You've Got Some Smutty On Your Nose

Here we are in gorgeous Portland on this brisk SPRING morning.

We arrived here yesterday at the Smuttynose Brewery at 3PM just in time to take one of the two tours they offer on Fridays. We sampled some of their delicious fresh beer and then went on probably the most interactive and informative tour of a brewery we have even been on! There was boiling mash involved. The steam was actually in our faces. It doesn't get any realer than that people!

I would like to give a special shout out to my girl Stacey who recommended the Coat of Arms to us. We went to this British style pub for a delicious dinner, and after some shopping and stopping for a cocktail at Fat Belly's, we went back to the Coat of Arms, this time sitting at the bar where we had a fantastic bartender who taught us all about the difference between cask and tap beer and talked us through trying a pickled egg for the first time (which by the by was delicious).

Today we are off to the Red Hook Brewery for their noon tour, having lunch at the attached pub and then later in the afternoon visiting Flag Hill Winery in Lee, NH.

We have a bunch of photos to post as well as some special inside info about Smuttynose's NEW beer that is being bottled on Monday and is hitting NH stores next week, and Boston area stores the first week of April, as well as which current Smuttynose beer it is replacing (sorry Lager-lovers!)

Check back on Monday for photos of the breweries, some inside dish and our new words to live by spoken unto us by the sagest of advice givers, our bartender. We will also be having our first of many CONTESTS so get psyched.