Portsmouth, NH beercation

If you get here Friday, hit up Stoneface Brewing in Newington before heading into Portsmouth. They're open 5-7 for tasters and growlers, and their IPA is outstanding. As for good drafts in Portsmouth, I would recommend Portsmouth Brewery and their next door neighbor The Gas Light Company. For live music and good beer: The Press Room or The Blue Mermaid. But the best food and draft beer combo lies a short walk across the Memorial Bridge in Kittery: The Black Birch. Hope you have a great trip. Cheers!

 

I second the black birch, I'm a fan. Also if you head down route 1 there is whym which usually has a good selection and no crowds. And if you head towards whym you should keep going to throwback brewery. Their beer tastes a lot better straight from the brewery IMO. There is also a rum distillery near throwback if you like rum. I do not so I can't comment on the quality.

Edit: I forgot to second the portsmouth brewery, also a fan of them. And if you are coming up here you might as well stop at blue lobster in hampton for samples and grab a pint from earth eagle brewery. Both can be hit or miss but they are worth trying.

 

Have to agree on Black Birch - one of the best restos I've been to in ME. If not there, then When Pigs Fly Pizzeria close by - also a has a great taplist. We did a weekend brewery (not taproom crawl) in March and enjoyed Earth Eagle for it's unique gruit-inspired styles; Smuttynose (was at the new place at Towle Farm in Hampton last Friday - gorgeous and grand opening is 5/31), Portsmouth Brewery with its Smutty flagships and house pilot brews, and tiny Throwback. We did have lunch at WHYM which has a good taplist and light fare.

 

I'm also heading up to Portsmouth this weekend for my anniversary with my wife. I will (third? fourth) the Portsmouth Brewery. This place helped spearhead my involvement in and appreciation of craft beer and will be a place I stop in whenever I'm in Portsmouth.

Also, Smuttynose is, I think, a bit overlooked for it's ubiquity. When I'm in Portsmouth, I generally find it on tap, and consume it in mass quantities. Maybe it's a bit of an ideal notion, but I like the think there's something special about a keg of beer that didn't have to travel very far to find a tap.

 

Check out WHYM's first anniversary party https://www.facebook.com/events/647136945366548/ they'll be tapping KBS at 5 PM and $3.65 drafts starting at 11 for 365 minutes.

 

I like The Coat of Arms. Local casks, bangers, mash, darts and pinball. I always have a good time there. The thirsty moose can be good as well. The food isn't the draw, but they do get some winners on draft. The Redhook brewery tour is worth doing imo. Not the beer geek mecca by any means, but the tour is fun, and the pub has some good pilot batches and great potato chips.

 

If you are in Portsmouth I would go to Earth Eagle , interesting little place which does gruits and ipas mostly

 

A lot of this has already been said, but I highly recommend visiting the Portsmouth Brewery and Earth Eagle, which are practically neighbors downtown. Now that Earth Eagle serves pints (and half-pints, as well as food), it's a great place to hang out and enjoy some unusual beers. And no visit to Portsmouth is complete without a visit to the Portsmouth Brewery. It shouldn't be too hard to find some unusual and interesting Smuttynose offerings on-tap around town. Among my favorite bars/restaurants in the city are the Press Room, for its excellent, laid-back, old-school vibe, the Blue Mermaid for its seafood and beer, and the Flatbread Company for its pizza and beer. I've also come around the Coat of Arms in the past couple years now that they always offer at least a couple local beers on cask. The Black Trumpet is higher-end, but excellent when it comes to food and usually has something from Smuttynose, Throwback or another local brewery on-tap.

I'd also recommend crossing the Memorial Bridge (an easy walk from downtown in pleasant weather) into Kittery and checking out the Black Birch, was has some amazing and very reasonably priced food and the best (non-brewery) beer list on the Seacoast. You could also drive up to Dover to check out 7th Settlement, a solid, new-ish brewpub in an old mill there. I've only been to Whym once, and I really enjoyed it, but it's a bit of a hike from downtown. Throwback doesn't serve pints, but their taproom is still a fun place to have some samples and fill a growler. I haven't made it to Stoneface yet, but I've had their beer around town, and loved it.

Portsmouth is really a great town, and I'm sure you'll have a blast with no shortage of good beer. Enjoy the visit.

