Smuttynose Brewing Brings Home The Gold From Denver
Portsmouth, NH – If 2011 were an ice cream sundae for Smuttynose Brewing Company, then the team at the Portsmouth, NH-based brewery might have just gotten the cherry to top it all off.
With production volumes at more than double their expectations, a new brewery getting closer to construction and yet another expansion about to begin at their current plant, the Smuttynose crew already has a lot to be excited about.
But at this Saturday’s Great American Beer Festival awards ceremony in Denver, CO, Smuttynose took home the gold medal in the “Other Strong Beer” category for its Wheat Wine Ale.
The win which took place at the 30th edition of the festival, had an air familiarity to it, as the same beer won the gold medal in same category in 2005. “Wheat Wine has won quite a few medals for us, both at home and abroad” said David Yarrington, Director of Brewing Operations, “We love winning medals, but it’s especially sweet to win such a prestigious award for the second time.” The beer itself, a unique hybridization of a traditional barleywine and an American wheat ale, is aged on oak chips and dry-hops to compliment its rich toffee/caramel flavor, full body and warming strength.
As part of the Big Beer Series of limited releases, Wheat Wine Ale was last bottled in December of 2010. While it’s not slated to be brewed in 2011, the medal win certainly makes it seem likely that the beer will return to the line-up for 2012.
This year’s Great American Beer Festival entries were the first from Smuttynose since 2006. They definitely will be back next, says Yarrington, “medals are like beers, two are great, but why not have a third?”
Smuttynose Brewing Company is New Hampshire’s leading craft brewery. Independently owned since its opening in 1994, Smuttynose brews over 20 different styles of beer for distribution in 19 different states, including their best selling Finestkind IPA and international award-winners Robust Porter, Wheat Wine Ale and Big A IPA. In 2010, our 31 employees worked together to brew, package and sell nearly 30,000 barrels or 1,000,000 gallons of all-natural, unfiltered, honest-to-goodness beer from its Portsmouth brewery. Smuttynose is currently finalizing plans for a new production facility which will be built on a 14 acre farm in Hampton, NH.
The Great American Beer Festival, “the Super Bowl of Beer Festivals” celebrated it’s 30th Anniversary in 2011 and is the premier U.S. beer festival. This year’s event served over 2,400 different beers from an estimated 465 U.S. breweries to the event’s 49,000-plus attendees. The entire event sold out in just one week. The Festival takes place annually in Denver, Colorado
