Amber getting her first drink of Amber's Amber at The Music Hall (where she also moderated the panel following the Love of Beer movie.)

Last week, we subtly rolled out a new beer called Amber’s Amber – which is a Rye Pale Ale. We unveiled it at the Music Hall during the East Coast premier of the Love of Beer movie, and we had it on tap Saturday at the brewery as well.

For those of you that didn’t get to hear the story of how Amber’s Amber came into being, let me quickly fill you in and then describe the beer a bit.

This past August, local beer bloggers from 2Beerguys (Sean, Ryan, Amber, and Jennifer Jansen) and Seacoast Beverage Lab (Brian) attended a beer blogging conference in Portland, Oregon.  As part of that experience, they visited a nearby hop farm, where they have the distinct pleasure of breathing in all of the wonderful, flowery / citrusy aromas.  And, better yet, they were able to take home some bags of the Amarillo hops!

Shortly after they came home, Sean & Amber came by and gifted us these hops.  Annette and I felt very lucky, but also very touched that they thought to give them to us!

Fast forward 6 or so months, and Annette finally got a bit of breathing room to pull the hops out and make something yummy with them!  We knew we were going to use them in an amber-colored beer (as a way of saying thanks to the 2beerguys and the lovely Amber Jansen.) Also, since rye grows so well in this region, we decided add rye to the beer to give it some spiciness.  About 20% of the grain bill is malted rye.  For the beer nerds out there, Amber’s Amber clocks in at 5.2% ABV, 35 IBU.  It is dry hopped with amarillo and cascade hops.

The result is a nicely hopped up, beautiful amber-colored beer.  We think is tastes like love and friendship.  But, of course, you will have to let us know what you think!

Grandma Reese – Rockin' It

Since this is the start of Portsmouth Beer week, we thought we would celebrate by rolling out a new beer or two.  The first beer is called Oma’s Tribute, and it is a schwarzbier, or, in other words, a German-style black lager.  Oma’s Tribute has a beautiful rich, brown color with deep red undertones that appear when the beer is held up to the light.  Even though this beer is dark, it is very crisp, with a light, clean finish (making it very easy to drink .) The black malt used during the brewing process give this beer its dark color, and a slight roasty taste.  The hops are present in this beer, but definitely restrained compared to our Bohemian Pilsener.

Oma’s Tribute was inspired by my Grandma Reese, who passed away last year. Grandma meant the world to me, so I wanted to create a beer as a tribute to her memory.  The style (schwarzbier) and the name (Oma) was chosen to represent Grandma’s German heritage.

Grandma Reese had all the attributes one typically thinks of in a perfect Grandma – thoughtful, loving, proud of her grand (and great-grand) kids, and, of course, a great dessert maker!  But, she was also a lot more. She was full of energy, fun to hang out with (as evidenced in the pictures above and below), a great gardener, open-minded, and, perhaps best of all, she had a way of making everyone feel loved & special.  She inspired me to reach for my dreams and goals, and provided unconditional love & support along the way.

So, cheers to you, Grandma Reese!

Cheers to you, Grandma Reese!

NOTE – We have Sold Out!

Portsmouth Beer Week is coming up at the end of February / beginning of March, and there are some fabulous events going on!  We thought we would join in the fun and host an event of our own. After a bit of brainstorming, we decided to combine our love of beer & our love for all things local with our very deep love for chocolate & cheese. The result? A fun beer, cheese, and chocolate pairing event at the brewery!

We are still nailing down the specifics, but the event will include:
- Five samples of our beer (including a few special batches like Fat Alberta and our Raspberry Wit, along with a few of our flagship beers like Hog Happy Hefeweizen), paired with
- 1-oz samples of cheese from local creameries, and a few chocolate samples from local chocolatiers, plus
- An in-depth tour of the brewery with Annette Lee – our brewer.

Interested?  Here are the details -
When: Sunday, March 4th. Two sessions: 1pm – 2:30pm and 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm.
Where: Throwback Brewery – 121 Lafayette Road, #3 North Hampton, NH
How to join in the fun: Give us a call at 603-379-2317 to reserve your spot. Or email info@throwbackbrewery.com. Please be sure to let us know what session you will be attending. sorry, sold out.
Cost: 20 dollars – payment due when you show up for your session.

The sessions will be limited to 15 to 24 people.  So, if you are interested, please sign up soon!  It should be a lot of fun!

Both Annette and I will be there to talk about the brewery, the beers, and to perhaps give away a prize or two.  The festivities start at 5pm.. we wanted to get going a bit early so that those of us driving from the seacoast can get back home at a reasonable time.

