New Earth Eagle Taproom Hours

Thanks to everyone who continue to flood our taproom and enjoy our beer. There has been a lot of confusion over what our hours are so here you go. We are open for your tasting and growler filling pleasure Thursday and Friday from 4-9pm, Saturday from 3-9pm, and Sunday from 1-4pm. Cheers and we hope to see you all again soon.

Earth Eagle Brewings Deets

1 hour plus wait on 11/17/12, huh?!

Takin' care o'business whilst gittin'er done.

Hey all,
Just a quickie to let you know that our hobby has become a business! Thanks to the many fine folks who have found us and quaffed our empyreal ales and wonder gruits!
We are located at 175 High Street, Portsmouth NH inside the same building as A&G Home Brew Supply. It's the old Tech Arts building that also houses 3 Bridges Yoga, Port City Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Grim North Tattoo in the front. Our entrance is on the side of the building, in the parking lot under the A&G sign. Our tasting room hours are Thursday & Fridays 4-9pm and Saturdays 3-9; Sundays 1-4pm. Get the latest deets and tap line-up on the FB: Hope to see you soon--cheerios!                                                                           Photos: Jay Fortin

TWO MORE DAYS UNTIL LIFT-OFF!

With 1/3-barrel Brewzilla in Amy & Alex's garage, 2009.

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer."
-Abraham Lincoln

In November 2009, after reading Stephen Buhner and Sandor Katz, we started brewing on the picnic table in my back yard. Buhner inspired with accounts of medieval brewing practices and insight into humanity’s connection with plant world. Katz provided a reassuring “anyone can do this” ethos and a deep reverence for the microscopic life-forms who conduct the real alchemy of brewing: fermentation.  Alex and I were attempting a hop-less interpretation of DFH’s World Wide Stout--going big right out’ the gate. Proud to say the beer tasted incredible out of the fermenter, humbled to say it was an infected mess when it was finally poured from a bottle. Big huge lesson #1: clean your stuff, well, and often.

And we were off.

Is that Ju-Ju, Gris-Gris, or Mojo in the tasting room?

Three years later, maybe to the day, we will start selling our beer. This is in no small part to Alex running with an idea to open a home brew shop. A year and a half ago, he and his wife (my sister) Gretchen took the plunge and opened A&G Homebrew Supply. As you might imagine, our homebrewing acumen grew as we enjoyed access to, and wholesale prices on, lots of supplies and equipment. Another bonus involves the old adage: “The best way to learn is to teach.” With Alex suddenly in a brew store 7 days a week he had to teach it. He read books, magazines and scoured the interwebs voraciously--and we continued to brew a new batch every week or two.

And lets not forget the resurrected Seacoast Homebrewers Club who eventually took to meeting at A&G. All of us are better brewers because of the friendships and support that club members have given each other over the last few years. Nothing like geeking out once a month whilst discussing and drinking the different brews we bring. (Thanks and cheers, ya’lls!)

In the brewery proper 2012, upgraded to a one-barrel system.

I don’t remember a particular moment when the idea of starting a brewery was hatched. We started playing "faux brewery" as soon as we had brewed a beer we wanted to share. Pretty early on Alex told me that some Native Americans refer to wild turkeys as “earth eagles.” Then the band-name moment came to me: Earth Eagle would be a very cool brewery name.  The term “brewings” came up pretty quick thereafter.  It sounded a tad mysterious, feral even, more like witches huddled over a kettle than a beer factory.  And we certainly didn’t want to give our friends and families blank bottles of beer with cryptic initials on the caps, so we started naming our beers and making labels.

Folks kept telling us that they really liked our stuff and wanted to buy it. We also won some homebrew competition medals. Then the song started to change from “I want your beer” to “I want to invest in your beer.” Alrighty then, when fate comes a knockin’ you best open the door!  Starting off with a one-barrel brewery feels just right for two guys who’ve never worked in a brewery before. We are optimistic that Earth Eagle will expand but want it to fund its own growth and create its own timetable. We intend to do it right AND stay connected to our “brewings” ideal of old world alchemy and creative expression.

