5 New Hampshire Breweries For Hoppy Suds Excellence

Having made the trip back to my home state for a 7-week stint after nearly 5 years away, I had no idea what exactly was in store for me. I had a feeling that it would entail home-cooked food, walks with my mother and brother, and most importantly, good booze. I far underestimated and forgot just how much of a gem this state is for all three. 

Great food and exceptional booze couldn’t have rung any truer at the handful of breweries I made sure to visit with both my mother and brother. These were undoubtedly some of the key highlights of this 2025 New Hampshire sojourn. 

Not only were these five New Hampshire breweries some of the best beer haunts I’ve ever come across in the Granite State but they were some of the best I’ve ever imbibed and gourmandized anywhere in the world. 

Now, with your mouth watering, your hands shaking, and the full moon craft beer call only a thirty-something millennial could face slowly transforming you into a carnal, rabid, boozehound version of yourself, here are 5 breweries in New Hampshire that mash some of the meanest hops in the game. 

Pale Ale Travel Note: Don’t hesitate to comment or email me your favorite brewery/breweries in New Hampshire! I’d love to hear from you. 

Schilling Beer Co.

Website, Address, & Details: https://schillingbeer.com/ 

• Location: 18 Mill St, Littleton, NH 03561

Set in the quaint (yet bustling) mountain town of Littleton and overlooking the Ammonoosuc River (is there a more enjoyable river to pronounce?), you know, one of those spots that we Seacoasters practically consider Canada, Schilling Beer Co. is everything right in the beer world.

As a modern European-inspired craft brewery, you’ll find Schilling and Co. brewing and pouring everything from crisp, slightly bitter Czech-style lagers (including amber and dark lagers) to malty, aromatic Vienna lagers, floral, clear German pilsners, potent Belgian Tripels, and toasty off-white head Bocks. 

My brother is more of a dark lager drinker and opted for the Modernism, which I ended up drinking his entire four-pack he purchased of it and brought home.

Schilling’s tri-part operation, which includes a brewery pub and kitchen, store and tasting room, and adjoining restaurant and kitchen (Mill St.) is capital C ‘Cozy’. 

A wave of hygge is immediately palpable after stepping into the wood-paneled, exposed beam ceiling pub and kitchen of a former 18th-century grist mill – the smells of wood-fired pizzas (the meaty, jalapeno-y, cheddary ‘Roundhouse’ is a must), smoky and savory bratwurst, and freshly baked bread luring you into a deep state of ecstasy like a scantily clad wood nymph to a drunken pot-bellied satyr. 

I think it’s called the Roundhouse because it roundhouse kicked my taste buds into another universe.

Oh, and views of the Ammonoosuc are unparalleled, perfect for a summer day drinking session. Just don’t fall in after your 10th Alexandre, their flagship Czech-style pilsner that simply doesn’t quit when it comes to foamy, bitter heads. Schilling’s German pilsner, Jakobus, is also a contender for my most consumed beverage during my 7 weeks at home. Get it, now. 

Other than the Kölsch beer I consumed during my week in Cologne, Germany, I’m not sure there is any other single brewery that has left such an indelible mark on my gustatorial senses quite like Schilling Beer Co. If I closed my eyes mid-Alexandre sip, I’d have sworn I was in a small Czech border town. 

Pale Ale Travel Tip: I’ll inevitably do more thorough write-ups on each brewery as I get back home to Hong Kong. However, this should tickle your gustatorial fancy enough to fire you up and start scraping the ice off your car in preparation for a trip across the state to one of these breweries.

Branch and Blade Brewing

Website, Address, & Details: https://www.babbrewing.com/ 

• Location: 17 Bradco St, Keene, NH 03431

I’ve been an ardent Branch and Blade supporter since my late 20s, back when I was mobile enough to play men’s league soccer with some of my childhood friends at the Epping Seacoast fields. 

