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MULTIMEDIA »  Video: A tour of the Smuttynose Brewing Co. Portsmouth, NH Video by Deb Cram

Take a tour of the Brewery! Where: 225 Heritage Ave, Portsmouth When: Tours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., by appointment only. Cost: Free For information: Call Smuttynose at 436-4026, or visit the Web site at www.smuttynose.com

It’s only 9 a.m., and the air is thick with the smell of beer. The floor is wet just about everywhere, and bottle caps line some choice parts of the floor.

Of course, at the Smuttynose Brewing Company in Portsmouth, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

The machines already whir, the steam rises through the air and, all around, brewers are hard at work on their craft.

David Yarrington, the executive brewer, leads the way through vats and kegs, over hoses and pipes, in puddles and mist clouds. The layout of the room is surprisingly simple, though the processes are complex.

Yarrington opens some large tubs with labels like "wheat," "Munich," and "Pale Brewer’s." They brim with what looks like cereal, though they are the different kinds of barley that make up the beer.

They will go to the miller, which will crack them open and expose the starch. When the grains are put into a mash, the starch is broken down into sugar.

"At this point, I’ve got the sugars I need, I’ve got the color I want, but without the next ingredient, the hops, the beer would be very sweet," Yarrington says. "They add a balancing element to the beer."

The hops, which look like big Brussels sprouts, add flavor, aroma, and bitterness.

Next up is the bottling line, which has the ability to mesmerize. Bottles and bottles flow down the line, getting filled with beer that has been cooled to 38 degrees, then nitrogen, which looks like fog as it comes off a lake in the morning. The bottles receive caps, labels, a wash or two, and then are put in boxes, ready to be sold.

"It requires a lot of attention," Yarrington says of the equipment, some of which dates back to the 1950s, with technology from the 1920s.

Where Budweiser can bottle more than 2,000 bottles per minute, Yarrington’s "beer museum" can get up to 40.

Yarrington grabs a bottle off the assembly line, condensation drips off its fresh, colorful blue and yellow label. As if it were second nature, he whips a bottle opener out of his pocket. The bronze cap with the Smuttynose seal pops off the bottle, and there is no hesitation. Yarrington tastes the flavor of a fresh Portsmouth lager.

It is only 9:14 on a Monday morning.

"I’m OK with that," he says with a laugh.

No one else at the bottling station seems to mind, either. Today, there is bigger business. The company’s new fermenter is ready to be put into place, and Yarrington is not alone with excitement.

Owner Peter Egelston, ready to drop the metal vat into place, shows up with Olive, whom he calls the biggest animal model in New England. An old brown dog, she is the picture on the label, as well as the namesake, for her own brand of beer. She follows Egelston around, able to maneuver through the plant like a pro.

Egelston is not as lucky.

"They don’t let me do much anymore," he says with a smile. "Except when they need me to climb something. I’m the only one who isn’t afraid of heights."

He will come in handy today. Egelston heads outside with Yarrington, where they converse with the crane operator. Points are marked on the concrete surface where the fermenter will go.

Egelston climbs to the top of his new toy and secures the chains, which are lifted by the crane over to the concrete base. After some careful measurement, both he and Yarrington deem everything in the right place.

They both step back and admire the shiny, new 6,000-gallon vessel. They beam with excitement, but only for a few minutes.

There’s more beer to be made, after all.