Smuttynose Brewers Notes: November 2013

Friday, November 22, 2013

Fight the Black Friday Blues with Beer!

With Smuttynose Beer, of course!

At Smuttynose, we consider a pint of flavorful beer an excellent way to take respite from the hustle and bustle of our busy lives. Black Friday can certainly be a whirlwind of door busters, mega deals and crowded stores—or another day trapped in the house with your family. Fortunately, we have a solution for both situations: our first Black Friday Open House!

We're opening the doors of our original/current brewery on Heritage Avenue in Portsmouth from 1pm-7pm on Friday, November 29 for beer samples, tours, hospitality, and retail sales. We hope you'll stop by to enjoy some rare beer samples, case discounts on Scotch Ale, Barleywine, and Winter Ale, and a selection of "Smerchandise" to help you get some holiday shopping done in a casual, pro-beer environment. You won't need a reservation, just drop-in; we'll be glad to see you!

*Our 5:30pm tour will still be taking place, as scheduled.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Bouncy House Release this Friday!

This Friday, November 15, bound on over to Smuttynose at 4pm to try our newest Short Batch release, Bouncy House!

What is Bouncy House? It's the next step in our quest to brew the perfect low-alcohol, high-flavor, hoppy American ale. We learned a few things from brewing ParadoX earlier this year, like lowering the alcohol content and avoiding the terms "session" and "IPA."

When you taste Bouncy House, you'll taste a modest malt bill of North American 2-row, British pale ale malt, C-60 and Aromatic malt mashed for a refreshingly light body that leaves plenty of spotlight for a melange of Warrior, Calypso, El Dorado and Citra hops.

In-house, organoleptic tasting left us with some great first impressions, but Team Smuttynose wants to know what you think. If you're on Untappd, please check in with a comment for us. If you're tweeting, please use the #bouncyhouse hashtag. You can also send us direct email or leave note on our Facebook page. Your feedback will help guide any changes for the next brew.

To encourage your experimentation, we're offering 22 ounce bottles of Bouncy House for just $3 at Smuttynose and in the off-premise trade. Draft prices will be difficult to peg exactly, but they'll be in line with what you can expect to pay for our year-round beers.

So please come say hello, have a beer and speak your mind this weekend. We're looking forward to it!

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, November 22, 2013

Fight the Black Friday Blues with Beer!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Bouncy House Release this Friday!

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The Smuttynose Big Beer Series

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