The End of Star Island Single Production; and the Beginning of New Beers

Introduced in 2009, Star Island Single, Smuttynose’s delicately spiced, sessionable, Belgian-style pale ale will be retired from the Hampton-based brewery’s full-time lineup at the end of April, 2014.

Discontinuing this beer was a difficult decision, and a number of factors were considered. With the larger brewhouse at the new Smuttynose facility and two new, low alcohol, year-round releases, Vunderbar Pilsner and Bouncy House IPA, in the works, there was a need to streamline our offerings. “We brought Star Island Single to market,” said Peter Egelston, company founder and president, “because we believed many beer drinkers were seeking more sessionable offerings. Current market trends have proven this to be true, which is what led us to creating Vunderbar and Bouncy House. Ultimately, something had to be let go from our lineup. Everyone at Smuttynose is very excited about getting our new beers into pint glasses all around America.” 

Bouncy House, a 4.3% IPA, will debut at SAVOR, the nation’s premier beer and food pairing experience in Washington DC on May 9 and will be in all Smuttynose markets by Memorial Day.

Vunderbar Pilsner, a 5.1% unfiltered, hoppy, golden lager will hit markets in June, just as New England’s summer season kicks into high gear.  

Smuttynose has shipped the last Star Island Single to its wholesalers, and whatever remains in the market is all that will be available. There are just a handful cases left at the brewery, which will be available during retail hours (M-Th 9-4, Friday 9-6:30 and Saturday (Noon to 4pm).  

Last but not least, Smuttynose would like to thank the Star Island mermaid, Dixie von Trixie. A chance meeting with Smuttynose Creative Director Joanne Francis at a vintage clothing store in San Diego led to a five year relationship during which Miss von Trixie donned her tail and travelled east to promote her beer, including the phenomenal 2012 Coney Island Mermaid Parade. While she has said several times that she’s dreamed of being a mermaid since she was a little girl, Smuttynose would like to express their appreciation for her enthusiasm and support for Star Island Single for the life of the beer.

About Smuttynose: Founded in 1994 by the people behind the Northampton Brewery and the Portsmouth Brewery, Smuttynose Brewing Company is New Hampshire’s leading craft brewer. On the verge of its 20th anniversary, Smuttynose has moved into its new, energy-efficient brewery and headquarters on historic Towle Farm in Hampton, NH, where it will continue to brew a wide range of lagers and ales. The new facility was designed to accommodate lots of visitors and the entire Smuttynose team looks forward to hosting them at the company’s new home.

An Update about Smuttynose Tours: Old Brewery and New Brewery

Hello Smuttynose Fans!

We're very excited to announce the brewery tour transition schedule from Heritage Avenue, our original home, to Towle Farm, our new one.  

The Heritage Avenue Brewery

Regular tours have finished at Heritage Avenue. Instead, we'll be hosting informal open houses for the next two weekends. You don't need reservations, just come on by during what would usually be our regular tour hours. We'll be pouring samples and selling beer and merch (there will be some special discounts). Benny the Tour Guy has even promised casual walk-throughs of the facility, to make sure you get one more look before we close the doors.

The Towle Farm Brewery

After the four open houses, we'll be closed for a few weeks while our staff sets up the tasting area, retail shop and makes the final preparations at Towle Farm. It's a bit surreal to think that we'll be open after imagining opening our doors to the world for so many years. During the two weeks we're closed, you should go visit other New Hampshire breweries. There are almost 35 in the state now, so you won't be short of options. Here's a map: http://www.nhbeer.org/nh-beers/  We will be posting updates over our social media so keep your eyes peeled there in case something pops up between now and then.

We will begin brewery tours and retail in our Smerchendise boutique at 10am on Saturday, May 31. If anything comes up between now and then, we'll be reporting it through our social media outlets: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  

The new brewery is very easy to get to from NH-101 and from US-1. Your best option is to use the address below for both mailing and your favorite navigation app.  

We can't wait to welcome you to our new home, but we also hope to send Heritage Avenue off in style by filling the building with a few more groups of happy, beer loving folks, like you. We'll see you soon.

Cheers!

Smuttynose Brewing Co.

105 Towle Farm Road

Hampton, NH 03842

The transition schedule:

May 2 - Open House at Heritage Ave 5pm - 7pm 

May 3 - Open House at Heritage Ave Noon - 4pm 

May 9 - Open House at Heritage Ave 5pm - 7pm 

May 10 - Open House at Heritage Ave Noon - 4pm 

May 31 - Towle Farm opens to the public 10am - 7pm 

June 1 - Towle Farm Tours 10am - 3pm 

The summer schedule for brewery tours at Towle Farm is:

M-W 12-5
Th 11-5
Fr 11-7
Sat 10-7
Sun 10-3

Smutty hits DC for Bouncy House, SAVOR and Dancing!

Smuttynose is very proud to be a supporting partner of SAVORSM: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience.

Seriously, between the excellent beers from around the country, a gorgeous setting in the National Building Museum, the expertly curated pairing menu created by Chef Adam Duyle (of Monk's Kettle and Abbot's Cellar in San Francisco) and national media attention, this is event is one of the top craft beer events of the year.

A central part of 2014's SAVOR for us, is the DC Debut of Bouncy House IPA (4.3%), our newest year-round beer.

