Smuttynose Brewers Notes: July 2013

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Cluster's Last Stand Events in Western MA and New Hampshire

The Cluster's train rolls on! You can find our Stone Brewing Co. collaboration beer at the following places; all of which are wonderful spots that you should visit again...

July 25: Cluster's Last Crawl-Seacoast, visit some of our Short Batch accounts, pay as you go and join or bail as you please. Smuttynose folks will be out and about to drink and schmooze at some of our favorite ale vendors.
              5pm The Black Birch
              6:30pm The Portsmouth Brewery
              8pm the Press Room at 8pm.

July 31: Cluster's Last Crawl- Portland, ME; Just like the one in Portsmouth, we'll stop in some of Short Batch accounts for a night of old school, hoppy goodness.
              5pm The Great Lost Bear
              6:30pm Novare Res
              8:00pm LFK
              9:30pm Nosh Kitchen Bar

Aug 1: Julio's Liquors, Westborough, MA; 4pm-6pm, Smutty/ Stone Tasting and Cluster's bottle Release
Aug 1: Dive Bar, Worcester, MA; 8pm-11pm, Smutty/ Stone Collaboration night at the Dive (3 beers each on tap plus Cluster's)
Aug 7: Provisions, Northampton, MA; 4pm-6pm, Smutty/ Stone Tasting and Bottle Release
Aug 7: Northampton Brewery, Northampton, MA; 6pm-8pm, Cluster's Last Stand Cheese Pairing
Aug 7: Sierra Grille, Northampton, MA; 8pm-10pm, Cluster's Last Stand Tapping
Aug 12: Plan B, Springfield, MA; 5pm Cluster's Last Stand Tapping

We'll have more information about events in other places coming soon. Please stay tuned...

Monday, July 15, 2013

Cluster's Last Stand releases at Smuttynose July 19 and goes to other places too...

So last month, Greg Koch from Stone Brewing Company joined us to brew 30 barrels of Cluster's Last Stand, a beer that recreates the original, right-after-Prohibition Ballantine IPA recipe, as found in Mitch Steele's, epic book on India Pale Ales. You can see from the ingredient list below that Cluster's Last Stand truly isn't your everyday IPA, but we just drank some during the bottling run and it's just as delicious as anything out there on the market today.

Smuttynose DoBrO David Yarrington (L) and Stone CEO and Founder Greg Koch (R) mashing in Cluster's Last Stand

We are releasing our small allotment of bottles at Smuttynose on Friday, July 19 in conjunction with our brewery tours. We'll sell them until they're gone.... $9 a bottle. We do take reservations for tours and bottles will be available for folks that don't take the tour, starting at 5:30. That being said you really should see this place before we shut the doors later this fall.

If you can't make it to Heritage Avenue on Friday, there are other options. Boston's take place on the 23rd at Craft Beer Cellar from 5pm-7pm where bottles will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and then on to Lord Hobo for a keg tapping. We're curious to see how long it will take to kick. Smuttynose's DoBrO David Yarrington will be on hand for both events with Stone's Jeff Nelson and Smutty's Joe Grotto.

Attendees at the Southern New Hampshire Brew Fest will also be able to sample Cluster's Last Stand at one of New Hampshire's best beer fests, put on by the good folks at White Birch Brewing. It's on July 26-27.

More events are being planned and we'll keep you updated here on our blog.

8.3% abv 62 IBU's
Malts: North American 2-Row, Flaked Maize, Munich 10L, C-60
Hops: Bittering-Cluster, Flavor- Brewers Gold and East Kent, Dry Hop- Bullion
Yeast: White Labs WLP-001 American Ale (widely rumored to be the original Ballantine strain)

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

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Cluster's Last Stand Events in Western MA and New Hampshire

Monday, July 15, 2013

Cluster's Last Stand releases at Smuttynose July 19 and goes to other places too...

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Upcoming Beer Releases

The Smuttynose Big Beer Series

Smuttlabs

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