The cost for the dinner is 70 dollars per person, and this includes tax and gratuity.  This is actually a great deal considering it is five courses and five drinks. Assuming you tip 20%, the food & drink cost per person is 53.50, which seems reasonable for that amount of food & drink at a nice restaurant.

So if you are looking for something to do the week before the super bowl, please come join us!  To make reservations, contact the Firefly at 603.935.9740.  There are only a limited number of seats, so if you are interested in going, it would be best to call soon.

This beer is somewhat nostalgic for us, as it is the first beer that Annette and I ever homebrewed together (about 10+ years ago.)  We named the beer after Cyrano Lee (picture above), who was also know as Nosie for his rather large nose and his predilection for being very, very nosy.  One day many years ago, Cyrano decided to eat an Oatmeal bath mix of one of Annette’s roommates.  He must have rather enjoyed the taste, since he joyfully ground the bath mix into the carpet, where it remained for several weeks despite several focused attempts at cleaning the mess.  We decided to name the beer after Nosie and his love for oatmeal!

Nosie had no regrets about eating the oatmeal bath, or in fact anything else mischievous he got into.  He loved to eat, loved to play, and loved to love.  Here is hoping that each of you spends your holiday a little bit like Nosie lived- surrounded by good friends, good food, and good fun!

Here are four of the six beers we plan to make:

• Wake Robin Farm Chocolate Ginger Stout
• White Heron Chai Porter
• Meadow’s Mirth Fennel Flower Stout
• Brookford Farm Hidatsa Squash Porter

We will be announcing the remaining two beers once we finish some testing.  While we can’t tell you exactly what they are now, we can tell you that all the beers will be made with the freshest of local ingredients we can find, and will have just the right balance of flavor and drinkability. And, I can also tell you, that we are experimenting with the extra tasty bacon from New Roots Farm with one of our existing porters.  We also are still tinkering with the bourbon barrel.

Hopefully now, you are thinking, “Yum.  How do I get me some of that beer?”  Well, here is what we plan to do.  Given that these batches are going to be limited in size, we’re going to try a new approach and issue Unafraid of the Dark “beer cards”. We’ll sell two sizes – full subscription and half subscription.  A full subscription is equivalent to a full growler (or two half growlers, what we lovingly refer to as “growlettes”.)  The half subscription is a half growler.  The benefit to getting a card is that you’ll have first access to the brews as they are released – just stop by the brewery during growler hours with your growler/card and we’ll fill it up for you. Not only do you guarantee yourself some delicious dark beer, but you get a nice discount by getting the card in advance!   Since you’ve given us so much love over the past few months, we wanted to give some back!

To order your card, either stop by the brewery during growler hours or give us a call at (603) 379-2317.  Have questions about the Unafraid of the Dark card?  Hopefully the following FAQs will help…

How much do the cards cost and where can I buy one? We will start selling the cards on November 20th.  A full subscription card is $75 and the half subscription is $40. You can either buy one at the brewery or give us a call and we can take your information over the phone.  The full subscription is over a 10% discount compared to buying each beer individually.  The half subscription is about a 5% discount.  Please note that the cards do not include the cost of the growler.

What is a growler and how big are they? A growler is a large glass bottle used to transport draft beer. Our full size growlers are 2 liters, which is about 68 ounces, or just slightly over 4 pints of beer. A half growler (growlette) is about about 2 pints (32 oz.). Since our growlers have flip top closures, unopened they will keep carbonated and tasty for at least several months. Once opened, the carbonation level will depend on how much of the beer you leave in the bottle.  If you slowly drink a growler over a week or two, you might find the fourth and final pint to be not so carbonated, but we find the beer usually doesn’t stick around that long!

Is the cost of the growler included in the price of the card? Since so many of our customers already have a Throwback Brewery growler (or two!), we decided not to include them in the price of the card. If you would like to purchase one, a growler is $13 and a half growler is $6. They are custom screened just for us with the Throwback logo and have re-sealable flip tops to keep beer fresh. We have plenty on hand, so just stop by the brewery or pick one up when you come for your first fill!

What if I don’t think I will like one of the six beers, could I swap it for another one? If for some reason you don’t like a beer, you could swap out one of the beers for another beer we have on tap (that is the same price or less), as an even exchange.

Can I get more than one growler fill of a specific beer? These are small, limited release batches, so once they’re gone, they’re gone. However, if we have enough beer to satisfy the allotted cardholders and then some, you’re welcome to purchase another growler / half growler. Growlers fills are $14 and half growlers are $7.

Can I buy the card as a gift for someone else? Yes!  We think that is a wonderful idea!

For those of you not familiar with Fat Alberta, it is our “dessert beer” – a divinely yummy chocolate peanut butter imperial stout.  We are releasing this beer in 22-oz bottles, which are definitely meant to be shared with a friend (or two), as the beer weighs in at about 10% alcohol!

