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Smuttynose Brewing Company (founded 1994) is an award-winning craft brewery located on the historic Towle Farm in Hampton, New Hampshire, USA and independently-owned by partners Peter Egelston and Joanne Francis.[1] The company takes its distinctive name from Smuttynose Island, one of the Isles of Shoals. Smuttynose beers are all unfiltered and known for their distinctive labels, many of which feature original photography. They also travel widely, available in 25 states and 11 countries. The Towle Farm campus has been certified LEED Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council, recognizing the efficient design and green mindset of the company as it entered its next chapter.
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The Smuttynose Story
1994- Smuttynose is founded in Portsmouth, NH, by Peter and his sister Janet, craft brewing pioneers who opened the Northampton Brewery (1987) and the Portsmouth Brewery (1991), by acquiring the assets of a small, short-lived microbrewery in a warehouse on the southern edge of town. Early partners Paul Sylva and Jim Beauvais, founders of Ipswich Brewery, are quickly bought out. Seven years of brewing experience is quickly put to use and the first Smuttynose pints are poured on July 14, 1994 along Portsmouth's historic waterfront. Legendary mayor Eileen Foley toasts the new brewery with sixteen ounces of Shoals Pale Ale, the brewery's initial offering. Shoals is quickly followed to market by Old Brown Dog, a paradigm of the style.
1998- The Big Beer Series debuts with Barleywine, Imperial Stout, Kölsch and Dunkel Lager in limited-edition, twenty-two ounce bottles. The Big Beer Series has expanded its roster to include nearly 25 different beers, some of which have graduated to other parts of the Smuttynose line-up.
2001- Robust Porter debuts, winning a gold medal at Great American Beer Festival.
2003- Big A IPA and Pumpkin Ale debut.
2004- Finestkind IPA debuts, featuring iconic label models, Cy and Paul. Finestkind is one of the first heavily-hopped, bottled IPAs in New England; its debut begins a massive upswing in growth and interest in the brewer. Also, Smuttynose starts looking for the site of its new home, considering the historic mills in Newmarket, New Hampshire, but the deal falls through in late 2005. Subsequently, Smuttynose begins working on plans to build a new brewery on a 10-acre (40,000 m2) parcel along U.S. Route 1 in Portsmouth, but the project meets community opposition and is abandoned.
2006- Annual production volume surpasses 15,000 barrels, jumping Smuttynose from the "microbrewery" category to a designation as a "regional craft brewer."
2007- The Short Batch Series debuts (it has since evolved into Smuttlabs). The first release is a hoppy Belgian-style golden ale called "The Gnome." The second release, Strawberry Short Weisse, is a fruited berliner weisse-style beer.
2008- Smuttynose brews 20,000 barrels.[2] Gross sales for Smuttynose Brewing Company in 2009 were $5.7 million.[1]
2009- Further expansion of the brewery in Portsmouth continues, as the tasting room is cannibalized for the third of four cellar expansions.
2010- Site work begins on Smuttynose's new home on the historic, 17-acre Towle Farm in Hampton, NH. Peter and Joanne's goal of having a LEED Gold-certified facility guides all design and construction choices.
2012- The final capacity expansion at the original brewery is commissioned. Total production for the year is 40,744 barrels.
2014- Smuttynose moves to Towle Farm headquarters, opening to the public on May 29. The facility features a four-vessel, 100hl, automated brewhouse, state-of-the-art bottle-filling equipment, tours and tastings every day of the week and a nine-hole disc golf course. The iconic trailer from the Finestkind IPA label hosts a beer garden during the warm months. Smutty's original home stays active as Smuttlabs, a brewing innovation center and contract-brewing facility that focuses on barrel-aging, mixed- and wild-fermentations, unusual ingredients and product development.
2015- Hayseed restaurant opens at Towle Farm. The restaurant is built in the renovated, Victorian Towle family farmhouse. In addition to showcasing Smuttynose beer, the restaurant features locally sourced produce, seafood and meat, internationally influenced beer cuisine and a relaxing, seasonal beer garden with fire pit.
2016- After ten years of planning, construction and operation, Smuttynose receives its LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, making the second and largest brewery, to receive the seal.
The Big Beer Series
The Big Beer Series is a rotating line-up of beers best brewed in limited amounts. Since its inception in 1998, nearly 25 different beers have appeared in the series: Barleywine, Wheat Wine, Imperial Stout, Scotch Ale, S'muttonator Doublebock, Maibock, Baltic Porter, Gravitation, Dunkel Lager Farmhouse Ale, Zinneke, Rocky Road, Tripel, S'mistletoe, Winter Porter, Kölsch, East Coast Common, Big A IPA, Farmhouse Ale, Frankenlager, Kindest Find, Biere de 'Shire, Really Old Brown Dog, Rhye IPA, and Homunculus. Some Big Beers have grown into other parts of the Smuttynose line-up.
Smuttlabs
Smuttlabs evolved from the Short Batch series of single brew batches of classic beers styles, experimental techniques, or unusual ingredients. When Smuttynose moved to the Towle Farm brewery, Smuttlabs took over the original Portsmouth facility, giving it a range of options for batch size, contract brewing capacity and the ability to allow Smuttlabs beer the time they need to age and condition. Smuttlabs beers, like the Short Weisse beers, can also move to other parts of the portfolio. As of early 2016, all Smuttlabs releases are exclusively allocated through the Beer Vault, where bars and restaurants can choose any available beers in the available.