Please join us for our opening day, Saturday November 17th from noon to 4 pm, and experience what we are brewing for yourself--empyreal ales and wonder gruits. Prost!

The Good, The Bad, and the Bubbly

     Greetings and salutations my fellow zymergyists and cultured imbibers. It’s another news-flash from EEB land and yes, things continue to progress, at a pace not unlike the growth of a tree or the changing of the seasons. We emerged from lawyer-limbo about a month ago and promptly sent money and paperwork to Uncle Sam and his old pal Daniel Webster. The feds and the great state of Cow Hampster have been payed and besotted with details like what we’ll do with the business if one of us croaks and what exactly our doors are made of and yes, everything in-between. We’ve got a bit less than a month during which time they will visit our humble facility and pass judgement.
     Speaking of facilities, we have been in an odd loop regarding refrigerators. Alex scored a beaut a year or so ago which worked like a champ until 6 tap holes were drilled in it and the compressor suddenly crapped out. A local business that maintains and traffics in such things seemingly hooked us up with a four-tapped fridge, but not only did this crap out, the rep we had left said company before we got our money back. So we are fridge-less, still out a chunk of change, and giving said company a small window to redeem themselves with. Our suds certainly  ain’t bad at room temp but it isn’t ideal and party taps are no where near as sexy as fixed tappage’--those freeze-dried turkey heads coming in the mail will be badass (kidding!).

      Yeah, the suds. Well lets start with the challenging part; batch #4 of a chaga/madrake gruit is, like it’s earlier incarnations, officially destined for the drain today. We think we're finally on to the issue but rest assured that we aren’t going to serve you anything we don’t like. Jive Turkey (pineapple pale) and Dynamo Humm (DIPA+tripple gruit/bourbon barrel aged) were hits at the recent New England Homebrewers Jamboree. And finally, we won some medals at the FOAM Blues and Brews Fest last month in Mass. NE Gangsta tagged a bronze in IPA, Fur Trapper a silver in Belgian Strong, and Mary of the Marsh gold in the herbal/spiced catagory.

     The last thing is that, in my efforts to keep up with Alex who lives and breathes brewing seven days a week, I went to school. Last weekend I trucked it to Middlebury Vt. for the first American Brewers Guild’s Advanced Homebrewers course, taught by co-owner Steve Parkes, international brewer extraordinaire. Not only do they have a teaching facility but also a functioning state-of-the-art 15bbl brew system to boot, and a tasting room. My general knowledge about brewing was reaffirmed and I got the low-down on the chemistry and math behind brewing--crucial stuff, particularly if’n you wanna go pro. Steve served it up straight, authoritatively, and fielded the river of incoming questions with narry a pause. He was approachable, knowledgeable, and has named his fermentors after the members of the Ramones. He’s got a solid, unique, and tasty IPA on tap at their Drop In Brewery which is a sign of folks who know their shite.
     So there you have it. Quite the mixed bag, eh? Who knew such trials and travails awaited us? Thanks again for your interest and well wishes. As always, viva Las Vegas.

A MANTRA FOR ANXIOUS YEAST HERDERS

Greetings fellow zymurgyists and HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! It once again has been months since our last confession and these are our tales. If this post seems tainted by a bit of underlying cynicism, fear not. It is only our frustration with this noble endeavor of trying to sell you our beer. I have given serious thought to marking myself permanently with a memento from this trying time, a tattoo pronouncing our predicament: Hurry Up and Wait. We've got the beer—hell we've had that base covered for a while now—so that means we've got the brewery, and we even have a tasting room with 3 sinks, a busted fridge, some boomin' speakers, and a 30” cast iron Belgian lion. What, might you ask, is missing? The short answer is paperwork.

Our tasting room shrine to the Belgianese

The long answer is that we are, and have been, in a special place called lawyer-limbo. It's a strange land where time and space seem to stretch and bend, where simple things become lumbering behemoths and the language—oh the language! 'Tis a tongue so complex and verbose that an interpreter needs to be at your side for every oration. And dude, we haven't even started dancing with the state or the feds yet...

