy IPA.

And for a little teaser. For those of you who couldn't make the beer social on Tuesday keep and eye out on the blog/facebook next week-ish. We have a beer or two that you guys will enjoy some night.

Cheers,
Tyler

From Germany to Thailand...

hey all,

The Kolsch is gone. But don't you fret, we replaced it with another beautiful summer beer, our Thaizenheimer. This is the same recipe as the Weizenheimer with a Thai influenced twist. We add Kaffir Lime leafs, Lemongrass, Ginger and Galangal late in the boil to keep in all of their great aromatics and flavor. Yummy!

If you have never had our Spicy Curry Mussels now is the time! There isn't a better beer pairing then those and the Thaizenhiemer. My mouth is drooling just thinking about it.

Cheers,
Tyler

Holster those nunchucks...

Hey all,

So the Ginga' Ninja was a huge hit at the Vermont Brewers Festival this year. It was our first beer to kick! Apparently it was pretty popular back on the home-front as well, since it is gone. We are planning on making another batch in the fall, so for those of you who missed it, keep an eye on the blog. We replaced it with the Weizenheimer. This beer is and American wheat ale, a nice light easy drinking beer to get us though this hot spell we have been having.

Cheers,
Tyler

Our friendly neighborhood distributor...

Hey all,

So our friendly neighborhood distributor found a few kegs of Lagunitas Pale Ale that was accidentally delivered to NH. Who are we to say no to that! We put it on in place of the Sholes Pale Ale on our tap line up. This beer has the hop flavors and finish of an IPA but w/o the bitterness. Very nice!

Cheers,
Tyler

The Sumpin' is gone!

Hey all,

So we flew trough our stock of the little Sumpin' over the weekend, so I hope you guys got in to give it a try. Other beers that kicked over the weekend were the Wit and the Black Cat Stout. They were replaced with the Gose and J.O.S. respectively.

The Gose has been made here before. It is an ancient German style wheat beer that pre-dates the Hefeweizen style of beer. It has the addition of coriander for a nice spice note and the addition of Salt makes the finish art and slightly drying on the pallet. My goodness, what a perfect hot weather summer beer.

The J.O.S. is a new style for us. J.O.S. stands for Jurgans Oatmeal Stout. For those of you who follow all of our blogs/facebook page you might remember our friend Jurgan, who is the head Maltster at Wyermann Malting company in Germany. He came to visit and recreate his birthday beer, a German Oatmeal Stout. This beer is very light and easy drinking for a stout. The roast character and the body are lighter then our Oatmeal Stout. It is a perfect summer time Stout, because it is not to aggressive in any capacity!


Cheers,
Tyler

Get out your Nunchaks...

hey all,

If you made it in last night you must of had a great time. We went through quite a bit of the Little Sumpin', but we sill have some left. So get in in this weekend and try it. It's such a cool beer, a Wheat IPA that doesn't let you down. As we are the only place in the North east you are going to find it on tap too!

Secondly i wanted to let you know that the Bluebeery is gone. Before you ask we will be making another batch for the end of the summer so keep and eye out for that if you are a Bluebeery fan! We put on the Ginga' Ninja IPA on the tap line. This is a Red IPA that is finished with ginger. So it is a " Ginga' " in every sense of the word. Let me know what you think of it!

Cheers,
Tyler

We got a little something to tell y'all....

Hey all,

So the Brew House computer had been down for almost a week!!! I apologize for not keeping the 'What's on tap" section updated during that time. But i can assure you we have a new machine that is 10x faster then the old one. The blog is where it is at!

So if you haven't already heard through the grapevine we putting Little Sumpin' on tap tonight at 6 o'clock! We are excited to have Leon Sharyon, (the CFO of Lagunitas who happens to be vacationing in the area) here to do the ceremonial tapping. We are the first draft account in the North East for the Little Sumpin', and the second on the east coast. New York city got a couple of kegs before we did, but they are almost their own country down there. I mean did you see the first "Sex in the City" movie. That was the first time the left the city! But i digress.

So we have smuttynose IPA taking ownership of the line behind Stone's Ruination, which kicked yesterday. though at 6 tonight we are tapping a Little Sumpin' so be here or be square.

Cheers,
Tyler

Can you believe it is July 4th weekend??

Greetings beer lovers!
As I stated in the title I can't believe it is already July 4th weekend!! How quickly the time flies. Hopefully, many of you have taken advantage of the fine weather out there. The town of Portsmouth has been jammin' and it looks like it is going to be a good night for fireworks. Do stop by the brewery as we have on our celebratory beers to the 4th with our Murphy's Law red ale: a malt forward Irish style red ale with good balance, (White or) Wit : a Belgian style wheat beer brewed with both bitter and sweet orange as well as coriander and white pepper for a nice crisp wheat beer with the hint of spices and Blue: our blueberry ale brewed with 120 #'s of individually quick frozen Maine blueberries, a well balanced pale ale with the addition of fruit. Also on is the Stone Ruination IPA a big strong well balance double IPA. The Retro pale ale was inspired by Peter's Pale ale recipe brewed many years ago both at NoHo brewery and P-Brewery. The two malt grain bill and two hop additions make for a simple yet delicious pale ale. Lot's of beers in the works including Jurgen's Oatmeal Stout (JOS), Gose, double Witt and Weizenheimer. And the big news flash is:
A collaboration brew with Dogfish Head's owner/brewer Sam Calagione on July 27th! We'll be brewing a Fruit Gruit. Details still to come but the night before we'll be doing a beer dinner with Sam. Be on the lookout for the details on this special event.
That's about it from the cellar. Hope you have a safe and festive 4th of July. Cheers! Todm

El Bastardo...

Hey all,

So we did a little line changed up yesterday. We went though the last of the Stone IPA and decided it was time for the 5 C's IPA. We wanted to make sure you guys got it while it was fresh and delicious.