Before each game, I’d pick up a four-pack of Branch and Blade’s ‘Electric Love’ sour to reward my future self after a 10-minute shift of wheezing and getting humiliated by early-twenties ex-Bundesliga professional development wunderkinds turned Seacoast coaches. 

So, you could say that Branch and Blade has a special place in my heart. 

Unfortunately, I had never visited their taproom in Keene to sample the Electric Love, and its many amalgamations, on draft…until now. 

Branch and Blade is a jack of all trades when it comes to craft beer. It’s as if you gave a hipster doofus an old sheet of LSD and unfettered control over a Mash and Lauter tun, fermentation and bright tanks, and self-adhesive glue labelers. I say that in the most endearing way. It works. And it works extremely well. 

There is no one particular style of beer that Branch and Blade focus on. However, in my beer-drinking tenure, I can confidently say that Branch and Blade is the G.O.A.T. of sours and takes great pride in brewing up the opposite of whatever a non-zero sum of sours is (hint: get a flight of sours to run the gamut and see which is your favorite). 

From fluffer nut and peanut butter sours like the Sack Lunch, to the tropical I Just Want to be Purée: Mai Tai (my new favorite sour), seasonal sours like the Holiday Crisp, and what seem to be weekly adaptations of their exalted Electric Love, you quickly learn that the sour spectrum encompasses far more than just ‘sour’ and ‘extremely sour’. 

If you’re not in the mood to pucker up, don’t worry, Branch and Blade is home to world-class craft beers of all flavors, brewing styles, and colors, including sweet and spice melding Belgian blondes, juicy, hoppy, and refreshing New England IPAs (including ‘juiced up versions’ in Double IPA form), bitter, piney West Coast IPAs, and even Czech pilsners (try all three Hladinka pours!). 

Pale Ale Travel Tip: Great beer is one of the many reasons I’m proud to be from New Hampshire. If you’re not sold on living here yet, make sure to check out my post breaking down the pros and cons of living in New Hampshire – from a Granite Stater who was born and bred here. 

Liar’s Bench Beer Co.

Website, Address, & Details: https://www.liarsbenchbeer.com/ 

• Location: 459 Islington St #4, Portsmouth, NH 03801

Liar’s Bench was a name that I heard praised for so many years by my top dawg – a Newmarket boy – however, I’ve been out of the country for far too long and was never able to try it for myself. I spent many a night receiving salacious, brewlicious Snaps of bedazzling 300ml Kölsch beers, thick miniature Tübingers of foamy Czech ambers, and face-crinkling IPAs representing both coasts. 

Well, my friends. It was finally my time. And I can confirm that Liar’s Bench is everything and more I dreamed of. 

Located in the millennial beer drinker’s equivalent of Clifford’s big blue house just off Portsmouth’s bifurcating Islington Street, Liar’s Bench sets an unpretentious, down-to-earth, feel-good tone before you even step foot inside. 

Why is that? It’s adjoining and surrounded by humble, honest businesses, something that is evident in the byproduct of their double decoction, Plato-abiding, fermentation transcending brews. When my brother first arrived, we weren’t sure whether we should quickly stop by the abutting Murray & Supply to anticipatorily sort out future plumbing woes (we had just consumed 6 tacos each at Barrio), or continue forth on our beer-drinking journey.

If you’re curious about what an actual Cologne brauhaus looks like, check out my post on my all-time favorite drinking haunt – Max Stark. 

Liar’s Bench is the best of both beer worlds. European-style brews galore and homegrown favorites, set in the backdrop of what feels like the cozy basement from Grandma’s Boy. Much like European-style beer halls, communal seating is the norm here. It’s where regulars jovially clink glasses and seek reprieve from the banalities of everyday life over Italian pilsners, Baltic porters, and Saisons, and first-timers find themselves striking up convos with fellow beer enthusiasts over brew styles they’ve only seen in Beerfest.

