Small Breweries, Hidden Gems.

We were very pleasantly surprised by the excellent food, superior service, and very good beer at Throwback Brewery in North Hampton, NH. It was a "wow - how many times did we drive by here" moment - Annette and Nicole deserve some love. Great story, solid philosophy.

I think Earth Eagle in Portsmouth qualifies - it is certainly hidden! The funky vibe, solid menu, and eclectic beers make it a fun stop.

Smug Brewing in Pawtucket, RI - formerly where the deceased Bucket Brewing brewed. Smug makes much better beer and has hooked up with food trucks that rotate thru. A little bitty brewery located in a corner basement of an old mill complex, but worth seeking out. People just seem to have fun at this place - cool vibe.

While they do have quite a few reviews and maybe stretch the criteria, I now think of Foundation as the hidden gem on the Industrial Way corner in Portland. I say "now" because when we first visited, they had the tiny, massively overcrowded taproom, no way to manage people flow, workers under duress, and the beers were OK. Likely that Foundation will always be overshadowed by Allagash and probably were by Bissell and a little by the Austin St. "mystique", but not strolling over to Foundation is a missed opportunity especially if you are already there anyway. They seem to have really hit full stride. Still sort of an "industrial" taproom/bar, but bigger than I remember now that Bissell Bros. has relocated. (Or maybe it just seems bigger with the hop junkies following Bissell...) Usually a food truck in the parking lot, so there's an alternative to the permanent truck at Allagash.

Good idea for a thread - with so many smaller outfits popping up, this should prove to be interesting and useful. I think the hidden gems are the best gems, regardless how you classify 'em.

 

I'll agree with most of your Throwback post. The brewery and property are gorgeous and the food is killer(I got the Bulgogi Bowl last time I was in), but of all the years I've been trying them, I've only been into a few of their beers. They always taste very unfinished and/or homebrew level, which doesn't make sense considering how long they've been open. I'd definitely visit more often if the beer was better.

My go-to the past few years has been Liar's Bench. Great food, dog-friendly beer garden during the summer, friendly staff, solid-to-great beer, not chasing hyped styles but brewing highly attenuated, super drinkable ales/lagers.

 

They may already be past the "hidden" criteria, but they are definitely not on everyone's radar.
Kettlehead in Tilton, NH. Great beer, interesting options and great food.
Schilling in Littleton, NH. Great beer, traditional European and their offshoot Resilience makes some great IPA and other ales. Location is beautiful, on a river, and the food is great. Taproom and restaurant next door to each other.

 

Was just at Schilling for the 2nd time recently. Love it there. I will say I think they have a knack for Gose. They somehow keep the quintessential tartness but avoid some of the acidic astringency that can sometimes come along with the tartness. Instead theirs is pillowy and soft.

 

Yeah, and I like how they add fruit to the base Poppy's Moonship. Always a compliment, not overshadowing the base brew. Fun to drink on their deck over the river when the weather is nice.

 

I'll jump on the Throwback bandwagon.

The beer is OK. Nothing spectacular. Its a fine pint.

However, the food is great (smoked bluefish tacos for the win), and the site of the brewery itself is lovely during the nice weather. Added bonus, there's a superb cheese shop just round the corner on Rt 1 called C'est Cheese.

 

River Roost in West Lebanon NH. Great stuff, kind of place we should all support (hard working owner and staff who went all in).

 

It is a great place, but its in White River Junction, VT. I wish I could claim them as a NH brewery!

 

And while they’re small, they’re not really “hidden”, they’re fairly well known.

They have their own thread in this forum (which says White River Junction in the title ).

 

If you are heading to Notch, it’s worth traveling over the bridge after to Channel Marker Brewing in Beverly-

These guys are killing it, easily the best ipas on the North Shore and the coffee porter they have is just about as good as it gets.


When I’m up there I’ll usually do Notch->Channel Marker->Old Planters-> Nicks Roast Beef

 

Given how many think they're in NH, perhaps they are quite hidden...

 

That was the first I ever heard of somebody thinking they were in NH. Heck, in the beer world most people forget that NH exists!

 

Been hearing good things about Lops from social media. It's possible to do a brewery hop between this and Ravenous also in Woonsocket, which has been around for awhile but although they have done a lot with a little as far as the building they lease, it is tough to cover that pig with lipstick. I just never think to go to Ravenous due to the rough comparison of their taproom to some others, but word is they are moving to Cumberland just off of I-295 in the near future. That should bring business up and my assumption is there will be more capacity to do so.

 

Buttonwoods brewing in Cranston, RI. Only got to try a couple of beers but both the DIPA (Double Edge Sword) and IPA (Free Stand) I had were very good. I would have liked to stay a bit and try others but I had to get moving. As for the space itself, it seems like they are doing what they can in a pretty beat up building (kinda dingy and musty), and I would guess maintaining a comfortable temperature becomes an issue in both warmer and colder months. But definitely worth checking out.

 

Figured I'd try to revive this zombie thread instead of starting a new one.

Went by Great Marsh today which I somehow missed any reference to here (I found a thread from a year or so ago that talked about it but can't find much since they opened in November). We were actually on our way to Ipswich and pulled in when we drove past it and wondered what the hell it was.

Space is amazing and, as mentioned in that older thread, some SERIOUS money was put into things. They have a full canning line and a huge, seemingly state of the art brewhouse ready to go (the bartender told us they were hoping to start canning in the next few weeks). Bar and seating areas are very nice with lots of huge windows looking out over the marshes. It was pretty full too which was surprising given the current situation (we were able to 'social distance' a bit at the downstairs bar thankfully).

They had an impressive array of things on tap and it was notable that they were really leaning into traditional brews rather than trendy ones. They had Kolsch, Helles, German Pils, a Whit, a Triple, Two brown ales, and a dry stout. The Pils was really good and the Kolsch and Helles were decent. The English brown ale was very tasty but a tad thin. They also had 3 NE IPAs on tap and the one I had was not really an NE IPA in any meaningful sense I could discern, but it was actually a damn tasty largely West Coast style DIPA.

Can't speak to the food beyond the fact that we had a pretty great cup of clam chowder. Pretty impressive overall for a 3 month old brewery that might have just been a sterile money pit with predictable and mediocre beer. I'm kind of surprised someone would bother to open such a large capacity operation these days when small and local seems to be where things are at, but I guess they figured "go big or go home". They definitely earned a return trip from us.

 

Hmm. The Untappd reviews are mediocre. I'll have to check the place out if I am in the area.

 

I don't really know how to interpret Untappd ratings since I don't use the site it but is a 3.5 rating for a place that does mostly traditionally beer that bad? Looks like Notch only gets a 3.7 and while I enjoyed my time there, they were no Notch, so adjust expectations accordingly

 

It is definitely extremely difficult to interpret ratings for styles other than pastry stouts, ipas, and fruited sours. I typically add 0.2 points for lagers.

 

2 brown ales?? What's more punk rock than that?