Try Something New With White Birch and Earth Eagle

Step outside of your normal beer range with interesting offerings from White Birch Brewing and Earth Eagle Brewings

Looking for some unusual yet exceptional beers here in New Hampshire? White Birch Brewing, based in Hooksett, has been brewing some of the most intense and innovative beers around since 2009 thanks, in part, to the company's apprentice program that concludes with a custom unique beer created by each aspiring brewer.

"The apprentice beers are popular because the story is fascinating and the style choices are very diverse. It's an interest," says White Birch Brewing founder and head brewer Bill Herlicka. One of the most famous of these "graduation beers" according to Herlicka, is Nyx: an American black ale created by apprentice Adam Romanow that has since become an anchor in White Birch's fall set of beers. Some other remarkable beers offered by White Birch Brewing are:

• Cherry Quad: A quadruple-brewed malt ale flavored by fermented cherries. The once-yearly brewed recipe is derived from a Romanian cherry wine recipe that was once passed down to Herlicka.
• Saison: An autumn-to-winter seasonal Belgian style ale that features a blend of spicy and tart with citrus fruit flavors and a crisp finish.
• Anniversary Ale: In honor of turning 4 years old, this Belgian-style Wheat Wine Ale glows a copper color with sweet malts, a hint of fruit, and slight spiciness
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• Unforgettable: Partnering with the Alzheimers Association to donate fifty cents of every bottle sold in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, this soft pilsner malt emits a slightly spicy aroma and a semi-dry finish.
• Freedom From Want: A spin-off from the original Saison modified by apprentice Bryan O'Neill to give it his own personal touch.
• Barrel Aged Tripel: This triple-brewed sipping beer is aged in Pinot Noir and Merlot barrels.

–Heather Ross

Sean Jensen of 2beerguys.com also encourages you to expand your horizons with Earth Eagle Brewings in Portsmouth.

“You are likely to find two or three gruits (herbed style of beer), along with other innovative styles on draft in their tap room,” says Jensen.

Earth Eagle, which takes its name from the Native American term for wild turkeys, is attached to (and is affiliated with) A&G Homebrew at 165 High St.

There's quite a bit of mixing and matching going on at Earth Eagle – they brew traditional hopped ales, plus the aforementioned un-hopped gruits. In addition to those two styles, they also experiment with fruit and even meats, plus they will sometimes add hops to gruits and herbs to hopped-beers. In other words, you're never quite sure what interesting beer will appear in the tasting room. Recently the 'Murican Revolution ESB with Early Grey tea was an outstanding example of the new and interesting things happening at Earth Eagle.

The recently expanded tasting room is now open seven days a week. The hours are Mon.–Fri. from 4 p.m.–9 p.m., Sat. from 3 p.m.–9 p.m. and Sun. 1 p.m.–4 p.m.