Hobbs Tavern and Brewing Co.

Sit and stay a while at the new Hobbs Tavern and Brewing Co.

Locally born and raised, Ash Fischbein is a serial entrepreneur who started out with a passion for home brewing and ended up opening the Hobbs Tavern and Brewing Co. with his partners in April on the grounds of a former sheep farm that dates back to 1885.

While other craft beer makers strive to make imperial beers, at this countryside tavern and brew house they pride themselves on creating well-balanced, sessionable beverages with a lower ABV, or alcohol content, of just 3 percent to 4.5 percent so their customers can sit and thoroughly enjoy all of the new offerings without becoming intoxicated.

The Black Sheep Cream Ale is a throwback to the days before Prohibition when cream ale, which has nothing to do with dairy products but instead is made with maize, was the country’s most popular brew. Try the Something Went Arye IPA, which was cleverly named when the first batch’s mash with rye grains accidently got stuck in the equipment but turned out wonderfully nonetheless, or the Bear Camp Brown Ale, which adds the cookie-like taste of graham crackers and smooth caramel notes to a traditional-style ale. The Progeny Pilsner, a black lager, is the first recipe created by brewmaster Scott Travis and the White River Weizen is a traditional hefeweizen made in the style of the German wheat beer.

Fischbein, who also co-founded and owns the Sap House Meadery in Center Ossipee, generously invited the Best in Show winner of the region’s annual Home Brewers Jamboree to brew and showcase his Chocolate Stout here, and contest winners in successive years will have the same opportunity.

The 360-seat tavern, located in a totally rehabbed suspension barn that is the only one still standing in New Hampshire, offers American-style fusion cuisine where you can have all of the traditional comfort foods or try others with a Caribbean flair.

Categories: Beer Features