PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The beach and beer are two summer favorites.
Now, they’re coming together at the Portsmouth Brewery where they have developed a craft brew called Selkie. It is flavored with seaweed.
Just off the New Hampshire coast, University of New Hampshire research scientist Michael Chambers is growing sugar kelp on a platform that covers about an eighth of an acre.
“Seaweed is actually the largest grown product in the world right now," said Chambers.
Chambers' research is bringing together three complimentary species on that platform. There is steelhead trout, which is a fast-growing fish that resembles salmon. The kelp, as well as blue mussels, work as bio filters for the fish and minimize the impact on the environment.
This is an example of aquaculture, which is basically a form of farming the ocean.
“It could be fish. It could be a shrimp. It could be a sea vegetable. It could be an oyster,” said Chambers.
Aquaculture is more popular internationally right now. It’s estimated that about half of the world’s fish people consumer is harvested this way.
“The population increases at such an abundancy, it’s hard to produce food for everybody on this planet,” said Chambers.
Portsmouth head brewer Matt Gallagher added kelp to a Scottish ale that had some natural sweetness to create Selkie. The idea came from a co-worker who had tried a similar brew while overseas.
“The biggest challenge was figuring out how I was going to balance the salty, briny flavor I was expecting to get out of the seaweed, into a beer that actually tasted good,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher likes the idea that he’s based in a coastal community and can draw upon natural resources in his own backyard, so to speak.
“Absolutely, I mean it’s wonderful just to support a local endeavor and a local industry that I think there’s nothing but a ton of potential for . . . and everybody wants to come to Portsmouth for a cup of chowder, and now they can drink some seaweed too!”
As the industry catches on, Chambers is hoping local fishermen will start to embrace sea farming. He believes it could help one of the area’s oldest industries thrive in the future.
“They already have the boats. They have the docks. They know how to handle seafood. It makes sense for them to be early adopters of this technology.”
The team of UNH researchers also goes into the community and runs culinary workshops to help educate people on how these new food sources can be used.
There will be at an event at the Portsmouth Brewery on June 13 for a five-course meal that will be accompanied by plenty of Selkie beer and a presentation by the scientists.