In Reply To #1 Good to hear. There is an ever expanding beer universe out there, take advantage. And please respect your local breweries, they need everyone's support. And now for a mini-rant. It seems that beer nerds like to try something new all the time. Your local breweries are suffering because of this. Make your fallback beer a local, for me it's Cottrell (as the name implies). By buying local, you're putting money into your own community, instead of some guy in California. This isn't to say I don't try new beers. I try about 2 new beers every week, but I also keep a sixer of something local (Cottrell, Thomas Hooker, Olde Burnside etc) in the fridge. If I hear a local micro is releasing a new beer, I'm in line waiting for it. Most bars around here carry bud/miller/coors, and for an extra buck, a local micro. Spend that extra dollar. Not only will you be benefitting the local industry, but you'll influence the bar into stocking better beer. There's at least one microbrewery in every state. Seek yours out, drink it, enjoy it. Drinking local assures that your beer will be fresh. Drinking a micro assures that your beer has quality stressed over quantity.

In Reply To #2 For a second there I thought you were selling micro brew's. We do have a local brewery, the Elm City Brewery, Co. and I have tried all their stuff. Unfortunately, I only really liked one of the beers and they wouldnt let us buy it because the alcohol content was too high. What's with that?!? They sell these "growlers" of beer for like $10 but wouldnt let us take that one out, ended up buying another one that wasn't very good. Oh well, they keep getting new stuff all the time so I'll keep giving them a try. I called recently and they don't even have the one I liked so much over the winter anymore! Guess I'll have to wait for the winter again for that one.

In Reply To #3 Nope, not selling microbrews... yet. :) I didn't know New Hampshire had an ABV% law. I know Vermont's is 8%, maybe NH's is similar. That's odd that they can sell it in house, but not in growlers. I suspect maybe that's just house policy and not state law. Beers with a higher ABV can get expensive to produce. I've been to Elm City once, and rather liked their IPA and Maibock. Have you tried Smuttynose yet? They're widely distributed, and brewed in Portsmouth, NH. I have yet to get up there for a brewery tour, but I'm willing to bet it's a good tour. I recently tried their Big Beer Series Barleywine. I thought it was extremely well made, and one of the best examples of the style I've seen to date. Keep your eyes peeled for Magic Hat's regular offerings. The regular offerings are very palatable, and great for every day drinking. The brewery is in VT, so you should be able to find it readily in NH. They have a bunch of seasonals which are absolutely exceptional. This year's Thumbsucker Imperial Stout was aged in Jim Beam barrels. Mmm... bourbon Imperial stout..... Next year, they'll be using Maker's Mark barrels.

In Reply To #3 & 4 In many states, brew pubs have special, on-premise consumption licenses. There is often a requirement to have a separate off-premise license to sell beer to go. On top of that, brew-pubs that sell beer to go often have to jump through a few extra hoops to separate their on-premise and off-premise sales. It is possible, therefore, that your local brewpub has not been licensed for off premise sales. See, e.g. Okla. Stat. tit. 37, § 163.7(3)(c), et seq. Beer laws just flat suck.

In Reply To #5 I know the law you're speaking of, Connecticut is growlerless for the time being. New Hampshire doesn't have this law though. They are the lucky ones. Here, our breweries and brewpubs cannot sell growlers directly from the brewery (they CAN package them and sell them to distributors though, as Olde Burnside does). Brewpubs can only sell in house beer, unless they get a separate bottling license. I pray for the day that Main St. Cafe/Willibrew gets the bottling license. World's finest IPAs, I promise. I think my local legislatures throw out mail as soon as they read that the return address from me. I should take that off of there...

In Reply To #3 Is Elm City the brewpub located in a little shopping mall in Keene, NH? My sister lives in Keene and I think I may have gone there last May. I can't remember the details, but it was respectable.

In Reply To #7 Ah, the ol' trusty Beer Compass answered my questions. Yes, I did go to Elm City Brewing