Smuttynose Brewers Notes: Smuttynose Short Batch #17: Herbaceous

Friday, October 5, 2012

Smuttynose Short Batch #17: Herbaceous

Her • ba • ceous [hur-bey-shuhs, ur-] adj 1: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an herb

It’s that time of year again, hop harvest time. And what could be better than a wet hopped beer? Since the East Coast is about 3,000 miles from the hop fields, our access to these beers can be a tad limited. Thirst no more beer drinkers; Smuttynose is ready to fill your pints with Herbaceous, our new Short Batch, wet-hopped beer!

We’ve been talking about brewing a wet hop beer for several years, but the freshly-picked hops need to either be dried and baled or, in the case of wet-hopped beers, used in a brew within hours. Getting hops from Yakima Valley was a daunting expense for two reasons. One, we needed 150 lbs and two, they had to travel 3,000 miles as quickly as possible. Well, the stars aligned this year, which means we snuck the overnight shipping charges past Peter while he was busy with the construction of our new facility at Towle Farm in Hampton.

His oversight is your gain, because the beer came out beautifully. We decided to go with a very simple malt bill using nothing but Vienna and CaraMunich II, from Weyermann Malt, to brew an amber ale as the base beer. Bittering was done with Magnum and we used Willamette and Sterling for the flavoring additions. The 150 lbs of freshly-picked Citra were used exclusively for the wet hop-as- dry hop component that we felt was the best way to showcase the pungent essence of hops right off the vine. The best way for you to showcase these ethereal hop flavors it to drink the beer as soon as possible, just not on your way from Smuttynose.

We've got 46 cases of bottles going on sale on Thursday, October 11 from 5-7pm. There will be a two bottle limit and as always, we'll have Herbaceous on tap for you taste. If you haven't been to Smuttynose for a Short Batch bottle release, please enter through our tour entrance located in the back corner of our building at 225 Heritage Avenue in Portsmouth, NH.

Stat Box

4.35% ABV 50 IBU

Starting Extract: 11.6° Plato Terminal Extract: 3.5° Plato

Malts: Weyermann Vienna and Weyermann CaraMunich

Hops: Bittering: Magnum, Flavor: Willamette and Sterling, Wet: Citra from BT Loftus Ranch

Yeast: WLP-001 California Ale

Batch size: 30 barrels (46 cases for sale)

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Upcoming Beer Releases

These dates show when we expect to release these beers at our Smerch Store. Shipments to our distribution partners will coincide with their order cycles, so you'll see new releases a little bit after the dates you see below.
Pumpkin Ale - August
Smuttlabs: Brett & I - Shipping Now!
Big Beer Series: Tripel (brand new release!) August 16
Smuttlabs: Schmutzig - August 23
Now and Then Series: Cluster's Last Stand - (Stone Collaboration) August 30
Winter Ale - October 15
Smuttlabs: Oak-Aged Tripel - TBD
Smuttlabs: Strawberry Short Weisse - Fall 2014
Smuttlabs: White IPA - TBD
Big Beer Series: S'muttonator (double bock) - November
Full Time: Baltic Porter - 12oz Four Pack, Fall 2014
Full Time: Really Old Brown Dog - 12oz Four Pack, Fall 2014
Durty (we promise to brew more) - December 13

The Smuttynose Big Beer Series

Since 1998, Smuttynose Brewing has offered its Big Beer Series, specialty beers released seasonally in very limited quantities. Although some styles appear every year, others get dropped or added to the lineup, or simply take a sabbatical for a year or two. Adding to the free-form nature of this series, our brewers are encouraged to tweak, change and experiment with recipes from one year to the next, so that one year's edition may be subtly or dramatically different from the next (or it may be exactly the same).

Since 2002, our Executive Brewer, David Yarrington, has contributed notes on each new edition of the Series, as well as on other seasonal beers, such as our Pumpkin Ale. Sometimes the notes are extensive; sometimes, if little or no changes have been made to the previous year's edition, they will be brief.

By the way, all Smuttynose Big Beers are bottle conditioned and will age quite nicely if stored properly. Starting in 2005, we've "vintage" dated our Big Beer labels to help you keep your cellar organized.

Smuttlabs

“How many things are we upon the brink of discovering if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries?” -Mary Shelley

We’re very proud of each of our Smuttynose beers, but our brewing staff has many ideas that can’t be done on a large scale; this is where Smuttlabs comes into play. From barrel-aging and beer souring to culinary collaborations and special projects that just don’t fit anywhere else, if a project is out of the ordinary, unique or time consuming, you can bet it’ll bear the Smuttlabs name.

In 2007, we began these experimental brewings, with a beer called “The Gnome” (which became Homunculus in the Big Beer Series), under the Short Batch Series name. As we’ve increased production and volumes of these eccentric beers, we’ve rechristened them “Smuttlabs,” to reflect the creative experimentation found in each batch.

Smuttlabs releases seek to bridge the gap between “rare” and “hard to find.” Brewing on these terms, success can take different forms. Some releases may have semi-regular production and others may never see a mash tun again. There will constantly be Smuttlabs beers in all phases of production from conception, to brewing and fermentation to aging and packaging.

We’ll announce Smuttlabs beers here on our blog, through social media as well as our website. We know you’ll have just as much fun seeking them out and drinking them as we do brewing them.

Smuttynose Brewers Notes

Friday, October 5, 2012

Smuttynose Short Batch #17: Herbaceous

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