So to keep the Stone Brewing company guest tap rolling for the month we took off the Old Brown dog and put on Arrogant Bastard Ale. As the cartoon Trouble Brewing states so well, the Arrogant Bastard is a brown ale with some nice malt sweetness up front. But it doesn't hesitate to punch you a little bit in the finish with some hops.

Cheers,
Tyler

Miele is magnificent...

Hey all,

The Biere de Miele went on this weekend to replace the Black IPA and oh my it is delicious. Aromas of bubble gum almost pink peppercorn spiciness (even though there isn't any in it!). the flavor starts with a big Belgian fruity front with the honey sweetness coming through mid pallet with a nice crisp spicy finish. this had the perfect amount of time to condition and will be drinking great for glass one. Most definitely worth the trip in.

Cheers,
Tyler

Rye for a Rye...

Hey all,

The Wild Duck Rye.P.A kicked yesterday evening and we though what better to back it up with then to bring back the Rye Not. The tap line up is still IPA laden, but the Black IPA is getting low, so if you haven't got to try this beer get in here for a pint. We have the Biere de Miele to back up the Black IPA. All you hop heads don't worry about seeing all of the IPA's leaving the line up. The 5 C's IPA is right around the corner :)

cheers,
Tyler

What me Worry?

Hey all,

So I have had more then a few people ask how long the Mottly's Crew 20th Anniversary beer is going to last. I want to set all of your minds at ease that we have only gone through an 1/8th of what we have made thus far. Now thinking about how fast we go through other beers (excluding Kate which is a whole other can of worms) the fastest we go through a batch of beer is a week. Plus, that is when we are selling bottles and growlers of that beer. So since the Mottly’s Crew is made to be enjoyed here at the Portsmouth brewery while you are celebrating our birthday with us. I am guessing that it is going to be on tap for at least a couple of weeks more, if not longer. So come on in and give the beer a try.

Cheers,
Tyler

Hello (un-official start to) Summer!!

Greetings Beer Lovers,
Here we go with the unofficial start to summer with Memorial Day Weekend. Beside all the great things happening in and around the state, we too,have some changes in the beer selection,,,, and the one in particular that is not only new to us but it turns out our brothers-in-trade over in Petaluma CA at the Lagunitas Brewing Co, have provided the Portsmouth Brewery with the only kegs of Hop Stoopid in the Granite State!! This is one hop-a-rific brew with a resinous aromatic with a good malt backbone to balance the intense hop character. It's light amber color should not fool you into sweetness cause this is one hoppy brew! If you consider yourself a hop head your ship (keg) has come in! We feel very honored to have this selection to offer our patrons at this festive time of year. So, not only are we starting the summer season with a bombastic hop offering Hop Stoopid, be on the lookout for some other offerings coming soon like Charlies Wild Duck Rye IPA, our Black IPA and our Hefeweizen not to mention the Biere de Miel! Whoa, it's looking good for the start of summer!! But as some of you are aware that the Portsmouth Brewery turns 20 years old next Wednesday. Be sure to stop in and congratulate not only the Brewery staff but consider thanking yourselves for keeping the fire going here at the brewery. We'll be having some cake and a special 20th anniversary brew "Mottly's Crew" to offer as we toast the anniversary. The staff and community cannot take all the credit for the incredible run we've had but thanks to Peter and Joanne's vision of what and where we belong in the community has been the kindling to keep the our flames stoked. Thanks to all and I hope see some of you on Wednesday. Cheers! Todm

20th Anniversary Party Plans

Hello Friends of the Portsmouth Brewery!

We're turning 20 on June 1 and we hope you'll celebrate this milestone with us by joining us at one (or more) of these special celebrations.

We wanted to to take a break from running our finely tuned machine to offer some unique events that we may never do again. If you're disappointed that we're temporarily interrupting our regular service, we're sorry about that, but not too sorry; we only turn 20 once!

We've tried to offer something for everyone and we hope you'll get out your party clothes (to cover your birthday suits) and help us celebrate.

Thank you all very much for your support and patronage for the last twenty years. We couldn't feel more fortunate to have such great support.


Event #1:
Wednesday, June 1: The Birthday Party

This is our actual birthday and we'll be debuting our brand new summer look! We've got new beer glasses, special anniversary coasters, new staff shirts and a variety of other 20th Anniversary goodies. This celebration kicks off our summer season with an extra splash of celebration.

We'll also release our big and bold 20th Anniversary Beer, a hoppy Old Ale which was brewed with 20 malts and 20 hop additions made by 20 brewers.  You can see videos of the brew on Portsmouth Brewery TV.   We'll offer a special dessert- birthday cake and ice cream- in a nod to our ceremonial candle-blowing ceremony around 5:30, which will include a commemorative toast.


Event #2
Saturday, June 4: Studio 56


Excluding the legendary downtown dulcimer guy, we haven't hosted live music in years. On Saturday June 4, We're closing up regular service early (last seating-5:30, last call-6:30 and closing-7) so we can turn the Portsmouth Brewery into downtown's hottest music venue, Studio 56.

MC's BCap and Face of Fate will be throwing down their hypest set in the Seacoast yet! Backed by DJ Ryan Obermiller, their always improvised hip-hop a la mode of freestyle and soul, allows the trio, affectionately known as TheDodgerz or ThePressMCs, to ebb and flow seamlessly with their audiences. These MCs have collaborated and shared stages with such artists as Nas, The Roots, Myka9, Boyz II Men, Slick Rick and more. Ryan Obermiller is a staple in the electronic music scene both as a DJ and show promoter, bringing top rated international DJs to Portsmouth for nearly a decade now.

This is a 21+ show and ID must be shown at the door. Admission is FREE and it will be broadcast live on WXGR. Doors open at 9 with the show starting at 10. We strongly encourage you to bring cash for the bar; all that dancing is bound to make you thirsty!


