WHYM Craft Beer Cafe, Portsmouth, NH
When people think of Portsmouth, NH, they think of the bustling downtown area. The location of Portsmouth on the water brings tourists every year to shop, eat, and drink. What a lot of tourists don't know is that you can find amazing, and sometimes better, food and drink outside of the downtown area. If you take the short drive out of the city, and cruise down Route 1, you can find many more restaurants and bars.We needed to kill sometime before meeting friends for drinks in downtown, so we decided to eat some dinner. Derek found WHYM Craft Beer Cafe (a restraunt on Route 1) on Four Square. The reviews and the the menu looked good to us. We wanted some good craft beer.
When we pulled up to the restraunt, it didn't look like much. Nestled in beside a motel, it's hard to find. Tourists would only find it if they were looking for it, as it's not as easy to find when just driving down Route 1.
We walked into the the restraunt and automatically liked the atmosphere. Very much a local's bar, beer bottles and bar decor lined the walls and shelves. Derek and I took a look at the craft beer menu. I ordered the Founders Mango Magnifico and Derek ordered the Firestone Walker, Easy Jack IPA.
Wow, Was my Mango Magnifico good! I would rate this as one of the better beers I have had. It started with the sweet mango taste, and ended with a spicy kick of habanero. I will need to find this beer to enjoy for another occasion, because only having it once in my life would be a let down. Derek also enjoyed his beer. Derek said it was incredible, and said it was one of his favorite IPAs ever. His tasting notes were that it was crisp and refreshing, a crushable IPA that was well balanced with a bitter finish.
We decided to grab some food. Though the menu wasn't large, there were many good things on it. Derek ordered the House Made Pretzels and I ordered the Mussels and Frites.
Derek liked his pretzels. They were good and light. They were not a heavy dough, and Derek said it was perfect for the level of hungry that he was. He opted to only get the Sriracha Aoili, even though they also normally come with a Gouda stout cheese and hopped honey mustard. The pretzels were $7, and he got 3 pretzels for that price, a good deal.
The Mussels and Frites were great. Growing up in Maine, I love fresh shellfish, so I enjoyed this plate. Only $15 on the menu, the mussels were made with garlic, pancetta, fresh herbs and witbier reduction.I loved the addition of the pancetta, as I have never seen this before with mussels in the northeast. The mussels were fresh and cooked to perfection. The frites were also good. I dipped them in Derek's Sirachi mayo, and shared half of my frites with him.
Derek decided to get one more beer before headed out. He decided on the Newburyport Brewing Company Meltaway Session IPA. He also liked this beer. He said it was nice and bitter with a medium body and hops throughout.
We were very pleased with our experience at WHYM Craft Beer Cafe. This is definitely a place more people need to check out, both locals and tourists. The place radiated what real New Hampshire is all about, good craft beer, great food, and good service.
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