Portsmouth Beer Week 2014 starts Saturday!

Portsmouth Beer Week returns for 2014!  Tyler, Brennen, Chef Jon and the rest of our team at New Hampshire's original brewpub have put together an excellent slate of events to celebrate the craft beer culture of the Seacoast.  With the exception of the Big Game, Big Beer Dinner, everything is open to the public; just come on down to the pub. 

Sometime during the week, we'll tap a collaboration beer, Red Rye IPA, that was made with Pete Beauregard from Stoneface Brewing: It's 6.5% and hopped with Citra and Amarillo. Stoneface has just begun brewing and hasn't yet shipped any beer out (as of publishing of this post). We're very excited to share this one with reveling beer drinkers!

In-House Tap Takeover: A some point in time during the week, we'll announce a Portsmouth Brewery Tap Takeover. That's right; no guest beers, just what we make here. It happens once a year during Portsmouth Craft Beer Week, so don't miss out; we'll announce it on Facebook and Instagram.

Feb 22: Lapanza Lounge Imperial Stout Fest: Like black tie dress, we've been saving these kegs for a special occasion and they'll go on tap when we open the Jimmy LaPanza Lounge: Firestone Walker Parabola, Goose Island Night Stalker, Founders Imperial Stout, Oskar Blues Ten Fidy and Smuttynose Imperial Stout.  Tyler thought this would be an excellent way to prime pumps for the March 3 release of our own Royal Impy Stout.  

Feb 28: FIRKIN FRIDAY!! At lunch time we'll begin serving a cask-conditioned firkin of our collaborative red rye IPA, brewed with new kids on the block, Stoneface Brewing.  This cask is dry-hopped with Amarillo, Simcoe and Citra hops because, HOPS!  

March 2: Big Beer, Big Game Dinner (6pm-9pm), an exclusive Imperial Pint Club member event! Chef Jon and his team have really pulled out the stops on this Portsmouth Brewery first.  Reservations are $65 and include gratuity and beer pairings.  It's not too late to join the "IPC!"

              -Wild Boar Country Terrine wrapped in boar bacon with New Hampshire brie, beet-pickled quail eggs and toasted crostinis; Paired with 2012 Wheat Wine
              -Beer-braised Rabbit with creamy polenta, grilled escarole and kumquat compote; Paired with 2013 Scotch Ale
              -Thyme-roasted Elk with potato boulangére, boar bacon, roasted Brussels sprouts and Bordelaise sauce; Paired with 2012 Barleywine
              -Opera Cake paired with an exclusive cask of double-oaked Royal Impy Stout aged on cacao nibs
   

March 3: Royal Impy Stout release:  Our imperial stout will be on tap at 11:30am, when we open our doors. We're also packaging 2014's release in cage and corked 375ml bottles; it's a classy package for a classy beer. We're only bottling 93 gallons of it this year, a 31 gallons more then last year but still not much, so make sure to pick up your bottles early. Each bottle retails for $10 and there's an 8 bottle limit.  

In-House Tap Takeover: A some point in time during the week, we'll announce a Portsmouth Brewery Tap Takeover. That's right; no guest beers, just what we make here. It happens once a year during Portsmouth Craft Beer Week, so don't miss out; we'll announce it on Facebook and Instagram.

There are plenty of other events taking place during the week.  Smuttynose has a big slate and other breweries and venues do as well, like the Sheraton Harborside and Book & Bar.  Check out the 2beerguys website for more info.

Portsmouth Beer Week starts on Saturday!

It's Beer Week time again!

Being the first brewery in Portsmouth since 1950, we're always a little extra excited for Portsmouth Beer Week to come around.  A lot has happened in the Seacoast Beer Scene since we opened in 1991, which means there's a lot to celebrate.  Back then, no one even brewed an IPA...

Since we don't sell beer off premise, all of our events are happening in the pub, which gives us a great chance to change things up a bit.

Wanna see our brewery?  You can take a brewery tour everyday at 3pm for the duration of beer week.  As always, the tours are free and all tour-goers get a coupon for a half-priced sampler paddle.

We're also excited to announce a Portsmouth Brewery Tap Takeover!  It will last all week and it's happening right in our own bar.  That's right, this is the one occasion when we can offer ten house-brewed beers; no guest taps.

The rest of our schedule is a bit different than past years.  Instead of releasing one beer at the end of the week; we've got FOUR different collaborations brews coming out over two days.  The beers will be available on tap when we open in the morning, but each collaborating brewer will join Tyler in the Jimmy LaPanza Lounge from 6pm-8pm to meet, greet and share samples of one of their own beers, as well as the collaboration.  There will also be Chef Todd-created food pairings for each beer. Check 'em out:

Wednesday, February 27 from 6pm-8pm
-Oatmeal Pale Ale, brewed with Rik Marley from Flying Goose Brew Pub. This golden-colored pale ale, gets a soft, yet full mouthfeel from oats in the mash, while healthy doses of Simcoe and Zythos hops add a hefty hop pop.  This beer tips the scales at a modest 5.5% and will be paired with cheddar and corn fritters.

-The first of two Seacoast collaborations was brewed with Annette Lee, co-owner and brewer at Throwback Brewery in Hampton.  Holy Molé Porter is a chocolate, molé-spiced porter made exclusively with regionally-grown and malted Valley Malts, cinnamon, cumin and locally-grown jalapeño peppers that were smoked at Throwback (a process we call chipotle-ization).  Chef Todd will be serving Molé-braised chicken taquitos alongside this 6.8% beer.

Thursday, February 28 from 6pm-8pm

-Cirque de Citron was brewed with Tim Adams from Maine's newest craft beer cool kid, Oxbow Brewing Company. This dark saison was brewed with buddha hand, citron (exotic citrus fruits) and chinese long pepper in the kettle plus lots of Amarillo hops in the hopback.  Tyler says this one is a bit more heavy, at 7.9%.  Imagine how tasty this will be alongside a a crispy springroll stuffed with Vietnamese-spiced tofu and veggies!  

-Last but not least, new-kid-on-the-Seacoast, Great Rhythm Brewing, teamed with Tyler to brew a wheat stout, named Total Eclipse of the Stout.  This 6%, black beauty is unusual in its broad use of wheat malt.  All the color and body in this beer comes from speciality wheats; which means no speciality barley malts were used in this beer.  Hazelnut brittle with chocolate-covered cacao nibs will accompany TEOTS.  

We hope you will join us in celebrating Portsmouth Beer Week 2013.  There's a lot going on, so come on out and lift a pint. 

We'll see you at the pub!

For more information about Smuttynose's Portsmouth Beer Week events, check out their blog post.  The rest of 2013's Portsmouth Beer Week events can be found on the official website: http://2beerguys.com/portsbeerweek/.