On Portsmouth's narrow streets I stumbled onto its original brewpub, the Portsmouth Brewery. Despite my intentions to hunt for Smuttynose, hunger won out. At first I expected a standard public house, but it was more casual away from the bar, which boasted the best spirits collection I'd seen in a any brewpub. The brewpub pours Smuttynose products but has a half-dozen handles devoted to its own concoctions.
Driving necessitated a two-beer limit. Something with a breakfast character felt in order. I started with the Oatmeal Stout, which came off as bone-dry on the front end. With a creamy head and few signs of roasting, it contained a nice viscosity. There are traces of coffee and chocolate on the finish. Oats rule the beer and don't let any overblown roasted character steal the thunder, which is too often the case with craft-brewed oatmeal stout.
For an encore, Dirty Blond Ale worked well behind its estery nose ripe with passion fruit and a hint of cloves. Portsmouth's Belgian yeast livens up this blonde dutifully. The tandem of strong tangerine and mild, dry orange made Dirty Blonde an easy choice as a session ale. The coriander burst at the finish splinters rapidly and reveals fingers of papaya and honey lurking beneath the citrus.
Based on session ales alone, Portsmouth deserved more than the 75 minutes I gave it. But its original brewpub provided the necessary foundation for five day's of beer-exploration in Vermont and New Hampshire.
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