Birds & Beers: Smuttynose Releasing Smuttlabs Orville 8/27

Orville, August 2016’s Smuttlabs release, is two things: a bird and a beer. The beer will debut with a special release event at Smuttynose on August 27. You can learn more about that below, but first things first.

Orville the beer is a new, 7% Smuttlabs release made with a rye, oats and barley, fermented with saison yeast and liberally hopped with Falconer’s Flight hops. It’s exactly the kind of juicy, tropical fruit bomb beer geeks are looking for, but you’ll notice a subtle peppery spiciness from the rye and the saison yeast. Honestly, the Smuttlabs crew would likely brew this beer at some point, but inspiration for the name flew in at just the right moment.

Orville photo by On The Wing Raptor Center

So what’s up with this bird? Orville is gentlemanly barred owl who lives at On The Wing Raptor Center, just down the road from our brewery. His injuries prevent him from returning to the wild. In addition to being an animal ambassador, Orville helps foster recovering owls who pass through the raptor center.

Animal welfare has long been a key area of support for our Beerlanthropy program, so we’re proud to share a portion of the proceeds from Orville sales to help On the Wing expand their important medical work.

So what’s happening at the release? Doors open at 11am. From 2-5, visitors can meet Jane Kelly from On the Wing and her education team of feathered friends. Pose for a picture and learn about the birds in our woods. At 3:30, two rehabbed broad wing hawks will go back to the wild, followed by an Orville-fostered barred owl at 4:30. You won’t want to miss these wonderful moments!

Like all Smuttlabs offerings, restaurants, bars and bottle shops can only get Orville  through the Beer Vault starting on August 29 at 12pm. Both bottles and kegs await, so don’t miss out. For more information, please email [email protected].

On The Wing specifically thanks Veterinary Emergency and Surgery Hospital for their vital role in keeping the raptor rehab rate very high.

We’ll see you at the brewery!