Event #3:
Sunday June 5: The Family Style Cookout

We tried to talk Peter and Joanne into having all of you over for a cook out, but they kept saying "no," so we're going with our back-up plan- grilling out on the patio!

Our kitchen staff will be tending the fires and stoking the coals while live music sends you into backyard relaxation mode. Seat yourselves at long banquet style tables and enjoy pints of our anniversary beer alongside your grilled treats. Please bring the whole family!

Doors will open at 10:30am and a $10 entrance fee at the door will give you tickets redeemable for a plate of food and a pint of beer. Additional beer and food tickets are available for $5 each. The menu will be reminiscent of a cook-out and this is yet another event that is cash friendly.




So once again, we thank you very much for all of your support!  We hope to continue to serve you all for (at least) another 20 years.

Cheers,

The Staff of the Portsmouth Brewery

T.G.I.F.F.....

Hey all,

T.G.I.Firkin.Friday!!!! We are putting a Firkin on the bar upstairs that has Coffee Milk Stout with Kahlua/Stoli Vanilla Oak. When we do a 5 gal cask this last for 1 day. Lets see if we can get though the 11 gal firkin. Happy American Craft Beer Week!

cheers,
Tyler

Hit me baby one more time...

Hey all,

Add one more beer change to the list. We now have Coffee Milk Stout on. It is our Milk stout infused with "El Conquistador" Costa Rican coffee from our local coffee roaster/shop, Breaking New Grounds. This is a great breakfast/dessert beer :)

Cheers,
Tyler

Beer lines are changing quickly around these parts...

Hey all,

So i didn't get a chance to put on the special release of our '09 Wheat Wine that went on tap yesterday. But with only one keg of it and the buzz of people that came in for the random Kate release yesterday afternoon it didn't last the night. Do worry if you missed this beer. We are going to be sneaking on some vintage stuff though out the week. So don't you fret.

To fill the empty line we are putting on the Rye Not. This is a Rye pale ale. So it has the great mouth feel/flavor that comes from using 40% rye malt in the grist profile and the hop backbone of crisp pale ale.

Keep you eyes peeled on the blog/facebook for updates of beer releases for the rest of this American Craft Beer Week. I can divulge some details on one of them. Can you say, "Firkin Friday!!"

Cheers,
Tyler

Stephan Urquell...

Hey all,

I got the name Stephan Urquell approved for our Czech Style pilsner. Made up the tap markers and changed all the signs. I hope I am not the only one that finds then name wicked funny.

cheers,
Tyler

Ah....Springtime

Hey all,

The Dubbel kicked last night and opened up the line for our Saison Printemps. This is our Spring Saison. It has the additions of Wheat Malt and green peppercorns to the beer. This helps lighten up the body as well as enhancing the peppery finish that comes from the yeast strain already.

The Triple is getting very low and will be switching over to Stephan Urquell. This beer is a Czech style pilsner that we made with floor malted Bohemian Plisner malt. So soft, so subtle, so delicious. Springtime fun is happening a pint at a time here at the Portsmouth Brewery!

Cheers,
Tyler

American Craft beer week 2011...

New Hampshire’s Original Brewpub Celebrates Itself, Other Breweries During American Craft Beer Week

The United States currently has more breweries (nearly 1800!) than at any point since the late 19th Century. Our nation’s small independent craft breweries have been the source of this growth and we want to not only celebrate the hard work of brewers, managers and owners but also thank American beer drinkers for their support as all these breweries have opened, brewed more beer, and provided jobs to over 100,000 Americans.

American Craft Beer Week runs from May 16-22, and The Portsmouth Brewery is proud to announce the following events, promotions and other noteworthy happenings that make up our celebration of American Craft Beer Week which runs from May 16-22, 2011.

-We’ve added some extra tours! You can tour Portsmouth Brewery every day of Craft Beer Week at 3pm! Join Tod or Tyler (our brewers) for an intimate look at our cozy brewery. All tours come with a half-priced beer sampler!

-We’re giving more back! Normally, Tuesdays are Community Pint Night at Portsmouth Brewery, but for craft beer week, every week night is Community Pint Night. We donate 25¢ to a charity of your choice for each beer you buy. It’s easy - on your way out the door, just place the tokens you’ve received in the yellow wooden box mounted next to our front door.


-We’re tapping some special beers! Kate the Great will make THREE appearances over the course of the week, in addition to releases of aged Wheat Wine and Barleywine and a firkin of Milk Stout aged on “El Conquistador” coffee beans roasted down the block at Breaking New Grounds. The tapping times won’t be published, so you’ll have to keep an eye on our Facebook page to get the news.


-We’re giving away a brewday! We’ll be holding a drawing and the winner gets to spend a day with Tod and Tyler. Experience Tod Mott’s wackiness! Enjoy the magic of the mid-morning chowder break! Revel in weighing out hops! It’s really the best reason to call out of work well.

We hope to see you next week but if we don’t, please raise a toast wherever you are. We all deserve it!

What "Gose" around comes around...

Hey all,

So the winter weizen just barely made it though the weekend. I came in this morning to find an very small puddle in the bottom of the serving tank. So it was perfect timing to pull it off and put on the Gose (pronounced: Goh-za). For those of you that haven't tried this beer yet it is very unique style. It is a style that has been made in a Leipzig Germany for many, many years. It is a very low in alcohol beer, ours is at 4%. Plus since the style pre-dates the Reinheitsgebot, it traditionally has the addition of coriander to this light bodied wheat beer. This beer is extremely drinkable and delectable. Let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Tyler

Calling all Shoals Pale Ale fans...