 

If you're coming up this weekend then WHYM on Route 1 is a must Friday night, as they are tapping some great kegs for their 1st anniversary. Just cab it to be smart. Earth Eagle is a cool little place downtown worth checking out as well - if you can find it, you're cool enough to drink there ;-). When Pigs Fly in Kittery has a solid draft list, but it is a tourist magnet, so be prepared for crowds. As for bottles, there is a Craft Beer Cellar a mile's walk from downtown, but no trip to Portsmouth is complete without a walk over to Gary's Beverage to stroll the sticky aisles and wipe dust from mysterious six packs. No lie, it's sketchy, but you're bound to find something you like at a very fair price. We locals poke around the back room like we own the place. You should too.

 

I just returned from a quick weekend trip to Portsmouth and thought I'd update this thread with my experience:

• Earth Eagle is awesome. They were pouring 4 interesting gruits, one very solid IPA, and a crazy "**** ale," brewed with cooked chickens. Friendly staff, funky space, and good beers. Recommended.
• My first-ever visit to Portsmouth Brewing was a letdown, maybe because we'd been sampling some really interesting offerings at Earth Eagle earlier in the day or perhaps we just chose our beers poorly (the Portsmouth Pale and the White Lightning IPA). Regardless, it just didn't do much for either of us.
  
• The Coat of Arms was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. The draft list is small (mainly UK beers), but they had three local cask cales pouring, which is great news for NERAX fans. The bartender said he's hoping to get to a point where they have up to five casks pouring at any given time.
  
• For bottles, we walked across the bridge and found a good selection of bottles at Gary's Beverage in Kittery.
• The shocker was walking a bit further up Route 1 to the 7 Eleven (169 State Rd., Kittery), which is owned by a bona fide beer geek. Check their Facebook page to get a sampling of what they offer. We picked up a couple of bottles from SoMe Brewing (York, ME). Craft beer at a 7 Eleven. Seriously. But it's great, and now I can say that I've recommended a 7 Eleven for more than just diabetes (Big Gulp soda sizes).

 

@huuvola great updates here and thanks for the info on 7 Eleven. Never would have guess that, but we're up there fairly frequently. I'm glad I know now.

My Portsmouth trip wasn't as extensive, as I was up for my anniversary, not a bar hopping event. But I did go to the brewery. I got a sampler paddle. I didn't mind the Portsmouth Pale (but you're right about the White Lightning. Not very good), but I opted for a full pint of the oatmeal stout, which was a nice low ABV offering.

I was happy that DFH 60 Minute was on tap where we ate (Wellington Room) and happy to see a Smuttynose beer on too.

 

These were our thoughts exactly last year in regards to earth eagle, coat of arms and earth eagle. I've never been as let down by a place as we were at Portsmouth brewery. Beers were ho-hum and the food and service were awful. My wife ordered mussels and 3/4 were dead. I ordered fish and it was raw. Earth eagle and coat of arms easily stole the show.

 

I was in Portsmouth this weekend, and stopped by the brewery for a mid-afternoon sampler and a pint. I agree that the White Lightning was not my cup of tea, but I really enjoyed the Portsmouth Pale on cask, which I order a pint of, and the Whippersnapper IPA, which I had in the sampler. Among my other favorites in the sampler was the oatmeal stout--it's among my favorite examples of the style when they have it on.

As for Earth Eagle and the Coat of Arms, I couldn't agree more. Earth Eagle is brewing some really out-there stuff, and doing a good job at it. And the Coat of Arms has gone from being a bar that I avoided due to its lack of anything local-ish except Shipyard to being one of my favorite places in town--totally unpretentious with the best cask lineup in the state (and among the best in New England).

As to the beer store in Kittery, I'm assuming you meant Karl's Meat Market? That's not far over the bridge into Kittery, but Gary's is definitely in Portsmouth.

 

woah I just looked at that 7-eleven facebook page, I can tell you our local store is not like that. It may become a regular stop. I am definitely adding it to my facebook list.

 

I work two seconds from there and have never been in, will take a look today

 

D'oh! I totally meant Carl's Meat Market in Kittery. I pasted the wrong name and link from my notes. Thanks!

We did also stop by Gary's in Portsmouth, but that was after Kittery so we didn't find anything we were super excited about.

 

lol That 7-Eleven is still pretty legit though, they were the first to carry SoME Brewing bottles and they happen to get some rare stuff on occasion.

 

Huh. We eat there for lunch every year on the way up to Maine and we love it.

 

Agree with @maisupapolice14 on Portsmouth Brewery even though I want to like it. There are other places with better beer and food.