(Portsmouth, NH) – Peter Egelston, the Founder/Owner of Portsmouth Brewery and Smuttynose Brewing, sent out a scintillating newsletter this afternoon with some interesting tidbits.  Here are the highights:

Portsmouth Kate the Great details: The beer will be released on Monday, February 9, 2009, at 1:14PM. “Once again, only ten barrels have been brewed, half of which will be bottled (limit two per customer).” If my math is right and assuming little waste…5 barrels x 31 gallons per x 128 oz per / 22 oz = approximately 900 bottles. Just doing some math here, nothing official.  It is still up in the air as far as I know as to when/how a blend of Kate and Black Albert into some form of two-headed monster known as “Kabert“ will be done. It may affect this batch or another batch or…we’ll just have to wait and see.

Other stuff coming up on tap is covered at the frequently updated Portsmouth Brewery blog.

Smuttynose Brewing Big Beer Schedule and Expansion – Here is a peak at part of the schedule now updated through the end of 2009: Wheat Wine – mid September, 2008, Scotch Ale – mid October, 2008, Really Old Brown Dog – early December, 2008. Also, the debut of Smuttynose Belgian Quad will come in early January, 2009. To see the rest of the list, check out Executive Brewer, Dave Yarrington’s Smuttynose Brewing blog.

Hopefully Egelston doesn’t mind me posting this next part verbatim…an important and exciting note for the Southeastern US readers, Smuttynose is being distributed in “North and South Carolina right now, with Georgia and Florida to follow by the end of the year. If you live in any of those states, write to us and let us know where you want to see our beer. We’ll forward your requests to our new wholesalers, as if they aren’t busy enough already! Better yet, ask the manager of your favorite beer retailer to stock Smuttynose beers for you. In South Carolina, they can order through Carolina Craft Distributing. In North Carolina we are distributed by Freedom Beverage of Greensboro.”

Egelston now has his own blog going on some of the behind-the-scene stuff relating to these two breweries as well. Please check out Smuttynose Tavern. Sign up for these newsletters at the official Smuttynose Brewing site as I purposely leave out some things for actual subscribers.