Great Rhythm Brewing debuts at the New Hampshire Brew Fest.

Beers came from as far away as Hawaii and California and as close by as Portsmouth and North Hampton at the fourth annual New Hampshire Brew Fest on Saturday, Oct. 6. Forty brewers set up taps under tents outside the Redhook Brewery in Portsmouth, serving up 150 craft beers, some known internationally and some local to the Seacoast.

Among the local breweries in attendance were Redhook, Smuttynose, the Portsmouth Brewery and Throwback Brewery, along with a brand new business called Great Rhythm Brewing Co. Founded by Scott Thornton and Kristen Cokines, the small Portsmouth-based company introduced its Resonation Pale Ale, a dry-hopped American craft brew.

Though currently brewing out of a facility in Ipswich, Mass., Great Rhythm is searching for a physical location in Portsmouth. They plan to make their debut beer available in bottles at Seacoast stores and on draft at local restaurants this month.

As he served up frothy cups of beer at Brew Fest, Thornton said the couple’s interest in craft brewing stems from their passion for seeing live concerts with friends. They were home brewers for years before Scott started brewing commercially.

“We love the music festival scene and a lot of the jam bands, if you will, and craft beer is a really interesting part of that,” Thornton said. “For us, anyways, every time we go out to see shows we love checking out the local brews.”

A few years ago, Thornton started working at Mercury Brewing Company in Ipswich. When the couple decided to launch their own brewing company, they approached Mercury about leasing its brew house and other facilities to make and package beer. They will continue brewing in Massachusetts until they find a suitable location in Portsmouth.

Eventually, that location may include a brewpub with several beers on tap. But, for now, they’re focused on perfecting their pale ale. They brewed a 38-barrel batch of Resonation in September, and they plan to start bottling for distribution this week.

“We’d love to eventually have a brewpub location. But, to start, what we really want to do is we want to focus on the beer,” Thornton said. “We want to be able to really perfect the process at our own brewing facility.” 

With an alcohol content of 5.2 percent, Resonation Pale Ale is a hoppy beer with a citrusy flavor and aroma. It will be available in 22-ounce bottles around New Hampshire, adding to the region’s rapidly growing stock of craft brews.

Based on the turnout at Brew Fest, Great Rhythm should have a ready market. Hundreds of people filed onto the premises in Pease Tradeport for two sampling sessions in the afternoon and evening, sipping craft beers and listening to live music. Proceeds from the event benefit the Prescott Park Arts Festival and the Master Brewers Association.

Great Rhythm Brewing will also be among the 26 breweries featured at the Exeter Powder Keg & Chili Festival at Swasey Parkway on Saturday, Oct. 20.