Portsmouth Brewery Announces A Change in Head Brewers

Update: Peter Egelston, president Smuttynose Brewing Company, followed-up on the below press release regarding Tod Mott's departure with the following blog post: Tod Mott - A Farewell and Appreciation.

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Portsmouth, NH (July 2012) - With a mixture of gratitude and sadness, The Portsmouth Brewery announces the resignation of Head Brewer and New England brewing legend, Tod Mott, effective July 19. At the same time we are excited to announce the return of Tyler Jones to The Portsmouth Brewery as its new Head Brewer.

When Tod began his eight and a half year tenure as Portsmouth's Head Brewer, he brought years of pub brewing experience, deep beer knowledge and an even larger amount of infectious passion for his craft, one of his strongest attributes. This latter trait was vital in creating the strong beer culture that now exists at the Portsmouth Brewery, arguably his most significant contribution during his time at the helm.

Beyond staff and customer education, another large component of the Mott-created focus on craft beer culture were his beers. One recipe he brought from a previous brewpub was a strong, dark imperial stout which became one of the most sought after beers in the world, thanks to rabid interest from the online craft beer community. While Tod brewed the beer, the staff at Portsmouth Brewery created the "Kate the Great" brand to include a large release event that incorporated gubernatorial proclamations, custom-printed scratch tickets and tens of thousands of dollars in donations to local and regional non-profits.

Many folks are curious about the future of this cult beer, so we'd like to be clear. Tod came into Portsmouth Brewery with the imperial stout recipe and he'll also leave with it; Portsmouth Brewery retains the rights to the intellectual property known as "Kate the Great," including the name and branding. Tod has plans to brew this beloved beer again, it'll just have a different name. At the time of writing this release, future plans for "Kate the Great" have yet to be decided by Portsmouth Brewery.

Tod also introduced a number of new beers to the Portsmouth Brewery repertoire, including one of New England's first wet-hopped Harvest Ales. He also won three Great American Beer Festival medals, oversaw improvements and upgrades to the brewing facilities and trained seven assistants who are all still gainfully employed in the brewing industry.

The entire family of Portsmouth Brewery would like to thank Tod heartily for eight and a half years of service, countless laughs and millions of delicious pints. We wish him and his family nothing but the best in the future.

For those of you who have been around Portsmouth Brewery over the last few years, it won't come as a great surprise that we've chosen Tyler Jones to be Portsmouth Brewery's next Head Brewer. For those of you that aren't as familiar, Tyler was Tod's assistant brewer for four years before moving across town for a brewing position at Smuttynose in December of 2011.

In addition to a brewing degree from University of California-Davis, Tyler has a great set of practical brewing skills, a long home brewing tenure, as well as an outgoing personality that's such a vital component of his new job. He also has an excellent beard. As Tyler comes on board, his initial game plan is to offer more Portsmouth Brewery beer on tap. With his plan to increase house-brewed offerings also comes a new focus on creativity. Tyler has already created several highly regarded beers for Portsmouth Brewery including "Gose", "Ginga Ninja" and "Berliner Weiss" which is currently on tap. The creative enterprise will extend to Tyler's assistants, Brian Routhier and Matt Tarpey. "They're talented brewers and I want them to feel a part of creating new beers," said Jones, "and we won't shy away from brewing an Imperial Stout either."

Mott's last day will be on July 19 and will include a torch passing ceremony and toast. Details will be announced on our Facebook page.

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