Hey all,

Just wanted to let you Shoals Pale Ale fans out there know that Shoals is back on Tap at the Portsmouth Brewery. As you that have been following the guest beer tap line up out there probably have figured out, we take off a Smuttynose beer to put on our guest beer for the month. So for the Maudite we took off the Sumuttynose OBD, but that gives us a open tap so we can bring back the Shoals Pale Ale! Its time to come in to get you fix of the Original Smutty beer.

Cheers,
Tyler

M&M melts in your mouth...

Hey all,

I am not talking about the left over Easter Candy. I am talking about two new beers that have just went on tap, our Milk Stout and Maudite. The Maudite is made by Unibroue out of Chambly, Quebec. Our friends to the north are going to be our guest tap line for the Month of May. Maudite is their strong amber-red ale. Great fruity/maltness on the nose leading to similar flavors with the addition of some nice spicyness lingering on the tongue. Now the Milk stout just came on last night and is drinking as amazingly as you remember it. The Lactose sugar added to this beer really rounds out the roasty flavors and lets the chocolate and sweet coffee flavors come though. Can you say amazing dessert beer!

Cheers,
Tyler

We got your Hop Rhizomes!

Hey all,

Just a heads up the Hop Rhizomes are in the store and ready for you. We have Cascade, Nugget, Centennial, Glacier and Magnum rhizomes. Growing your own hops is such a labor of love. Whether you are using them in our own hop harvest home brew or just growing them for the ornamental value, it all works. I have three varieties outside my house that I have been growing for 4 years now.

Check out this website for some tip on hop gardening.

Cheers,
Tyler

Been a long time...... but here's a good one!

Greetings beer lovers,
I have to admit I have been less than exemplary in my posts but when you have an able bodied assistant like, Tyler, there is no need to fear the lack of blog. In any event, we were short Smuttynose IPA this morning when I arrived into work, the IPA should arrive by later this afternoon, and so I took the liberty of putting on a keg of Sierra Nevada Celebration today! One of my favorite beers of all time (S/N) Cele, as we call it, has a beautiful light amber color and a medium mouth feel with a glorious aromatic of Cascade and Centennial. The hop flavor is spot on with a touch of bitterness lingering on the soft palette. The keg has mellowed so much and tastes really delicious, so if you have the time we've got some Cele!! Cheers! Todm

Cask is on!

Hey all,

So I went through the task of completing full surgery on our cask engine. Every screw and gasket was pulled apart, cleaned and put back together. It is up and running tremendously. We had a few casks of Whipper Snapper left and couldn't think of a better beer to pull through the freshie beer engine with. Come on in and enjoy the Whipper Snapper dry hopped with El Dorado.

cheers,
Tyler

one for me...two for you.. and three for me!

Hey all,

The triple that went on last night to replaced the Weizenbock. Nice big bubblegum aromatics in this 9.5% golden Belgian Ale. Everything yo wold hope for in a Triple. The whipper Snapper is gettting very low and is most likely goign ot kick today at some point. We will be putting on our Dubble to back that up.

Thus making our tap line-up, one for me (Smuttynose Star Island single); two for you (Our Belgian Dubbel); and three for me (the Belgian Tripel). Talk about a wonderful sampler paddle.

Cheers,
Tyler

"Did I do that?"...

Hey all,

We made a Cezch Style Plisner yesterday. The famous Cezch Plisner, Pilsner Urquell, popped into my head which lead me to call the beer "Steve Urquell" all day long. It's a working name for the beer, but legally i am not sure if we can name it that. I don't want to get sued by ABC as well as Jaleel White (the actor that played Steve Urkel. The truth is i had to cheat and used IMDB)

So after that side note, the tap line up is changing as fast as we all hope the weather is going to. Is it Spring yet?!?! For all of those out there that haven't been keeping an day in day out eye on the tap line up here is the Readers Digest condensed version of the tap changes.

-ESB -> Winter Weizen
-Murphy's Law Red -> WeizenBock
-Smutty Shoals Pale ale -> Oskar Blues Dale Pale Ale -> Oskar Blues G'Kinght (happened today!)
-Imp IPA -> Whipper Snapper (happened today)
-Oatmeal Stout -> Black Cat Stout
Plus the Grand Cru is on and i cant remember what kicked for that to come on.

So if you haven't been here in a while time to come back in because the line up to totally different then the last time you were here. Totally delicious!

cheers,
Tyler

More Kate News, Not So Big This Time

It probably could go without saying, but before yesterday's post gets amplified and distorted (and separated in people's recollection from the 4/1/11 date of the post), let's set the record straight:

Happy April Fool's Day!

Most of you spotted the joke right away.  (Was it the image of Tod Mott hand stamping over seventy thousand labels, perhaps? Or Robby's Italian “people” leaning on hapless EU bureaucrats?)

A few of you took the bait, absurd as it was.  Don't feel too bad - I was awakened early yesterday morning by a call from the Eliot PD saying they'd found my truck, which I'd parked in my barn the night before, abandoned by the side of Route 236.  And yes, I swallowed it hook, line and sinker (though at that moment I was too sleepy to really care that much).  So there you have it.

Cheers,

P-

Big Kate the Great News!

For Immediate Release:  1 April 2011

Portsmouth Brewery Passes Kate the Great Production to Smuttynose;
Brews More but Only for Belgian Sales.

_________________________________________

The Portsmouth Brewery is excited to announce that 200 barrels of its popular Kate the Great Russian Imperial Stout is currently aging at sister company Smuttynose Brewing Company and will be released one year from today, exclusively through the Struise Yeast Shop in West Flanders, Belgium.  All purchases must be made in person and buyers must complete a questionnaire before being allowed to buy the beer.

Head Brewer Tod Mott was exuberant that ownership finally capitulated to years of him begging for a break from brewing Kate.  “That beer ties up so much tank space in our small submarine of a brewery.   Now that it’s been contracted out, I can get back to brewing Cream Ale the way it should be brewed, with ale yeast and lager yeast.”  Mott also cited a desire to have Kate named the #1 Beer in the Planet in BeerAdvocate magazine as a prime motivation behind the decision.

