2013 American Craft Beer Week Starts Monday!

We've been proudly brewing craft beer since 1991, when it was called "microbrew" and New Hampshire didn't have a brewpub-specific license.  It's very difficult to name all the changes that have taken place at the Brewery and in the craft beer world, but there are lots of them and they are certainly worth celebrating during 2013's American Craft Beer Week, which runs May 13-19.  We've got a lot going on, so please come out and enjoy as many events as you like!  Without you, we've got nothing to celebrate.

DAILY EVENTS

-Daily brewhouse tours at 3pm

-Daily toasts at Noon and 5:30pm

-Even more beer cuisine than we normally offer

-Special beer tappings and surprise giveaways

-Zwickel Monster, an unfiltered lager inspired by Chef Todd's rakish days in Vienna, Austria.  It's also triggered the return of the Brat Burger for ACBW.  

-Get free glassware when you buy bottled Portsmouth Brewery beer in the retail shop

-$2 Pfiffs all week long.  Pfiffs are 6 ounce beers that are perfectly sized for lunch or pairing with multiple courses.  They are also of Austrian origin.

OTHER EVENTS

Monday the 13th- Brewing with Botanicals, 6-7pm 

Head Brewer Tyler Jones and Strawbery Banke's Curator of Historical Landscapes, John Forti, will discuss the use of botanical ingredients in beer, using Puddle Dock Porter, their recent collaboration beer as a teaching tool.  There will likely be some samples as well.  Space is first-come, first-served in the LaPanza Lounge.

Wednesday the 15th – The Science of Beer, a Portsmouth Science Café, 6-7pm

We've got our own edition of the Portsmouth Science Café! Steve Parkes, Owner and Lead Instructor of the American Brewers Guild, will lead an in-depth conversation about the science of brewing.  Steve has taken on the noble responsibility of ensuring that aspiring craft brewers have all the theoretical and practical knowledge they need to be successful.  A graduate of the prestigious International Centre of Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, Steve has opened and operated successful breweries on both sides of the Atlantic, including Drop In Brewing, his current venture in Middlebury, VT which also serves as a teaching facility for the Guild.

We anticipate this first-come, first-served event to fill up quickly, so plan accordingly.  Doors open at 5pm and the talk will begin at 6pm.  Knowledge will be dropped!

Thursday the 16th - Nationwide American Craft Beer Toast, 8pm

Pretty much what it sounds like...  At 8pm we'll call everyone to attention and raise our glasses to American Craft Beer and the more than 2400 breweries that make it.  The toast will take place simultaneously around the country and we're happy to be part of this vital, large community. 

Friday the 17th – Firkin Friday, 11:30am-??

Two firkins are tapped at 11:30; one empties first!  10.8 gallons of Whipper Snapper session IPA dry-hopped with Cascade hops will "tap off" with an equal measure of Petit Effronte, our new Belgian session ale that's been infused with orange peel and Summit hops.  The two (un)lucky beer drinkers who kick each cask will win a Portsmouth Brewery prize pack.  

Craftbeer.com serves as the main calendar for ACBW events around the country.  If you can't make any of ours, it's easy to find something beery and fun near you.  Just click this link: http://www.craftbeer.com/news-and-events/calendar

Cheers!

September Special Events, 2012

Here in Portsmouth, the end of August brings a certain waning. Kids go back to school, the height of tourist season ends and temperatures begin receding to a comfortable nighttime sleeping temperature.

One thing that doesn't wane is our event schedule.  It almost seems like the folks who organize downtown events wait for Seacoasters to get some of our town back to kick-off a September event schedule so full that it's like a clown car- and we've definitely called "shotgun" for the trip.

Here's a brief list of September Seacoast events that we're either sponsoring, planning, exhibiting or attending. We can't go into too much depth about these events because there are so many, but we have included the appropriate links if you want more information.  

Saturday, September 8- Vintage and Vine- We're pleased to be one of the first breweries to participate in Strawbery Banke's food and wine gala fundraiser.  Food from thirty chefs will be available along side of samples of hundreds of wines. 

Sunday, September 9- The Portsmouth Criterium- For the eighth year, downtown Portsmouth is turned into a short course bicycle track.  Join the crowds of onlookers for full day of cycling and fun. Sister brewery Smuttynose reprises its role as title sponsor, but we'll have a tent set-up right by Market Square.  We hope you'll stop by and say hello.

Friday-Sunday, September 14, 15, 16-  Telluride By The Sea- A specially curated program of six films, many of them being shown for the second time in the US, comes The Music Hall direct from the Telluride Film Festival.  Both Smuttynose and Portsmouth Brewery are film sponsors.

Saturday, September 15- Passport- One of the country's most unique beer events returns to historic Strawbery Banke for an evening of curated beer and food pairings, historical characters and fundraising for New Hampshire Public Television.  Passport has already sold out for this year, but it'll be back and even better next year.

Friday, September 21- Clean Water Music Series- Sponsored by sister brewery Smuttynose, this installment of PREP's environmentally conscious music series pulls into the legendary Stone Church in Newmarket, New Hampshire.  King's Highway and Todo Bien will kick out the jams while PREP raises awareness about water quality in our Seacoast community.  Just remember, we can't make great beer without great water from the Piscataqua Estuary! 

Saturday, September 22- Fishtival- Celebrate 400 years of great New Hampshire seafood at Prescott Park with locally caught seafood samples, a touch tank, educational exhibits about the Gulf of Maine, boat tours and a chance to meet fishermen and women who put food on our plates.  

Wednesday, September 29- Seacoast Science Café #1- This free event, held in our Jimmy LaPanza Lounge, brings members of the public together with climatologist Cameron Wake and sociologist Larry Hamilton for a discussion about climate change; what we know and what we believe.  There are three other Cafés schedule through the fall and we're proud to host them all.