WILK Friday BeerBuzz – 2 Aug 2013 – Smuttynose Cluster’s Last Stand w/David Yarrington

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. 

Cluster’s Last Stand is big at 8.3% ABV, but the flavors and aromas make it a very approachable and I do almost feel like I’m experiencing IPA-History as we sipped it.

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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