Sorry for the Delay

Sorry for the delay in the postings, but things have been busy up here at Pennichuck.

To start with I was down in Brooklyn and Manhattan last week for a beer dinner and to meet various folks in the industry down there. It is part of a push to get us on the board in NYC. Everything went excellent! The people I got to meet were very receptive to Pennichuck, most had heard of us and were chomping at the bit to get some kegs. A number of bars had us in bottles already. So it was a good thing. The beer dinner was another fabulous event, the food paired very nicely with the beers. Thanks to Jay and Erica for putting it on.

Meanwhile, up here at the brewery, things have been busy as well. We packaged off the Pompier Barley Wine Style Ale, in both kegs and bottles. So look for that soon. We also just filtered the BackDraft Porter, and it tastes great! Looking forward to getting that out to the public soon.

On another note, for those who come by the brewery for their weekend growler fills. We will be closed on Friday, so we can take a long weekend for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Cheers,

Damase

Higgins Armory

The Higgins Armory festival was fantastic! Thanks to Scott, Crystal and Audrey for their help in pouring Pennichuck. We always appreciate our friends helping out at the festivals.
For those of you who were unable to make it (the festival sold out with about 425 folks enjoying some excellent beers) I thought I'd give you a run down. We were pouring Halligan, Fireman's Pail and two of our gold medal beers Feuerwehrmann and The Big O. Other breweries I was about to sample were Berkshire Brewing, Gardner Ale House, Honest Town, Wachusett and Dogfish Head. There were many others there, but when I am working I do not get much of a chance to sample all of the wares. The festival itself was held in the museum, so while sampling beers you are able to look at the exhibits of armor, and weapons from the past. Good time had by all. I'll post when the spring festival will be, sign up to tickets early because I am sure that festival will sell out as well.
This week we are packaging the Pompier Barley Wine Style Ale, both kegs and bottles. As I mentioned previously I will be heading down to NYC this week to meet accounts and participate in a beer dinner. Hope to see some of you down there for that.

Cheers,

Damase

Results of the GIBF

2008 GIBF Competition Winner's List

GREAT INTERNATIONAL BEER COMPETITION
NOVEMBER 7, 2008
PROVIDENCE, RI

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The 12th Annual Great International Beer Competition was held on Friday, November 7, 2007, in Providence, Rhode Island, one day before the 15th Annual Great International Beer Festival. Festivals of America produced both events. New England beer newspaper Yankee Brew News was the media sponsor of the competition.

One hundred eighty-seven beers from 39 breweries representing 10 states entered the competition. Forty-five professional brewers and beer industry journalists acted as judges in a blind tasting format. First, second and third place awards were presented in 17 categories of ales and lagers. The judges knew only the style and subcategory of each beer.

Since the competition began in 1997, over 1,800 beers have been judged. The awards were presented during the afternoon session of the beer festival, announced by Yankee Brew News editor Gregg Glaser. On the floor of the festival, held at the Rhode Island Convention Center, 7,500 beer lovers were able to sample over 250 beers from approximately 100 breweries.

The 13th Annual Great International Beer Competition and the 16th Annual Great International Beer Festival will take place on November 13-14, 2009, in Providence. In addition, a spring beer festival will take place on May 2, 2009, in Providence. Details are available at www.beerfestamerica.com.

WINNERS

WHEAT BEER
1) Cape Cod Dunkel Weizen, Cape Cod Beer, Hyannis, MA
2) Blue Moon Belgian White Ale, Coors Brewing, Golden, CO
3) In Heat Wheat, Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD

LIGHT ALE
1) Copper Hill Kölsch, Cambridge Brew House, Granby & Torrington, CT
2) Haverale, Haverhill Brewery/The TAP, Haverhill, MA
3) Certified Gold, Willimantic Brewing/Main Street Café, Willimantic, CT

ENGLISH PALE ALE/BITTER
1) Samuel Adams Pale Ale, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
2) Whistling Pig Red Ale, Jasper Murdock's Alehouse/Norwich Inn, Norwich, VT
3) Mayflower Pale Ale, Mayflower Brewing, Plymouth, MA

AMERICAN PALE ALE
1) Mojo IPA, Boulder Beer Co., Boulder, CO
2) Long Hammer IPA, Redhook Ale Brewery, Woodinville, WA & Portsmouth, NH
3) Ipswich Harvest Ale, Mercury Brewing, Ipswich, MA

AMERICAN AMBER ALE
1) Cape Cod Red, Cape Cod Beer, Hyannis, MA
2) American Amber TinsleyRogue Ales, Newport, OR
3) Long Trail Ale, Long Trail Brewing, Bridgewater Corners, VT

IPA
1) Seeing Double IPA, Amherst Brewing, Amherst, MA
2) Celebration Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Chico, CA
3) Offshore IPA, Offshore Ale Co., Oak Bluffs, MA

BROWN ALE
1) Lackey's Brown Ale, Martha's Exchange Brewing, Nashua, NH
2) Pig's Ear Brown Ale, Woodstock Inn Brewery, Woodstock, NH
3) Friar Brown, Union Station Brewery, Providence, RI

PORTER
1) JW Dundee's Porter, High Falls Brewing, Rochester, NY
2) Mayflower Porter, Mayflower Brewing, Plymouth, MA
3) General John Stark Dark Porter, Milly's Tavern, Manchester, NH

STOUT
1) Two Sister's Stout, Amherst Brewing, Amherst, MA
2) Ipswich Oatmeal Stout, Mercury Brewing, Ipswich, MA
3) Shakespeare Stout, Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
Honorable Mention: Oatmeal Stout, Milly's Tavern, Manchester, NH