Owner Peter Egelston said the decision came naturally after reflecting upon the 2011 Kate release.  “Everything ran so smoothly with the scratch ticket system; lines were well behaved and the beer ran out around 6pm like it always does.   We also need more tank space and have no good way to expand the brewery space at Portsmouth Brewery. This was clearly the best option.”  The growing European popularity of American craft beer was also a driver in the decision.

Brewing the Russian Imperial Stout at Smuttynose for export to Belgium was no small feat  Portsmouth Brewery had to file alternating premise paperwork with the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) who handles all licensing for alcoholic beverage production.   The beer’s prestige and acclaim made it easy to find a European importer (Mott had previously worked with Struise on the Kabert collaborations beer), but working through European Union paperwork proved very difficult until Egelston remembered Smuttynose’s National Accounts Manager, Robby Brondolo is from Italy and “knew a few people.”  After a few phone calls, everything was smooth sailing.

The beer will be packaged in 11.2 ounce bottles and the labels have all been hand-stamped by Mott himself.  While no small feat, it was worth it to the brewing legend who said he was just happy to get back to brewing “normal beers” again.

...ridin' with my Cru

Hey all,

So the Belgian Golden kicked 5 min before the 3:00 tour today. So with a little running around and some multi-tasking. I got the Grand Cru pouring with 30 seconds to spare. The Grand Cru is a very delectable beer. Big Belgian fruity nose with a medium light body rounding out to a sublime pepper finish.

Cancel the bowling trip tonight and come here to P-Brew to get one of these.

Cheers,
Tyler

Cruising Crenshaw in my El Dorado...

Hey all,

So we got in a new hop variety the other day and we though we should make up a few casks. We Just had the Imp IPA dry hopped with El Dorado on. I didn't post about it because with all the different hops in the Imp IPA it was a little hard to see what aromatic/flavors were coming just from the dry hopping. So we decided that a Dirty Blonde would be a nice blank palette to see what the El Dorado's are really all about. The Dirty Blonde Cask dry hopped with the El Dorado just went on, and OMG, hop-a-lish! EL Dorado are a High alpha hop (16%) so they make their presents know. They give the very lightly hopped Dirty Blonde a huge floral aromatic. It smells like you are about to drink an IPA. then when the beer hits your lips the light body of the Blonde comes through and you get some very nice fruity/spicy flavors off the El Dorado with just enough hop resin left to let the beer hang on your tongue for a bit longer then the Blonde normally does. i don't know of a better cask for you to try to get you psyched for NERAX next week! Since we are sending our Whipper Snapper (aka American Mild) dry hopped with El Dorado to it!

For those of you who don't know what NERAX is, it is the New England Real Ale eXpo that happened in Summerville MA every year. It is one of the best collections of Cask beer you are going to find in the world.

Check out all the buzz here http://www.nerax.org and i hope to see you all down in Summerville next week/weekend.

Cheers,
Tyler

No more Rocket...

Hey all,

The rumors are true. The Bottle Rocket IPA is gone, not for ever, just for now. We are putting back on our Belgian Golden that we took off so that the Murphy's Law Red could be put on for St. Patty's Day. We only have about one barrel of the Belgian golden left so look for that to be changing up relatively soon as well.

Now as the weather starts to warm up and more and more people are going to be coming in to the P-brew, so the tap line up will be changing even more frequently then it has been. So keep an eye out on the blog for all the new beer updates!

Cheers,
Tyler

Everyones a little less Irish today...

Hey all,

So we slid on a special cask for St. Patty's day. It was the Murphy's Law Red w/ Bushmill Oak. I apologize for all out there that would have preferred the Catholic whisky vs. the northern Protestant liquor, but we had to make a choice between the two. With all that said it is sad for me to say that it is gone. So we are putting on the Impy IPA dryhopped with Columbus.

I'll take a little less Irish for a ton more hops any day!

Cheers,
Tyler

OK.....now I'm back

Hey all,

So sorry for the delay on the post Kate day leaves a wake of things to do around the brewery that you would right home about. Thank you all who made the trip out on Monday and I hope you all had a great time.

Now i have gathered together the pieces, we are back up and running full bore! The tap line up changed tremendously in the past few days. We put on Bottle Rocket IPA and Imperial IPA alongside Kate on Monday. Kate lasted until 6:02pm, but the Rocket and Impy are still pouring happily and deliciously. So all of you waiting for the Bottle Rocket IPA to be back on, its time! We did make double batches of both of them so we are hoping that they will last for a little bit of time. Lagunitas Pils is pouring along side your favorites from Smuttynose. Which was a great aperitif as well as a great complement to Imp IPA farther down the tap line. We have a Belgian golden, which is almost a Abby single, but a little higher in alcohol and a bit more hoppy in the finish, but still very delicious. We have that on cask right at this second with some green peppercorns, but it is soon to kick and move to a ESB with Earl Gray Tea.

There is many great beer options happing right now and it is going to be hard to choose just one beer to get your lips around. So have two!

Cheers,
Tyler

Rotation of the tap line

Hey all,

We are changing up quite a few things here at the P-brew for the beginning of March.

The Schwarzbier kicked last night and I put on our Weizen Bock to back it up. If you have had this bee in the past you are going to be expecting a Hefe-Weizen Bock. but this year we used just a lager yeast strain with no hefe yeast strain blended in. this give you a much cleaner beer with still some nice Bock malt flavors with the tart/clean finish that only wheat malt can give you. Not quite Aventinus but close.

On the horizon we are going to be changing quite a few more beers. For the P-Brew beers the aged Wheat Wine gave use enough time to get the Abby Ale (a.k.a Belgian Golden) ready for drinking. This is as easy drinking as you can get for the Belgian beers. Golden in color with a nice subtle spicy/fruity nose with clean sweetness across the tongue.

