I don't know much about New Hampshire in general and I've only had beer from one of their breweries. But that doesn't mean I can't read about them online and either gush about them and how awesome they are or ruthlessly make fun of their cute attempt at becoming a legitimate brewery.
Let's start out in civilization and make our way out to the country. I want you to have every craft brew New Hampshire has to offer at your fingertips once your car gets stuck in a twelve foot snow drift and you are 150 miles from the nearest electrical outlet. So, buy a case from each of these breweries for your emergency survival kit and if you get stranded, well, you may as well get a little tipsy, because, honestly, a bear is going to eat you.
Smuttynose, Portsmouth. They are the most recognizable beer from New Hampshire. The people who founded Portsmouth and Northampton breweries founded Smuttynose in 1994. I have had a pretty decent amount of the Smuttynose beers. Most recently the Big A IPA. I've also had the Winter Ale, The Pumpkin Ale, and the Old Brown Dog. They are all well done, but I think I like the Old Brown Dog the best. I'm a Brown Ale kind of guy. They make six year round beers and several seasonals and specials. Their labels are simple but I like them a lot. The labels for Big A IPA and the Robust Porter are my favorites. The name came from Smuttynose Island, which is actually in Maine, but is right on the border with New Hampshire. You can find their beer all along the East Coast from Maine to Florida. Definitely check them out.
White Birch Brewing, Hooksett. White Birch was started by a guy who has been brewing since 1994, but just started to do it commercially in 2009. All of their brewing is done by hand currently and they do about 2 barrels a day, but they are in the process of installing a new seven barrel system. It seems like a NH pattern, but White Birch tries to use local ingredients and packaging when possible and used all local labor for their facility upgrade. They are hosting the Southern NH Brewer's festival next weekend and I think it's really cool that one brewery, especially a new one, would invite a bunch of other breweries to their place for a festival. The craft beer industry really has a great sense of community and respect among the different breweries. However, I'm sure White Birch will find a way to rig any contest so that they win. They have three flagship beers, which are available in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and they have a rotating cast of 21 different beers. I like one of their beer names; "Indomitus." Just sounds cool, and it's a barrel fermented wild ale that they say cannot be tamed. On the website the brewer wrote a bunch about the difference between oak and barrel aging, which maybe I'll try to decipher and share in the next couple weeks.
Squam Brewing, Holderness. Squam is a small and very new brewery. It's only available in NH and they brew six beers. Each has a label and a name that relate to Squam Lake. They make an amber, a bitter, an IPA, a stout, a winter wheat, and a summer wheat. But what is really cool about Squam is that they do small customized contract brewing. So, if you or me wanted to get some beer made for a special occasion, Squam would be the place to go. The minimum order is 31 gallons, so about 14 cases. But they will make whatever recipe you want to give them, or they will come up with one if you give them some ideas. You can use your own label artwork or for a price they can have someone design it. I sent an email to the guy who runs the brewery and he said that as far as he knows, they are the only place that does contract brewing on such a small scale. It would be really unique for a wedding or a family reunion. It would also be a great way for a homebrewer to scale up his operation. I think it's a great idea. He also gave me some background on the more technical reasons behind why a 55 gallon boiler only nets 31 gallons of beer. I'll probably get into it later this month.
Tuckerman Brewing, Conway. This brewery was opened in 1998 by two 24 year olds, but just like most 24 year olds, they didn't really want to try very hard and so they only brewed one type of beer. An American Pale Ale. In actuality, I think they were limited to one beer by capacity, so once they moved to a larger location in 2004 they started a second beer and eventually a third. The third beer is a tribute to Mount Washington, which I assume is close to their brewery. Don't know. Anyway, Mount Washington is 6288' high, and so their Stout is called 6288 Stout. It is a seasonal that has 6.3% ABV (to match the elevation) and some of the proceeds from its sale benefit the Observatory on Mt. Washington. Since cars that climb Mt. Washington get that neat little "This Car Climbed Mt. Washington" bumper sticker, I think Tuckerman should sell "This Human Consumed 6288 Stout" bumper stickers for people's foreheads. Or shirts. Or your chest if you detest shirts. Tuckerman beers are available in NH, MA, and ME, and they brew about 70,000 cases a year. And since it's trendy (and smart) they try to use local ingredients and packaging.
Music to listen to until your iPod runs out of juice and/or your newfound bear friends get angry that you have run out of New Hampshire brews:
There aren't too many mainstream musicians from New Hampshire although I was just reading that the members of Aerosmith met while in New Hampshire. One band that I did find from NH that was somewhat interesting to listen to was Dreadnaught. They are a self described experimental rock band, and I think they are kinda jam bandish. Pretty decent. Here is their official website.
Next week, I'll discuss the breweries that are being planned, any brewpubs I think are worthy, and give a few road trip ideas, perhaps with some recommendations from my mom.
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