LAGER
1) Coors Original Banquet Domestic Lager, Coors Brewing, Golden, CO
2) Old School Pils, Gardner Ale House, Gardner, MA
3) Bohemian Pils, Trinity Brewhouse, Providence, RI

AMBER LAGER
1) Feuerwherman Schwarzbier, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH
2) Dry Hopped Red, Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
3) Vienna Lager, Gardner Ale House, Gardner, MA

BOCK
1) Harvest Bock, Buzzards Bay Brewing, Westport, MA
2) Dead Guy Ale, Rogues Ales, Newport, OR
3) Incinerator Dopplebock, Amherst Brewing, Amherst, MA

OKTOBERFEST
1) The Big O, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH
2) Lewmeister Octoberfest, Amherst Brewing, Amherst, MA
3) Oktober-Bier, Cambridge Brew House, Granby & Torrington, CT

STRONG BEER: OTHER
1) Hop Goddess, Offshore Ale Co., Oak Bluffs, MA
2) Samuel Adams Utopias, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
3) Double Bag Ale, Long Trail Brewing, Bridgewater Corners, VT

STRONG BEER: RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
1) Kinspin Imperial Stout, Watch City Brewing, Waltham, MA
2) Joshua Norton, Haverhill Brewery/The TAP, Haverhill, MA
3) Saranac Imperial Stout, FX Matt Brewing, Utica, NY
Honorable Mention: Pozharnik Espresso Russian Imperial Stout, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH

STRONG BEER: MIXED STYLES
1) Bagpiper Scottish Ale, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH
2) Dr. Hoppenstein's Double IPA, Martha's Exchange, Nashua, NH
3) Old Crustacean, Rogue Ales, Newport, OR

FRUIT/SPICE: ALE
1) Beejesus Hop Crisis BPA, Watch City Brewing, Waltham, MA
2) Raspberry UFO Hefeweizen, Harpoon Brewery, Boston, MA
3) Wye Winter Wassail Spiced Lager, Pennichuck Brewing, Milford, NH

Upcoming events

We have a few events coming up:

Saturday 11/15 from 6 -10, Festival of Ales at The Higgins Armory. Look for us there, we'll be pouring The Big O, Feuerwehrmann, Halligan, Fireman's Pail and possibly a few surprises if I get off my duff and actually package them out

Thursday 11/20 from 6 -10, Beer dinner at Barrette in Brooklyn. This will be with the Head Brewer (Damase). The menu is a follows:

1st Course

Pumpkin Soup paired with "The Big O" Oktoberfest

Trifecta Medal Winner at the Great International Beer Festival

2008 Gold Medal, 2007 Silver Medal, 2006 Bronze Medal

Venison Meatloaf with Mashed Potato and Caramelized Carrot

paired with Bagpiper's Scottish Ale,

Gold Medal Winner at the 2008 GIBF

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Fudge

paired with Whiskey Barrel Aged Pozharnik Espresso Russian Imperial Stout,

Silver Medal Winner at the 2007 GIBF

That will be it for a little while. Some more events we are slowly working on:
Beer event at Eli Cannon's in Middletown, CT
Tasting at Jasper's Homebrew Supply in Nashua, NH
Beer 101 and tasting at The Balsam's in Dixville Notch, NH

Like I said more details to follow.

Cheers,

Damase

What's up

Well just thought I'd let you know what has been happening the last few days at the brewery. Well we have been brewing. Right now we are in the middle of our second batch of Pompier, we'll finish it up this evening. Tomorrow we double brew a Fireman's Pale. It will be a full day (just like today.)

In other news, we've signed on with Microstar. This mean that we will be renting kegs from a keg management company (Microstar) and then when the kegs go to the distributor, we do not have to work on getting our kegs back, but we may get back other folks kegs. We then clean those kegs and send them out and the cycle continues. This will work great when we send kegs out of state, so look for us on draft in other states soon. So far we have kegged out the Wassail into 1/6 kegs (AKA Logs) as well as 1/2 kegs. Next up will be Pompier, followed by Backdraft. More on those later when we keg them out.

Damase

Award Winning beers

Well we are back from the GIBF, and we took home a few medals.

Gold: Bagpiper Scottish Ale
Gold: The Big O Oktoberfest
Gold: Feuerwehrmann Black Lager
Bronze: Wye Winter Wassail
Honorable Mention: Pozharnik Russian Imperial Stout

Needless to say we were quite pleased.

Some of our Friends took home Medals as well:
Martha's Exchange in Nashua, NH, a Gold for their Brown and a Silver for their Double IPA
Gardner Ale House in Gardner, MA, a Bronze and a Silver
Milly's Tavern in Manchester, NH, a Bronze (that I can recall)
Mayflower Brewing in Plymouth, MA, I can not recall which ones, but I know they won a Gold
There were several more, but I will post an update when I find out!

Damase

Great International Beer Festival

Well it has been a busy week up here at the brewery (or down here, depending on where you live) so I have been unable to do some updates. But in the past week we have:
Bottled Engine 5
Bottled Balsam's Lager
Kegged Balsam's Lager
Cleaned Numerous Kegs (James!)
and Transferred the Wassail so we can keg it out.

First about the numerous kegs, we finally have Microstar kegs. What does this mean for you... Microstar is a keg rental logistics company. They own the kegs, we use them. This means that if we send a keg to CT or NY we do not have to get our keg back, it goes back into the great keg cycle and we get a new Microstar keg. So look for Pennichuck on Draft in pub or packie near you.

Second... This weekend is the Great International Beer Festival in Providence, RI. The festival is on Saturday, but we judge beers on Friday. So tomorrow we will not be at the brewery, but we will be judges. Wish us luck. I'll let you know our medal count when I know it!

Cheers,

Damase