The first thing anyone should know about our beers is that they are brewed to be drank. That means that the products we brew are designed with the person who is going to sit down and enjoy more than one of them in mind. Yes, we use some of the best malts in the world, we balance it out with great hopping and we never cut corners or overpower you with too many of these ingredients. The English have often referred to this kind of beer as "Session" beer (i.e. the beer you drink when you are going to the pub for a session) and although our styles may differ from those they brew for this purpose over there, the spirit is the same - make something people can enjoy pint after pint.

Our flagship, Hurricane Amber Ale, is the epitome of this concept. It's a mild amber ale with sweet malty flavor balanced by ample but delicate hopping. It's the perfect beer to enjoy all evening with good friends or even good enemies. In the fall of 2000, we introduced our "Storm of the Season" program. Each season was mated with a particular beer that would be available for only that period of time. That fall we introduced Regenschauer Oktoberest. It was followed with Blizzard Porter in the winter, Thunderhead Irish Red in the spring, and Maelstrom IPA in the summer. Each of theses styles and recipes were chosen to be well suited for the time of the year which they came out. Moreover, the focus was on drinkability which has made for some unique versions of these popular styles.

In early 2005 we decided to voyage further into the world of craft brewed beer styles and created the Cyclone Series. Similar to the storms they honor, these Cyclones are powerful, unique, and pass through quickly. We consider these beers "extreme", because each one is either aggressively hopped, unusually flavorful, or high in alcohol, or has some combination of these characteristics. Each Cyclone is brewed with an original recipe for a less common beer style making them incredibly unique. They are then packaged into bottles only and shipped out in six packs. Since we are only making 1300 cases of each Cyclone, they do not last long. Also, just like the real storms that prowl the Atlantic each year, these beers are named with human names, starting with Alyssa, and continuing alphabetically from there.

Finally, once a year our brewers are given the opportunity to make something completely different from anything that has been made before. Ignoring all previous recipies, and brewing continuously for days results in been a unique high alcohol (11-12% abv), complex product that is like nothing else on the market. Named for the year it is brewed ('00, '01, '02, etc.) this beer is packaged in cobalt blue, 750ml, corked, wine-style bottles and aged a year until it is released. A little bit of yeast is left in the bottle to naturally carbonate it and help it condition over time. Each year we see a new recipe and only 3000 total bottles. While most of these bottles are released and quickly snatched up, some have been kept for aging up to 10 years as this is a product that grows better with age. If you manage to get your hands on some think carefully about how patient you are before you walk out without getting an extra bottle to make up for the one you were planning on saving.