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New Hampshire Report
We're back from a terrific week in New Hampshire, exploring Franconia Notch State Park, Woodstock and Portsmouth. We took the kids to Magic Wings butterfly conservatory, the Castle In The Clouds, the McAuliffe Planetarium, and saw finback whales with Granite State Whale Watch. At Franconia Notch, we rode the Cannon Mountain tram, visited the Flume Gorge, swam in Echo Lake, and viewed the site of the former Old Man of the Mountain. All fun, and recommended. The kids were even able to hold their own verbally sparring with a comedian/magician in Portsmouth.
Now, on to the beer!
The Woodstock Inn was a great find by Eliz: a nice country inn, with a big, fun restaurant and, amazingly, a really good brewpub!
At Woodstock, we enjoyed the:
Pemi Pale Ale
Old Man Oatmeal Stout
Pig's Ear Brown Ale, and
Red Rack Ale, all for three nights in a row.
Then we drove north, through the park and up to Littleton to Franconia Notch Brewing Co., who's motto is, "New Hampshire's smallest brewery, New Hampshire's best beer." We got owner/brewer John Wolfenberger on the phone, and he was nice enough to invite us in for a quick tasting while he and a friend loaded up a truck for a party. We tasted the Grail Pale Ale, which was terrific, and bought growlers of that, the River Driver ale, a malty amber, and a Double Bock, which we haven't even tasted yet.
The next day, we headed to Conway in search of Tuckerman Brewing Company, which we eventually found on a small light industry road behind the Ham Arena. The place was vast compared to Franconia Notch Brewing, but though the loading dock was open, it took us a while to find anyone inside. Eventually we found a friendly guy who explained that the brewery had just moved from smaller quarters and wasn't reopened for visitors yet (maybe September). He did recommend a couple of places to get Tuckerman beer, though he noted that supply was limited due to the move. We eventually found the Tuckerman Pale Ale in a supermarket in Portsmouth. It's a clean ale with nice hop aroma.
We thought there was a brewery at Castle In The Clouds, according to a pamphlet we had from the New Hampshire Craft Brewers, but it turned out we were a couple years late. Still, it was a beautiful place, and a key 'Teddy Roosevelt slept here' site, but a letdown on the beer side. We saw several other people there decked out in beer shirts and hats who seemed to feel the same.
So we pressed on to Portsmouth, and found ourselves at the Portsmouth Brewery, a busy restaurant/brewpub downtown. Here, we got the best 'sampler' serving I've had at any brewpub--a paddle of ten good-sized glasses of everything on their menu--for $5.50 (I think)!
The ten beers included three from their sister brewery, Smuttynose Brewing Company, and in rough order from best to worst, they were:
Smuttynose Old Brown Dog--great balance
Black Cat Stout--loaded with roasted barley
Blueberry Ale-- surprisingly good for a fruity beer
Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale
IPA -- very hoppy -- Eliz didn't like it
Smuttynose Portsmouth Lager
Cream Ale
Weizenheimer
British Mild (Eliz: "like soy sauce")
Leffe Blonde
Good food too, and we got a deal on t-shirts.
Monday, August 30, 2004
8:37 PM
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