For me, the standouts are the John Grady Kölsch, brewed in strict adherence to Germany’s Reinheitsgebot (aka the ‘German Beer Constitution’ and ‘Bylaws’), and Pair of Pennies Czech amber lager. Both can more than hold their own with any similar beers I’ve glugged in the Old Continent. 

If you’re in a group, make sure to order your Kölsch beers in a kränz, a metallic beer wreath that holds upwards of 8 to 10 beers (some even more) typically found in Cologne brauhauses (beer houses) while going halfsies on a schnitzel sandwich and beer cheese pretzel bites. 

Pale Ale Travel Tip: My brother and I paired our trip to Liar’s Bench by pre-gaming with some of the best tacos in the state at Barrio. Here’s why Barrio needs to be on your radar for build-your-own-tacos and margs. 

Candia Road Brewing Co.

Website, Address, & Details: https://www.candiaroadbrewingco.com/ 

• Location: 840 Candia Rd, Manchester, NH 03109 

Now, is Candia Road Brewing Co, situated smack-dab on, you guessed it, the Manchester-funneling Candia Road, especially memorable for this Big Body because he made the pilgrimage with his beloved mother? Absolutely. 

Was such effervescence and warmth exacerbated after sinking my teeth into a juicy, slightly smoky, flaky pulled pork banh mi? You betcha.

And was the cake taken vibes-wise thanks to the angsty, expressive Midwest emo and hardcore playlist on repeat while hladinka pours were being put back with a vigor only an unemployed man in his mid-thirties could muster? Czech and mate. 

Manchester, man. I remember when it was just a spot to fight local baseball teams in the Fisher Cats stadium’s parking lot after games, attend hardcore and pop punk shows at the American Legion, and “Hey Mister” Dominican guys in the parking lot of the Main Street 7-Eleven. I guess there was the Verizon Wireless Arena too, now called the SNHU Arena. But I was never one for U2 concerts. 

Now, it’s home to roughly 10 craft beer breweries, all of which have carved out distinctive niches, styles, and followings. It also has roughly the same number of Indian and Nepalese restaurants serving up authentic, sapid South Asian classics. That last part isn’t material to this post but I wanted to include it anyway. 

Driving Manchester’s craft beer bus is the family-owned brewery of Candia Road. The interior, one part Nana’s log cabin, one part uninhibited karaoke joint, one part smashburger haven, and two parts tap room. 

With a rotating, somewhat ephemeral tap list that takes you from charming rustic New England towns via juicy, hazy NEIPAs (Juice Goons), down to the festive barrios of Mexico City by way of refreshing cerveza-style corn lagers (Willzifico), and then halfway around the world to the Czech Republic (You Proppin?) and back, Candia Road isn’t afraid to brew boldly. 

What makes every crisp hit from your You Proppin? Czech-style pilsner even more special and worth savoring is the fact that Candia Road doesn’t (generally) distribute. So it’s the only place where you’ll find these beers across the whole state world. 

Pale Ale Travel Note: Candia Road sports one of the more interesting and eclectic food menus I’ve encountered in my brewery travels. You’ll find everything from “refined” crunch wrap supremes, to naturally cased and loaded weenies, herbaceous Vietnamese banh mis, tacos and quesadilla, and beef and chicken burgers. 

Elm City Brewing Company

Website, Address, & Details: https://www.elmcitybrewing.com/ 

• Location: 222 West St, Keene, NH 03431

Since my brother and I made the 2-hour drive out to Keene, it was only fitting that we engaged in what’s commonly referred to as the ‘craft beer bang-bang’ (shoutout to Louie). You know, where you hit two craft beer haunts back-to-back. 

The first stop of our bang-bang was at Elm City Brewing Company, followed by Branch and Blade (above). As we are two growing boys in our 30s, a full-bodied menu of both beer and accompanying fare is required. And, not to besmirch the good name of Branch and Blade, but neither of us are very keen on a menu of Mexican fusion cuisine at breweries. 

