The Unofficial New Hampshire Tourism Guide, Pt. 2: Beer

Tourism in New Hampshire skews heavily towards two seasons: fall, for the foliage, and winter, for the slopes. There’s one aspect of the state’s culture that knows no seasonal bounds, though: the craft brewing scene. Fueled by the love of beer and the fact that there’s not much else to do indoors, brewers have popped up all over New Hampshire. It’s one of the easiest things for me to take pride in, as a native and consumer of huge amounts of beer. There are dozens of good craft breweries in the state, but I’ve narrowed this guide down to seven of the most highly regarded.

Smuttynose is the one that everyone in Boston knows, because for some reason this is the big Hamp brew in the city. I don’t necessarily think it deserves this honor, though it is a very good brewery. Of particular note is the Finestkind IPA, which is great because a couple of old men are on the bottle.

603 is one of the most widely distributed breweries I’ve seen in my area of the state, and a lot of my friends gravitate towards them. Their name is taken from our area code. Yes, our whole state only has one. This is because there are only 4000 people in the state.

Kelsen is the greatest brewery of all time and I will fight, Thunderdome rules, anyone who says otherwise. All the brewers are beautiful and all the bottles have Vikings on them. Their beers taste perfect. If you drink a Kelsen beer and then tell me you disliked it, I’m going to tell you straight up that you have no taste.

Able Ebenezer is a brewery I know nothing about. I’ve never had their beer but lots of people like them. They have a terrible name.

White Birch is a brewery with some decent beers that I can’t remember any names of. They are named after the official state tree! I pray that a brewmaster may never be foolhardy enough to name his company after the state bird. We do not discuss the state bird.

Stoneface is named after the Old Man of the Mountain, an important historical figure in the history of our state. That’s a story for another day, though — this Stoneface is all about the beer. They’ve recently started appearing in Boston, and I hope this trend continues until the whole city is drinking beers from New Hampshire.

Woodstock is a brewery very dear to my heart. For a period of time I lived a five minute walk from them and the restaurant they’re housed in, and I remember sneaking sips from my friends’ beers there (I was underage at the time). I have my nostalgia goggles strapped on tight for this one, but if you ever find yourself in the hinterlands of North Woodstock, New Hampshire, you gotta drink ’em. You gotta.

Cheers, and don’t drive drunk! But feel free to not use your seatbelts.