Clearly our challenge is to cultivate patience, patience, patience. Also trust, trust that this process is going exactly the way it should be going and at exactly the right speed. Too namby-pamby for you? Yeah, us too but what are we gonna do? We'll do what Charlie says: “Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.” But that's a challenge too because we have sooo much yummy brew to relax with, too much really, which brings me to my next subject: our brewings.

The darker ales from late last fall are still quite viable and still evolving. The Jean Claude Cochon is a fine and full porter with the smoke and pork notes markedly muted—maybe too much. The previously cacophonous smoked and oaked Kumbaya has matured into a rich balanced porter/stout. The Axe Man and Grapple Load are holding up very nicely as is the wonder gruit Mary of the Marsh. These beers have been schooling us for months and I like to think we are learning.

Not up to par? Time to pour.

Latest batches include a 55gallon bourbon barrel full of what's tentatively called Shizam Wagon, a previously mentioned mix of Jack Wagon, our grande IPA, and Shizam, our tripple gruit. Prelim tastings have been verrry positive. We need to bottle and keg it up soon but who's gonna drink all of that?! The Fresh-Cut From Down Under is a delectable pale featuring just motueka hops from New Zealand. The first batch of Shamanata, an almost-wheat wine with chaga and maple syrup, was ultimately a bust. Took us a while to figger out what happened but we finally realized that we were neglecting to clean the inside of the ball valves on our fermenters—oops. Our hopped beers were unaffected but the gruits were totally vulnerable. We've got batch #2 of Shamanata in secondary and without the unwanted bugs and dirt, it's tasty!

I.P.Amber topped off with some Mary

Alex messed with his New England Gangsta IPA recipe a bit and wound up with a new brew. He chucked some amber malt at it and the addition proved too worthy a match for the hops—not what he was looking for. None-the-less it's tasty and getting more tasty with time—for now we're calling it I.P. Amber (which typically indicates major dehydration but never mind...). We're also drinking a Fresh Cut Saison (yum!), there's a Straight-Up Saison in secondary, and some original recipe NE Gangsta. We just bottled up December's batch of Fallen Angel barley wine and had another go at our very first beer, a gruit based on DFH's amazing World Wide Stout, called Chinese Rock.

And so, as we continue to meditate on the concepts of patience and trust (whilst brewing our brains out), stay thirsty my friends, stay thirsty.....

Permit me

The build out begins, and though it may be a long and tedious process we have grand visions of opening this summer. There are so many things that need to happen between now and then that it can make your head spin, and mine is spinning rides round, baby rides round. Filling out paperwork and learning about all the rules and regulations has been quite the educational experience. I am certain that this is only the tip of the iceburg and there will be many hurdles to face along the way. I am forced to remember that we need to stand in front of each obstacle with open arms and imbrace it one step at a time. We must learn to walk before we can run.

After a couple of weeks explaining a nano-brewery and how the tasting room will function to the city we got our building permit and have begun the construction. I was chomping at the bit waiting for this project to begin and then once it did I started wondering what have we gotten ourselves into? When you see a giant hole in the floor you start to ask yourself, am I doing the right thing? The answer inevitably is Yes!, but as humans I guess there is always a sense of doubt. I am super stoked about the progress and have been so busy with A&G as well. I am having a hard time believing that I have been able to manage it all. Maybe it's because I can get my stress out wielding a pick axe.

The pipes are being put in today as I write this and knowing that all of our drain issues will be behind us makes me smile. By the end of this week the giant trench will be filled in with concrete and a few months from now this will all be a distant memory. Once we have finished installing the drain pipes we can move on to the next project, the Tasting Room and Bar. We have had many ideas floating around on how we will transform the room into a "Grand Central Station" for all of you EEB fans to fill your growlers and enjoy our brews. Ultimately it will come down to the funds we have available, which is minimal, but the way we want it to be. We have always believed that we could do this project on a tight budget and that still holds true today. There have been some folks who say a 1/2 barrel brewery is a waste of time and to go big or go home. To them I only have one thing to say Dogfish Head. We believe our brewery model will prevail and soon enough we will have a larger brewery and many fermenters bubbling away full of delicious concoctions for you to consume.