I was also hot off a trip down south in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, so I was also feeling especially supercilious in my south of the border food choices. 

If I lived in Keene, I guarantee you would find me at Elm City Brewing Company, at minimum, several days per week. It’s both a full-service restaurant and brewery, backed by over 20 years of brewing expertise and a menu that spans European pub favorites like schnitzel, stroganoff, and pretzels with beer cheese, to a gaggle of decked out burgers and sandwiches, Southern staples like jambalaya and po’ boys, soups and salads, and quintessential mains like NY strip steak and Atlantic salmon. 

I’ll say it, Elm City’s pork schnitzel with lemon-ale butter and egg noodles could have easily been made by a grizzled German Oma rocking her dirndl from before “the War.” Which war? Both of them. It was that good. 

Tell me that ain’t sexy.

Elm City’s beer Rolodex runs equally as deep as well, bolstered by a selection of German lagers, like their light, crisp Keene Kölsch and its delicate, floral missus, the Peachy Keene (also a Kölsch), dark-pouring moderate strength dark brown British porters and Belgian dark ales, subtly tart ciders, and profusion of IPAs running the entire bitter, citrusy, and dry hopped gamut. 

When I declare that Elm City has it all. I ain’t lyin’. 

These 5 Breweries Are Just the Tip of New Hampshire’s Beer Iceberg

A gorgeous view of the Ammonoosuc River from Schilling.

While I no longer live in New Hampshire, it’s still an incredibly important part of my life and somewhere that I celebrate anytime I can. 

I’m a New Hampshirite first and foremost. American second. Beer drinker third. Former stay-at-home-son fourth. 

I always knew New Hampshire’s beer scene was outstanding. However, it really was this trip home that solidified it is world-class. It’s a brew scene that I would confidently pit against most in the world, except for maybe Czech or German. 

But then again, I’m not sure how many Czech or German IPAs I can name, so maybe it isn’t too crazy a thought. 

Pale Ale Travel Fact: While walking in downtown Keene, my brother and I noticed a sign that celebrated ‘Einbeck, Germany’ as a partner city. This might explain the precision and plentiful offerings of German beer found at Elm City Brewing Co. Einbeck is also home to one of my personal favorite beers, Einbecker, a 14th-century brewery (and one of the oldest operating in the world), which Martin Luther received a cask of before his 1521 excommunication trial. The more you know.

One thing I wanted to briefly touch on is that, lately, I’ve seen on the ‘forums’ and one popular user-generated content platform, many Granite Staters are heavily politicizing small businesses and boycotting those who don’t align with their political beliefs. That’s completely their prerogative and I don’t knock it at all. 

As far as I’m concerned, I support local businesses who undoubtedly make my life better and I feel have a positive impact on the community and state – regardless of who they cast their ballot for. 

I haven’t drank this much beer in a long long time. That’s not a complaint. That’s an affirmation – one that I shout proudly every single day, right before stopping by Greg and Jane’s in Epping, New Hampshire to pick up a new four-pack for the night. 

Put down that Neo-Marxist literature you’ve been trying to understand for the last 6 months (to no avail) or turn off Tucker for the time being. Break (liquid) bread with one another. Support local breweries. 

I also fully recognize that this list does not even come close to capturing the full scope of New Hampshire’s craft beer scene. Just so you know, the several New Hampshire breweries that are on my list for my next trip home are: (1) Canterbury Aleworks, (2) Loaded Question Brewing Company, (3) Kelsen Brewing Company, (4) Kettlehead Brewing Company, and (5) Spyglass Brewing Company. 

Funny enough, I first drank Spyglass in Hong Kong. 

If you have any questions about eating or drinking in New Hampshire, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me in the comments or via email (info@palealetravel.com). I’d also love to hear from you about your favorite breweries and beer in the state, so definitely give me a shout!

Drink well everyone,

Big Body