Smuttynose Brewing Company - Smuttynose White Ale

White Ale, or witbier, is one of the unique beer styles originating in Belgium, a country famous for its diverse and flavorful beers. Brewed with a combination of malted barley, wheat and oats, this traditional style is characterized by its hazy appearance (from which it derives its name) and complex flavors, owing in part to the use of whole crushed coriander and curaçao orange peel, which are used during the brewing process.

Smuttynose Belgian Style White Ale is brewed in the authentic manner. Since it is an unfiltered beer, is has a hazy appearance due to the suspended yeast, as well as the use of raw, unmalted wheat in the grist. This is a light-bodied, effervescent ale that is both delicious and refreshing. A spicy Tettnanger hop nose leads to a beguiling combination of tangy fruit matched by a subtle touch of honey sweetness on the finish. While not for the purists, many people enjoy this beer with a slice of lemon.

Peter Egelston, the owner and founder of Smuttynose is quite well known in the New England brewing community. Not only did he start one of the original New England brewpubs, but also has succeeded in opening a second brewpub, a brewery, and one of the most well attended beer festivals in the Northeast.

His beer career started in 1986 when his sister Janet and her boyfriend Mark convinced Peter to quite his teaching job in Brooklyn, New York and move to Massachusetts to open a brewpub. Peter stayed in Massachusetts until 1991, at which point he opened New Hampshire's first brewpub, the Portsmouth Brewery. With two successful brewpubs under his belt, Peter was ready open his first brewery.

In 1994 Peter opened Smuttynose Brewing, which is also located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The brewery was built on the ruins of the Frank Jones Brewing Company, a brewery that opened in 1992 and went out of business a year later.

Peter chose to name the brewery after Smuttynose Island, one of the isles of Shoals, which lie nine miles off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Legend has it that mariners in the 1600s named the island for the dark seaweed-covered rock ledge that juts out from one end of the island. For over three centuries, poets, pirates and fishermen have called the Isles of Shoals home.

First introduced in 1999 as the summer edition of their Big Beer Series, it proved to be so popular that they recently released in it six-packs and increased production.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (603) 436-4026 or check out their web site at www.smuttynose.com.