So I will leave you all with anticipation and a longing for the next post,

Live Free and Brew, Earth Eagle fans.

This Is How We Rock, This Is How We Roll

Greetings EEB enthusiasts! A Portsmouth Beer Week opportunity coming up quick: 3/3 at A&G—goodness gracias it's gonna be an open house! There'll be some music courtesy of Curt and co., nosh from the District, and, gulp, some fekkin EEB to whet your whistles with. Grapple Load, Jean Claude Cochon (the fabled pig's head porter), Axe Man (belgian quad), and Mary of the Marsh (hopless wonder gruit) will be on hand to give all palates proper adjustment.

Alex and I are riding the wave of what-will-be these days. Filing for our LCC, our NH nano license, installing floor drains, and getting ready to storm the world of beer with our fine products. 'Kinda feel like we're about to put our surfboards in the water for the first time, in front of a tsunami. But no worries, we have our lifejackets on. We are also putting the finishing touches on our business plan, the writing of which has been a satisfying culmination of the thoughts and experiences that spawned Earth Eagle Brewings. Here's a taste from page two:

Earth Eagle?

“Earth eagle” is a term some Native Americans use for the common wild turkey. The qualities of the earth eagle they observe and the meaning they imbue it with speak to our philosophy as brewers and business owners:

• Ecological: The turkey is called Earth Eagle because of it's spiritual association with Maka, Mother Earth. Earth Eagle symbolizes the blessings of Maka and the ability to use them wisely.
• Unconventional: As with wild boar, the turkey is a feral animal; feral as in existing in a natural state, as animals or plants; not domesticated or cultivated; wild.
• Civic minded: Some tribes call the turkey South Eagle, Night Eagle or Give-Away Eagle. Give-away refers to a tribal member bestowing all possessions to another, along with other sacrifices to help the people. Those who are old, poor and/or feeble are treated with honor.
• Charitable: The turkey sacrifices it's life so the people can live. As with boar, almost all parts of turkey are used. The flesh is nourishment; feathers, for ceremonial and other use, and bones, for whistles.
• Resilient: Another power of the turkey is renewal. Wild turkeys were extinct in some states because of uncontrolled hunting. When they were reintroduced, they renewed their numbers rapidly. Nothing can be an endless resource if it’s not honored and nurtured.
  

It just sort of worked out that way, pulling out some relevant principals from the turkey-lore. That feels significant somehow, like we a falling into something good rather moving mountains to get to there. Not that we aren't working hard. We continue to brew once or twice a week and as those of you who brew know, that ain't baking cookies. Seems like there is always brew waiting to racked or kegged or bottled. Alex is frequently doing double duty running his shop and slipping into the brewery when there's break in the action. I usually get in there a couple afternoons a week and also do some stuff from home.

In the interests of full disclosure I'm saddened to report that we dumped half a batch of beer down the drain yesterday. Hog Head Peculiar was peculiar indeed. It's a pale gruit with more of the pork broth in it, bittered with mandrake root and heather flowers. It some how got infected which gave the half batch that we bottled a bit of sour effervescence that kinda worked. We got around to the other half yesterday and it was full-on bad sour. Damn. I cracked one of the bottles when I got home and it was drinkable, phew! Not a total loss. Alex and I are both pretty anal about cleaning and sanitizing so we are still trying to figure out what happened. Anyway, as with other breweries who really care about their beers, if we don't like it we are not going to share it with anyone.

The t-shirts are in and available at A&G

We'll be brewing up a storm this week, aiming to fill that big Jim Beam barrel yet again with a special blend of our Shizam tripple and Jack Wagon IPA grande. Got the idea from Green Flash's Le Freak which we are crazy about. After that we anticipate using the barrel for sour brews, a one-way trip for the noble container—once you go Brett you never go back.
So we hope to see you on the 26^th and/or the 3^rd. We want to share the stuff we like, stuff we hope you like too.