The guest tap for the month of March is going ot be taken up by the Lagunitas brewery. We are starting with their Pils. Which is great to see a Czech Style Pils coming out of a hop forward west coast brewery. This means that we will be replacing the Star Island line and bringing back you old favorite Smuttynose OBD.

OK back to transfer beer for you guys.

Cheers,
Tyler

BBC Coffeehouse Porter...

Hey all,

We are finishing off the Month of February with the BBC's Coffeehouse Porter on our guest tap. This beer has a big coffee aromatic and flavor that complements the dry slightly roasty Porter base beer. We are trying to prep you tongue's for Kate by having the BBC Coffee house porter as well as the our Oatmeal Stout on.

Tick...Tock... Kate's on her way.

Cheers,
Tyler

The Plan for this Year's Kate Day - Monday March 7, 2011

Many of you have inquired about how our Kate Day festivities are going to play out this year. Here's the rundown:

• We plan to open our doors and begin seating people at 11:00 that morning. Both upstairs and downstairs will be open. (The patio probably won't be, since it's still buried under several feet of snow as of this writing.)
• Similarly to last year, we'll usher in groups of about 50 folks at a time, spaced about 15 minutes apart, until all seats are filled. Staggering our initial seating in this manner assures that service, food and beer flow smoothly throughout the day. Those of you with experience working in restaurants will understand how this works. For the rest of you, please trust us - we have your best interest at heart. Our highest priority on Kate Day is to provide the finest hospitality possible.
• In order to help the line move quickly, there will be community seating at all tables, so you may have an opportunity to make some new friends.
• The official Kate tapping will take place at 11:30 am.
• Draft Kate will be poured in 10-ounce servings, priced at $7.50 a glass.
• Kate will be served until it runs out, and we really don't know when that will be.
• Tasty lunch and snack specials will be offered.
• Our retail store will open at 9:00 am.
• We will draw the Second Chance Contest winner at around 3:00 that afternoon.
• Holders of winning scratch tickets may purchase their bottles of Kate on any day from March 7 (Kate Day) through April 15.
• No brewery tours will be offered on Kate Day. Our sister company, Smuttynose Brewing, will offer special tours of its facility on Heritage Avenue starting at 2:00 that day. (Please refrain from showing up there early, lest you be press-ganged into cleaning the dark, scary corners of the Smuttynose warehouse.)
• Our staff, as always, is serious about providing responsible service of alcohol. Please be respectful of them, especially if they determine that you've been served enough.


So there you have it. We look forward to seeing you on Kate Day, March 7, 2011.

Join us for the next tapping of Kate the Great Russian Imperial Stout on Monday, March 7, 2011, at 11:30 AM.

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We found the paddle...

Hey all,

So the Flanders Lambic Kriek Blend is ready! It settled out and tastes amazing. The aged sour beer that was blended in gives such a nice mellow sour flavor and the woodsy aromatic/flavor from the Lambicus is there just in time to be run out with a lingering tart cherry flavor.

We have a very limited quantity of this beer so we will be doing draft only. So drink one of these as you are filling your Alt Growler.

Cheers,
Tyler

Making the Rocket...

Hey all,

So I hope you all had a great Valentines Day. Plus, for those of you that made it in here I hope you got to try the Cherry Chocolate Oatmeal Stout Love Bomb that was on cask yesterday. By the fact that it kicked in a day i am guessing that you guys like it.

It is true, we are making the Bottle Rocket IPA today. Join us in the brew house is our special guest Rachel Forrest so it is going to be extra de-lish.

OK, back to work

Cheers,
Tyler

My Schwarz is bigger then yours...

Hey all,

so while we let the Flanders blend settle lets put on a beer on that line. We have our Schwarz bier ready to rock. This is a German black lager that though dark in color doesn't have any of the acridness that you would normally associate with a beer of similar color. A nice easy drinking lager beer.

I know what you are thinking, why all these lagers in the winter? Well because this is the only time we have enough breathing room in the production schedule to get lagers in. So come on in and enjoy this one while you can.

cheers,
Tyler

The most perfectly titled post ever...

Hey all,

My previous post was called "Up a Kriek sans Paddle" which is where the Kriek is as the moment. Well the truth is that all the blending caused the very powdery Belgian yeast that we used in the Flanders to get all stirred up. So now all we can do is wait until the yeast settles in the serving tank. So all you sour beer fans are just going to have to wait a little bit.


cheers,
Tyler

Up the Kriek sans Paddle...

Hey all,

So yesterday Tod an I noticed that there was only about a bbl of the Flanders Red left. That means that it is time to do some blending! :) So We kegged off some of this years Flanders Red to let age in kegs so we will be able to do this again in the future. So after kegging off what we needed to age, we blending in a 3 year old sour Brune and a year old Flanders Red that were both aged with Lambicus. Lambicus is a very unique yeast strain that is found the in natural microflora of Belgium. This yeast give a sour/tart character as it ferments. Adding these to the beer makes this as close to a traditional Lambic style beer that we can make. Now along with the two aged beers we also added some Tart Cherry concentrate to give that back note of tart cherry flavor to the beer as well. So after all of this is said and done we now have our Flanders Kreik Lambic Blend on tap.

Definitely worth a trip in to try this one!

cheers,
Tyler

Back from Belgium.

