Smuttynose Brewing Co - Hampton, NH

On our drive up to Maine, our next stop was the famous Smuttynose Brewing Company.  Looking fresh and new they apparently had been remodeling the brewery and opening it up for tours.  We arrive mid afternoon on a Sunday and were told the only way you can drink is if you go on the tour, the last tour was 4 and I believe it was roughly 3:30. We decided to stick around.

They have a really cool gift shop with lots of fun merchandise including the Smuttynose mascot hand puppet. You also can get your picture taken with the famous Finestkind IPA cover.

Our tour guide came to get us, a very nice young girl, and we were the only people on the entire tour. Being the last tour of the day, we stressed we wouldn't mind a quicker tour so we can get to the tasting and to our next brewery.  She told us some history, showed us the brewing and canning process and took our picture in front of more Smuttynose beer than you can imagine.

Then came the tasting! After the tour you are given 3 free samples...or maybe 4 I forgot? Between the 3 of us we tried just about all of them and I will say their beer was pretty damn good! I have had it out of bottles over the past year here and there and thought it was horrible.  But go straight the source and enjoy it fresh.  We even were graced by the owner who looked like he was working hard and he came down for a refill.  He was really polite and we talked for awhile..including their plans to expand the property even more with a restaurant, taproom, and even turning that old nasty trailer from the Finestkind IPA cover into a little service bar in a bier garden.

Keep up the good work Smuttynose! Hope to visit you again one day when the final renovations are all done. Check out their site for tour info...smuttynose.com/

Blue Lobster Brewing Co - Hampton, NH

On our day up the coast from Boston to Portland, ME we made a few brewery stops. First stop was at the Blue Lobster Brewing Co in Hampton, NH. Located in a plaza and kind of hidden in the corner, this was a hidden gem.  Not a huge place, but very clean inside. A nice nautical theme to the decor and the merchandise had a few different things to choose from.

We sat the bar along with a group of others. In no time, we had started discussing our trip and the beer with everyone there including the married couple behind the bar who also happen to own the place.  They were extremely polite. We got a sampler of all the beers, which also...excuse my ignorance here because I am not quite sure about this..but included a beer in which we choose from 3 syrups to add into the beer for an added flavor. We tried one flavor, then dropped all 3 flavors in and it tasted like Trix cereal..not a horrible thing. Among the beers was a stout, a rye, an IPA, a Belgian triple, and a couple others I cannot recall.  I do not remember any of them blowing me away...BUT they were all tasty and at a lot of breweries there is always a few samples I could go without.  These were all good!

Please go support them if you're anywhere in the area! I see they are starting to bottle which is nice.  Check out their Facebook for hours and location..https://www.facebook.com/BlueLobsterBrew