Given that a beer like Fat Alberta was not meant to be served in a full pint glass, we purchased some pretty cute 12-oz tulip glasses for the occasion.  We will have these available for sale starting on the 20th as well.

Also, just to give everyone a heads up, on November 20th, we will limit the number of bottles of Fat Alberta to two a person.  Why are we doing this?  Well, we get asked about this beer all the time, so there appears to be a fair amount of interest.  Since there are only about 400 bottles in this first release, we wanted to spread out the Fat Alberta love.

Of course if there are still bottles left after Sunday, they will be available next time we are open.

The bottles will be 15 dollars each.  We think this a fair price given the amount of time and ingredients required to brew the beer.  It needs to occupy one of our fermenters for over a month, and, given the amount of grain used in each batch, we only get about half of a typical batch when we brew it.  So a lot of time and love goes into this beer, and we think that you will be able to taste that!

So, to recap – Sunday, November 20th, we will be open 10 am to 1 pm for the first release of Fat Alberta.  It also happens to be Annette’s birthday, so if you do stop by, feel free to wish her a happy bday.  We’ll have some Fat Alberta cake to celebrate both!

Hope to see you there.

–Nicole

1- First, our tasty Stout #3 will be on tap at the Gaslight.  Eric at the Gaslight will have some fantastic stouts on tap, including some high alcohol / very tasty beers like Victory’s Storm King Stout, Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout, and North Coast’s Old Rasputin (an imperial stout.)  We are thrilled to be part of this killer lineup!

2- Many of you have seen the following picture that I posted of Annette on Facebook filling the bourbon barrel.  I erroneously said that she filled it with the Maple-Kissed Wheat Porter, when in fact she filled it with Stout #3!!  (Annette did originally want to fill it with the porter, and I assume we will try that next, but our friend Rich and myself thought the straight up  stout would allow the complex and fruity flavors of the barrel to shine through the best.)  On International Stout Day, we will have this lovely bourbon barrel Stout #3 on tap at our brewery during Growler Hours.  Come by and try it!

3- No post on International Stout Day would be complete without us letting you know when we will sell our first bottles of Fat Alberta.  We have picked November 20th (Annette’s birthday!) to release Fat Alberta at the brewery.  We will let you know exact details soon, but save the date for now!

That being said, it probably comes as no surprise to you that Annette and I have been anxiously waiting and dreaming about our first Beer / Food pairing dinner.  Well, I am excited to say, we have a date – October 19th – and an amazing menu from our good friends at the Blue Mermaid!

We couldn’t be happier with the menu.  All Scott (from the Blue Mermaid) had to tell me was ‘cheesy grits’, and I was sold !  Actually, I am looking forward to every course, but most interested in the food made with our beer.. like the pork braised with dippity do and the ice cream with the dippity do swirl!

We really hope that you can join us on October 19th!  I can guarantee that it will be a very awesome time!  Please call the Blue Mermaid to make reservations.  I am not sure if this will sell out early or not, so if you are interested, I suggest calling sooner rather than later.

For details, see below->

Throwback Brewery Beer Dinner with Blue Mermaid

1- Our labels are being printed later this week!  Yea!  What this means is that our 22-oz bottles should start appearing beginning this weekend!  We will first bottle Dippity Do and Hog Happy Hef.  Next week we will start bottling the Maple-Kissed Wheat Porter.  If you come to the brewery and you don’t own a Throwback Brewery growler to fill, you can take home bottles instead.  You should also see our bottles rolling out to select package stores at around the same time.

2- We have a new, smaller growler coming in time for the tasting hours on Thursday, September 8th!  These new growlers are very cute 32 oz flip-tops (approx. 1/2 the size of our original growler), so we decided to give them a name – “growlettes”.   We love these new bottles.  They are slim enough so that you can fit several into your fridge without requiring displacement of core food items (although we think beer is a core food item ). Given their size, the growlettes will allow you to more easily bring home multiple varieties of beer at a time.  And, finally, for folks intimated about buying 4+ pints of beer at a time, the growlette seems much more manageable at 2 pints.

The cost to fill the growlette will be ½ the cost of filling a growler.  Here is a generic mock-up of what the growlette will look like:

Growlettes are sexy, too!

3- Our growler supplier didn’t send us enough flip tops for our original growlers, so we still have about 4-6 growlers that are good to go once we get the tops.  Hopefully we can sell those to interested customers very shortly!

4- I guess the last bit of good news is that you guys seem to like our beer, which makes us super happy!  Thanks so much to everyone for the amazing support and the great feedback.  Although the growlers are gone for now, we will continue to make fresh, local, and yummy beer and fill as many Throwback bottles, growlers, kegs, and growlettes as we can!