Greetings beer lovers!
Looks like a lot has "gone down" in the 7 days I was away visiting the Struise brewers in West Flanders, Belgium. I had the unique opportunity to brew with one of the best brewers in Belgium Urbain Coutteau of the Struise Brouwers. The brewery they use, Deca, pre-dates World War 1 and yet these guys finesse some of the most sought after beers in the world. Pannepot is perhaps the most well know but they produce many styles including Black Albert, a Belgian Royal Stout at 13% abv!! I brought my Kate the Great recipe over and with a little tweaking we brewed a batch of KtG at Deca. The brewery has a mash tun made of cast iron, copper and stainless with an antique rake/mixing system equipment (to say the least). I have some video which I will try to edit and post this week so you can see what the Struise brewers are dealing with. Back to the brew with Kate.... the extract came out of the mash tun well and the boil, also, went well. We had to substitute some European hops for American varieties as Urbain does not use many American hops, so Kate is going to be a little different than what we make here. We used a "Chico" style yeast as well as some "Fullers" style yeast. Soon Urbain will pitch some of the Struise house strain to give KtG a bit of Belgium character. Kate was quite lonely sitting in Fermentation vat #1 all alone so Urbain was kind enough to brew a batch of Albert the following day to keep Kate company in Fermentation vat#2. Who knows what might happen next!!? Kabert perhaps? We'll have to wait a few months to see the outcome of maturation.
Anyway, it looks like Tyler and Tyson kept the beers flowing while I was away. The 5 C's was a huge success (go figure!) as was the Biere de Garde which have gone. So now the Alt and Kolsch are flowing and are quite delicious. Two different German style ales that both were conditioned for a good amount of time. The Kolsch, lighter in color and flavor, is delicate and crisp; whereas, the Alt is more full bodied and malty as well as finishing quite dry. We did use the same yeast to ferment both beers. Check them out soon as I am sure they will not be around too long!! Next up we have the Berkshire Brewing Co.'s Lost Sailor IPA as one of guest taps for two weeks to be followed by the Cabin Fever ale. The Lost Sailor is a well made malt forward IPA with lots of mid flavor hops and good hop aromatics making for a great drinking IPA.
Lastly (on my "to talk about" before I go to Sunday school ) is the Kate the Great ticket sales came and went faster than greased lightning! I know many people are not happy with the outcome of what we thought would be a unique and fair opportunity for people to have a chance of procuring a bottle or two of Kate. Sadly, not everybody can win. There are only 900 bottles available. That is all there is and will be. We have no more space available to expand the brewery and therefore have a finite space to make as much beer as we can.
Well, that's all I've got for now. Cheers! Tod

Kolsch & BBC is on for Feb

Hey all,

So the double batch of 5 C's IPA was drank at a great clip. I hope you enjoyed that fact that is lasted longer then it had been in the past because of the 14 bbls we made this time. We have replaced it with our Kolsch.(sorry i cant figure out how to put the umlaut [this thing ¨] over the O)

The Kolsch is a German ale that is lagered that is traditionally brewed in Cologne Germany. This beer is extremely light in body but with a great grassy/floral/German hop flavor. Very, very drinkable and very delectable. So for the guest tap line for the month of February we are going to have Berkshire Brewing Company showcased. The first on tap is their Lost Sailor IPA. It is a great example of a British influenced American IPA. At 5.5% ABV is very drinkable IPA. You get a hit of malt in the front that goes to some nice citrus flavors mid palette, then a nice British earthy hop linger. Great to see a Brewery pay homage to the original style that made the journey from England to India around Cape Horn.

cheers,
Tyler

Kate the Great Scratch Tickets Are Sold Out!

They went on sale at 2:00 PM Saturday afternoon and by 6:30 Sunday evening all ten thousand tickets were sold. We're stunned.

Thanks to all of you who made the trip and bought tickets. Congratulations to those of you who scratched winners!

Kate the Great Tickets Are on Sale Now!

BC in the hizzy...

Hey all,

The Coffee Milk Stout is gone, hope you all got to try it. We have replaced it with our Black Cat Stout. Tod is leaving for Belgium tomorrow for a week so i will be holding down the fort here at the P-brew. Wish me luck!

Cheers,
Tyler

What Kate thinks about Kate Day

Enjoy the latest Kate Day video from our friends Nancy and Brian at Atlantic Media Productions.

Regarding the Sale of Kate the Great Scratch Tickets

"Sometimes you win.  Sometimes you lose.  Sometimes it rains."


A lot of you have been asking when Kate the Great scratch tickets will be available for purchase. We still do not have a date set!

How can that be, you ask? We are waiting for the tickets to be delivered by the printer and expect to receive them late next week or early the following week. We plan to put them on sale shortly thereafter.

Why the delay? That's a long story - here's the thumbnail version: we actually started this process the day after last year's Kate Day, when I asked Brewery staff to relay feedback and provide suggestions for this year's release. After several meetings and much lively discussion about what went well and what we could improve on, the form of 2011's Kate release began to take shape. The suggestion of some sort of lottery evolved into the scratch ticket proposal.

Once we worked out the details internally, we went down the bureaucratic rabbit hole: our plan had to pass muster at three different state agencies, each of which had veto power, but all of which ended up being enthusiastically supportive of our idea. But, as you can imagine, this took time, as did getting just right the legal mumbo-jumbo that appears on the back of the tickets and drawing up contracts up between the various stakeholders. Then, once approved, the tickets had to be designed & laid out, printers' proofs approved and the order placed.

And so a project I innocently believed would take a couple of months at the most actually ended up taking over five months to complete. In these circumstances, we were reluctant to set a fixed date for the start of ticket sales, knowing that we might have been forced to change it at the last minute, or worse yet, abandon the idea altogether and shift to some unknown Plan B at the last moment. But as of this moment, Plan A is still in effect. Hooray!

For those of you who were were hoping to queue up our doorstep overnight in order to be first in line to buy tickets on January 24th, precisely six weeks before Kate Day, I apologize.  Bear with us. We are committed to making this year's Kate release the best yet.

Cheers,

Peter

5 C's if you please...

Hey all,

The rumors are true. 5 C's is on tap and tasting great. For those of you who don't know about the 5 C's IPA you should get into the brewery ASAP! Because minus Kate this is one of out beers that doesn't last too long on tap here at P-Brew. The 5 C's is our version of a "West Coast" IPA. Big citrus/spicy/earthy hop character with some malt backbone to handle all the IBU's.

