On Friday, February 5, 2010, two of my passions collided: Photography and craft-brewed beer.

A couple of weeks ago I contacted Peter Egelston, President of Smuttynose Brewery in Portsmouth, NH about photographing their operation to feed my hobby. After review my work, Peter graciously extend an invitation to me and my camera. Coincidently, they had already scheduled a Big Beer Subscriber Social for February 5th. As a subscriber, I planned on attending the social and pick up the case of Imperial Stout, the first of nine specially brewed beers that comprise Big Beer Series. The timing was perfect! A couple of hours of Photography, then a sampling of New England’s finest craft beers!

The featured image above is a shot of some of their many fermentation tanks. The newer tanks in the foreground lead to the bright USSR themed tank, one of their original four horizontal fermentation tanks. In a previous life, those original tanks were used in the dairy industry.

Smuttynose was founded in 994 has been growing steadily since. They’ve earned a reputation as one of the finest craft brewers in the country. They are rapidly outgrowing their Portsmouth home. Later this year they will be breaking ground for a new facility, complete with restaurant and pub, in Hampton NH. I like that … its closer for me.

I highly recommend their Big A IPA. If you see anything of their Big Beer Series, sold in 22 ounce bottles, grab one. Especially their Gravitation!

My thanks to Peter Egelston for his hospitality and trust. He allowed me to run around the plant with my camera and tripod, completely unsupervised.

Here are more images from the Smuttynose Brewery: