Back when our pal Mitch Steele from Stone Brewing was working on his book,
“IPA:
Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale” I had the opportunity to speak with Mitch and even have a tiny part in the book. This book featured historic IPA recipes that always sounded amazing, but many of these beers, ingredients and techniques make them unavailable….that is until today.
Portsmouth New Hampshire was long considered the home of America’s First IPA as the original Frank Jones Brewery created this new style many years ago. Jump forward to 1994 and the owners of the Portsmouth Brewery & Northampton Brewery purchased the assets of Frank Jones Brewery and started Smuttynose Brewery. This interesting connection of Smuttynose & Frank Jones Brewery with our pal Mitch Steele and his IPA recipe work made for the perfect IPA storm…and in Jan 2013 the guys set out to create a historical IPA.
With the Frank Jones IPA recipe still missing, the recipe they decided to use would come from an early Ballantine IPA recipe. A test batch was brewed with Mitch and the results led to a full 30bbl batch brewed at Smuttynose with Stone Brewing’s Greg Koch in June…and of course that was todays’ show beer. 
Cluster’s Last Stand pays tribute to historic IPA’s that originated on the east coast and to a forgotten hop….Cluster. The name is a play on the brief resurgence in the Cluster hop for this beer, however if you get to sample this beer, you may vote to bring Cluster into more mainstream IPA’s. This beer is significant not just in it’s historical roots, but the fact that this beer is creating history as Smuttynose’s First ever Co-Brewed beer.
Our guest today was Smuttynose Director of Brewing Operations David Yarrington, the very man who had his hands on the controls with Greg Koch as Cluster’s Last Stand was brewed in June. David was nice enough to not only give us some insight on this new brew, but also some exciting details on the new Smuttynose Dream Brewery at Towle Farms. I’ll be very excited to see this new facility progress and see the 100hl new brewhouse fired up in the future. 
David also walked us through a sampling of Smuttynose Finestkind IPA and once and for all explained who the guys on the label are. As if all that wasn’t enough, David also revealed how Smuttynose Brewery got its name and logo. I didn’t realize the brewery is named after Smuttynose Island off the shore of New Hampshire and the logo is a harbor seal native to that island. Of course in Friday BeerBuzz tradition we also tried to pry some details out of David on upcoming Big Beer & Short Batch Series Beers. 
If you can get your hands on some Cluster’s Last Stand, be sure to taste this historical brew. If not, be sure to check out Finestkind IPA or any of Smuttynose’s great year-round and specialty brews.
Thank you to David Yarrington from Smuttynose Brewery, Nancy, John & Joe for yet another
fun Friday.
The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together.As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE.
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That is one formidable collaboration, Smuttynose meets Stone and the result is Cluster's Last Stand!
ReplyDeleteI hope you can find a bottle to call your own!
I would also suggest you give Finestkind IPA a whirl. Those two guys on the label like it and that's good enough for me! lol
Thanks to David Yarrington from Smuttynose for being on the show today, thanks always to Bill from MyBeerBuzz.com for his hard work and dedication to making a great and fun FBB every week, and as always, thank you for listening!
Best,
John
webster@wilknewsradio.com
It was a fine show today. I buy their Shoals Pale all all the time so it was interesting to hear the story behind the brewery and the beers. Tom
ReplyDeleteYou guys are lucky to get the Clusters Last Stand. I tried but I could not get some. I will get me some Finest Kind IPA today! Jeremy
ReplyDeleteNow I know how they got the name. Like Bill said I thought it was something else to do with Smut. Jaared
ReplyDeleteGreat show buzzers. Smuttynose is one of my favorite beers and I didn't know about the new brewery. Chucky
ReplyDeleteIf I counted how many times I have raised a Finest Kind IPA bottle and wondered who those guys were, it would number in the hundreds. Cheers to David for answering the age old question of the Geezers. Nice... Eric
ReplyDeleteI buy the variety pack from Smuttynose when I see it but I haven't tried their IPA. I like hoppy beers so I'll be hitting up Georgetown today. RyanW
ReplyDeleteI visited Portsmouth last summer and I think I may have met David Yarrington. Nice guy and a really good spokesman for the beer. Cheers David!
ReplyDeleteAmy
I have more Smuttynose T Shirts than anyone and I never knew where the name or logo f the seal came from. Good Deal WILK!
ReplyDeleteChris
Today was another great beer and really rare too. I like Smuttynose so I will toast you guys tonight with one. Hare!
ReplyDeleteDid you save a drop for me?
ReplyDeleteSorry Anon....we loved it too much to save even a drop! ;)
ReplyDeleteToo cool hearing my favorite beer on the radio today. Now I must venture north to find some Clusters Last Stand tooo!
ReplyDeleteThom
I love the Geezers!
ReplyDeleteI want a photo with the geezers. Mary
ReplyDeleteThis was a really fun show today on WILK. I like hoppy beers so I'll have to try this one. I always like hearing the personalities of the guys that brew them. When they are fun on the radio I think their beers are probably fun too. David was fun so I'll bet his beer is good. Cheers! ken j
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to try Fines Kind IPA tonight. Yen
ReplyDeleteI listen every week to the show. I liked this week's guest but you always have some amazing people on. I really like Smuttynose but I had no idea where the name comes from. Thank you, Jen
ReplyDeleteHi guys. I had no idea Smuttynose and Stone did a co-brew. Nice catch getting it on the show! I think the name is fantastic now that I hear the story. Benji
ReplyDeleteI wasn't thinking Smuttynose was an island but now it makes sense. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone, and thank you to David Yarrington from Smuttynose for joining us today and for sending up a rare bottle of Cluster's Last Stand. We had a great time sampling today and I really enjoyed both beers.
ReplyDelete