On the guest beer front, we went through all the Curieux that Allgash had in the state of NH. So we brought in the un-oaked version. A.K.A. the Allagash Triple. We will be running the Triple until next month when something else fun is coming in. Keep an eye on the blog :)

Cheers,
Tyler

"Hidilly-ho"...

hey all,

So the wait is over the Flanders Red (a.k.a. Maude) is on tap. This is one of the very few full sour mash beers we make here at the P-brew. What is a sour mash you ask? I am glad to fill you in. So we mash in a red ale like any other normal brew. then we fill the mash/mash tun with CO2 to make it an anaerobic (without oxygen) environment. Then add a handful of raw wheat on the top, seal up the Mash tun up as tight as we can and let it sit for 3 days! There are natural microscopic organisms that are on the surface of the raw wheat. These "bugs" will eat sugar and create and acid, or a sourness. Almost like yeast is an organism that eats sugar and creates alcohol. So after the Mash sits for 3 days you open it up to get these beautiful mango, kiwi and tropical fruit aromatics off the mash tun. Then you run it off, boil it to kill the souring "bugs", then add your hops and a Belgian yeast strain when it hits the fermenter.

After all that you get this tart, refreshing, tropical fruit flavor/aromatic 4.5% abv Belgian beer that is so much fun to sit and enjoy.

Hope all this "bug" talk doesn't make you all too squeamish.

Cheers,
Tyler

Beer for breakfast... Don't mind if I do.

Hey all,

So we just put on the Coffee Milk Stout and it is tasting quite nice. We used a Costa Rican coffee called "El Conquistador", which in Spanish means "THE Conquistador". (Chris Farley may you rest in peace) We got the coffee right down the street at our local Breaking New Grounds. Then we did a cold water extraction which gives you a very intence coffee aromatic/flavor with out the oils or acridness that comes from adding it to the boil. Add that creation to our Milk Stout you have an amazing coffee flavored beer, that is perfect for breakfast.

We also put on the last 5 gal cask of Black IPA. Which is the last of the Black IPA until the next time we make it.

Hope everyone is shoveled out and can come down for a pint!

Cheers,
Tyler

Please Join Us for Our First Annual Beer and Pie Social

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Come celebrate National Pie Day with us at our First Annual Beer and Pie Social on Monday, January 24th,* from 7pm to 9pm in the Jimmy LaPanza Lounge, downstairs at the Brewery.

Chef Todd Sweet and Head Brewer Tod Mott have created a delicious four-course menu of sweet and savory pies inspired by pie cultures from around the world and beers drawing from the outer reaches of the flavor spectrum. Click here for details.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the Brewery or through our website. Space is limited, so get yours now.

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* A sharp-eyed reader is inevitably going to point out that our Beer and Pie Social takes place the day after the actual National Pie Day. Why have we done this? We didn't think it would be fair to the Patriots to force them to compete with our event during their AFC Championship Game.

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The "Garde"ing is over

Hey all,

So the Black IPA is gone and was loved by all. So we decided that we have "garde"ed the Biere de Garde long enough and are going to put it on today! Biere de Garde is a really interesting style. Traditionally were brewed in the colder months in France so the yeast they used, Belgian strain, was a little more consistent flavor profile. Because as most of you probably know Belgian yeast produce many esters during fermentation which dramatically change the flavor of the beer. So with a Belgian yeast stain fermented a bit cooler then traditional Belgian beers, this will cut back a bit on the big fruity/spicy flavors you would normally get off the yeast. Then this beer was lagered (Garde au Frances) for almost a month before we put it on. Which is really going to clean up the finish on this beer. So basically it is an easy drinking French/Belgian style where the fruity/spiciness is really mellowed out.

Though if you want a crazy Belgian beer we do have Allagash Curieux on tap. Which is their Triple aged in Bourbon barrels. Dangerously drinkable at 10% abv!

Cheers,
Tyler

Wild Thang!

Hey all,

The Dunkelweizen kicked last night so we put on the Wild Thang. This is our beer we brew with some cooked wild rice, that we add to the mash tun. The rice adds a nice nuttiness to the beer. When that nutty flavor gets with the hop flavor from the sterling hops you get almost a cherry pit flavor. Yummy!

And yes the Black IPA is on!

Cheers,
Tyler

A New Year brings New Beers...

Hey all,

So with 2011 just starting it brings a lot of excitement here at the brewery. People keep coming in to try our delicious food and our hand crafted libations. So with the demand higher then ever the the production space the same as it was in 1991 when the place opened we are trying to get creative to keep the Portsmouth Brewery tap lines filled with great beer for you guys. Here is our plan.

We are going to increase our guest taps from three to four at the Portsmouth Brewery. Three of the guest taps will be a Smuttynose products. This could be any combination of Finest Kind IPA, Shoals Pale Ale, Old Brown Dog, Star Island Single and maybe a Big Beer or even something super special. This leaves us the fourth tap to be our rotating guest tap. On the rotating guest tap you will find that we are trying to showcase a certain beer or a certain Brewery for a month. As the regulars most likely noticed we have had on Sierra Nevada Celebration for the month of December. For the month of January we are going to be getting in some Allagash very soon. You will be quite curious what we are going to be putting on tap:) Then looking forward to February we are about to finalize some delicious beers from the Berkshire Brewing Company (BBC). So as you see we are going to keep the guest beers fresh and interesting.

With this is place we are hoping that we the brewers of the Portsmouth Brewery will be able to keep making interesting, flavorful and unique beers for all of you out there. With the hope that the quality of the beers will meet up to the discerning taste buds of our loyal customers and everyone that puts there lips to a pint of Portsmouth Brewery beer.

Cheers to 2011,
Tyler