Hey folks, JT from Smuttynose here with a quick beer release update for you. Cluster's Last Stand is a recreation of one of the original American IPAs, as researched by Stone's Mitch Steele, (If you've read his wonderful book on IPAs, you've read about this recipe). We originally brewed 30 barrels of Cluster's a little over a year ago. It was delicious, but it seemed like the beer disappeared many people got try it. That's why we brewed it again and we brewed a lot more. We'll be releasing bottles of Cluster's at our Towle Farm brewery in Hampton, NH this Saturday, 9/6, at 11am, when we open. Shipments to our wholesalers in these states and countries will begin next week: CA, CT, DC, FL, GA, Germany, IL, IN, Italy, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, Puerto Rico, RI, SC, South Korea, Sweden, TN, United Kingdom, VA, VT, WI. The beer (8.3%, 62 IBUs) features a melange of Cluster's, Bullion, First Gold and East Kent Goldings and a deep copper color. We really appreciate Stone being up for another round of Cluster's! They're great folks to work with, if you ever get the chance. See you at the farm! JT
Hey JT, while I've got you here maybe you can answer a question for me. I recently picked up a couple six packs of less than three month old "Finest Kind," and it seemed much maltier than I remembered, and MUCH less hoppy. Has the recipe changed over years, or is it my palate? I just remember this beer being the hoppiest IPA I had experienced when I first discovered it about 10 years ago, more so than Stone IPA at the time. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Any hope for distribution in OR? Would love to try it. Of enough is coming, I may get a change on a future CA trip.
Great question, HelpMeBloody! It might be you and it might not be you. Can you describe the labels? That is the easiest indicator of which brewery the beer came from. Three months ago, we were in the middle of transitioning to our new brewery. Thanks, JT
Since this is a Smuttynose-brewed beer, Tony, none of it will legally make its way to Oregon, as we don't distribute there. The trading forums may be your best option, as our California distribution is limited to Orange County/LA and San Diego, right now. Cheers!
@JayT. Awesome because that would have sucked. My beer store just started getting in some of the big beer series this year and I have really enjoyed those that I have tried.
The big beers are beyond outstanding! Really old brown dog and Baltic porter are the best in their style, and Gravitation is one of my top five beers ever.
I'm sorry, but without concrete details it's hard to say what it was. On the other hand, everyone here at the mothership is really excited about Towle Farm-brewed Finestkind. Dave Yarrington, our Director of Brewing Ops, says it finally tastes like he wants it to. He's working on a blog post about the upgrades and changes at our new brewery. It'll be posted soon, once we figure out how our new blog works on smuttynose.com. Cheers!
Yep,bought the August 20th bottling of Finestkind yesterday and thought it was the best yet to come out of Towle Farm.Grapefruit blast that I love was back and way more prominent.Figured ya'll just need some time to dial in. Cheers.....