We'll be pouring Bouncy House IPA and Satchmo (a new Smuttlabs release brewed with black trumpet mushrooms andaged in red wine barrels) during all three sessions of SAVOR. Satchmo will be paired with Cocoa-Braised Beef on a Potato Crisp while attendees will enjoy Bouncy House with Guinea Hen Confit served on a Wonton. Delicious, right?

We've got several events on the week leading up to SAVOR that will feature Bouncy House, some of our other year round and seasonal beers and a few rarities. Check out the details below, tell your friends and come have a beer with the Smuttynose crew. If it's Bouncy House you're drinking, you'll be have to have a few!

You can read more about Bouncy House in our blog post and Lew Bryson's Session Beer Day interview with our Director of Brewing Operations, David Yarrington.

Thursday, May 8, 8-??

Jackpot and Smuttynose Welcome You to SAVOR with                      

Finestkind

Bouncy House

Old Brown Dog

Robust Porter

Summer Weizen

Surprise Selection which could be a Big Beer, Noonan or Durty

Friday, May 9, 4-??

Iron Horse Taproom Smuttynose Big Beer Tap Takeover

Finestkind and a Big Beer at the main bar

The Sidebar will be pouring: 

StrawBarb Short Weiss 

2014 Wheat Wine 

2013 Scotch Ale

Plus three more surprises, direct from the brewery in New Hampshire.

Friday, May 9, 10pm-??

Smuttynose SAVOR After-Party Featuring DJ Dredd at Black Cat.  

Forget what your mama told you about waiting to dance after you eat! Come on over right after SAVOR and shake what your mama gave ya with one of DC's top party DJs, DJ Dredd! He's well-known all over DC for throwing it down.

$5 drafts of Old Brown Dog and Bouncy House all night! There's a $10 cover, but you can get your spot through this link. We do expect this party to pack out, so plan ahead.

Big News from Towle Farm!

Laverne and Shirley have (metaphorically) reported for their first day of work at the new brewery, which means that we've just, for the first time, put beer in bottles at Towle Farm! It's no surprise that we began with Finestkind IPA, but we've got some Bouncy House that's nearly ready to bottle too. More word on Bouncy House release events soon.

There are still plenty of things to tweak and dial in before we're ready to ship beer to you good folks, but here's Peter with a taste of what you'll see when you get Hampton-brewed beer.

Kick Off Your Shoes for a Session with Bouncy House IPA!

Today, April 7, is Session Beer Day, a day to celebrate the growing ranks of beers that are full-flavored but low in alcohol. This celebratory day is part of Lew Bryson's Session Beer Project, which can really fill you in all things low-in-alcohol. Session Beer Day also provides us the perfect opportunity to show-and-tell our upcoming year-round release, Bouncy House IPA!

At Smuttynose, we see Bouncy House IPA as an important addition to our year-round releases, like Finestkind IPA and Old Brown Dog. It's an IPA with a simple yet perfectly-honed malt bill and a beguiling combination of Magnum, Calypso and Saphir hops. Sure, this new beer is dry-hopped to the point that you'll have a beer foam nose (instead of a milk moustache) from sniffing its beguiling aromas, but the best part is that it's just 4.3%. That's right; you can enjoy all the delicious hopping of an IPA, without a high alcohol content clouding up your world view.

We've previously brewed two pilot batches of Bouncy House, with a third about to hit the market in the next week or two. David Yarrington and our production team are so confident they've got the recipe perfected that we expect to brew the first full batches at the new brewery this week. Our sales team are finalizing roll-out events for the month of May (including SAVOR, the premier beer and food pairing event in Washington DC), but we expect to have it in all our markets by Memorial Day, just in time for your celebrations.

We're very excited about the Bouncy House beer, but it wouldn't be a new Smuttynose beer without fun, distinctive packaging.  Below are pre-print images of the six pack, twelve pack, bottle labels (yup there are more than one) and tap marker.  We shot the photos inside a real bouncy house!

Please enjoy the images below and stay tuned for updates on the roll-outs.  In the meantime, get ready to get your bounce on!

Smuttynose Beer Release Update, 4/1/14

Just a quick update on our release schedule for the year. Despite the date of this posting, this is all very true, very real information. You can tell because it's not really funny to begin with. There have been a few schedule changes that are the result of a few delays in the commissioning of our new brewing equipment at the new Towle Farm brewery.

We'll have a blog post with a Towle Farm update later this week. In the meantime, here is the new calendar. 

A few Big Beers got rearranged. 

-Frankenlager was pushed back about two weeks as it took us a bit longer to get the new brewhouse up and running, which is important because this lager was decoction-mashed. The decoction process takes more time, but is well worth it for Frankenlager for two reasons. 1) It adds a better range of flavors and 2) after years of very manual, somewhat imprecise decoction mashing at Heritage Avenue, our new brewhouse enables us to hit all the volumes and temperatures any beer requires.  Very cool.







-We swapped Tripel and Farmhouse Ale in the release order.  With all the extra time requirements
on our staff (planning for the new brewery's public opening, launching Bouncy House IPA in May, getting production up and running at the new brewery), this made a lot of sense for a lot different reasons, not the least of which is that we've brewed Farmhouse Ale before so, we know how it will be brewed and we have labels for it.

-Rhye IPA was removed from the Big Beer Series because of all the other changes in the release schedule.  While we don't have plans to announce at this moment, it will be back in the future. 

Last but not least, we've got some fun Smuttlabs surprises in the works and we're about to begin bottling the first beers on the new bottling line. so stay tuned to this blog and our social media for updates!