A hulking, black file cabinet sits in the Smuttynose Brewery office on Heritage Avenue in Portsmouth. It’s long enough and wide enough to hold large architectural drawings and geo-technical surveys. Most of the drawers are labeled with small, white markers. On one of the bottom drawers, a label reads, “Newmarket, Kittery, Lafayette Plans.” This is the archive. At the top, another label reads “Towle Farm Plans.” Smuttynose owner Peter Egelston reaches into this drawer for renderings of the new facility he wants to build in Hampton.

Egelston’s latest proposal represents his third serious attempt to build a new home for the Seacoast brewery. Over the last several years, he has explored potential sites throughout the region, fixing his gaze on spots in Dover, Epping, Exeter and Kittery, Maine. In Newmarket, he proposed renovating the old mill buildings along the Lamprey River. When that deal fell through, he approached Portsmouth with plans to build on Lafayette Road. After a stormy and impassioned permitting process, that deal fell apart last May.

“It was clear at that point that Portsmouth had effectively slammed the door on us,” said Egelston, who also owns the Portsmouth Brewery on Market Street. In August, the 17-acre site on Towle Farm Road in Hampton became available, and Egelston thinks it is the best site yet. “Portsmouth did us a favor by closing the door in our face,” he said.

Walking through the current facility, which is located on secluded property off of Route 1, it’s easy to see why Smuttynose needs a new home. Every square foot is jammed with brewing equipment, and long hoses snake under 50-gallon tanks. To navigate this labyrinth, you must step over drains, duck under metal stairways and squeeze past a piping hot boiler. When tours pass through every Thursday and Friday, some visitors find the chaos charming, but Egelston finds it frustrating.

“The more you grow, the more the inefficiencies grow with you,” he said. “This structure was designed to be all things to all people.” 

Over the last six years, Smuttynose has experienced an annual growth rate of around 20 percent. In 2006, the brewery produced over 15,000 barrels of brew, bumping it up from microbrewery status to regional independent brewery status. “It’s a recognition of our longevity and achievement. It shows our brand has put down some roots,” Egelston said.

The brewery now distributes as far south as Virginia and as far west as Wisconsin. In 2007, Smuttynose produced nearly 18,000 barrels and, in 2008, Egelston hopes to exceed 20,000 barrels. These numbers have translated into a need for more space.

Spread across a wooden table in Egelston’s office, the Towle Farm plans show a new 43,000 square-foot brewery, with an additional 7,000 square feet for a restaurant. From Towle Farm Road, visitors would turn onto a steep driveway leading up to the brewery, which is situated on a knoll. Guests would park on the right side of the building and enter through a central courtyard. Once inside, large windows would reveal the bottling line. Visitors could then either turn left toward the restaurant or right toward the tasting room, where tours would begin. 

Last week, Egelston and his crew presented their initial proposal to the Hampton Planning Board. The response was positive, and Egelston looks forward to working with town officials. “It’s refreshing to work with officials that are encouraging and enthusiastic,” he said. 

When Egelston first started looking at sites in Portsmouth, he knew the city’s strict zoning laws would be difficult to navigate. But, after speaking with city officials, he was encouraged to look anyway. Eventually, he settled on a site on Lafayette Road, which he described as a “desolate wasteland for many, many years.” 

Egleston’s plan to build a LEED-certified, mixed use facility would have improved the site, he said. It also would have spruced up one of the city’s main arterial roads—a provision that many city officials had been calling for. However, Egelston had unwittingly walked into what he called a “toxic” political situation.

“There was this long and bitter history between residents and the way the property has been abused over the years. I don’t know if it mattered what we were going to propose there,” he said. When Lafayette Road residents raised objections, a number of city councilors stood up against the proposal and the issue became a political football.

With the benefit of hindsight, Egelston recognizes several factors that worked against his proposal to build on Lafayette: “My naiveté, a certain level of cynical opportunism from local politicians and the long and bitter history of the property,” he said. “I sympathize with the residents, but it was still disappointing.”

When the Portsmouth City Council voted down his proposal, an unexpected outcome emerged. Egelston became more committed than ever to the original criteria that motivated his search for a new facility in the first place. With Portsmouth, the restaurant aspect of his proposal had been dictating the rest of the project, which made Egelston apprehensive. Looking beyond Portsmouth was difficult, but it gave Smuttynose a chance to reassess its priorities.

“We needed to shake loose this Portsmouth-centric attitude. With a little bit of space and distance, I could see things more clearly,” Egelston said.

The new facility was designed with four important goals in mind. It had to be bigger than the current facility, it had to be a more efficient space, the facility had to be more energy efficient and it had to be something that could be shared with the public. Egelston calls the brewery proposed for Hampton a “purpose-built facility.”

The site on Towle Farm Road is within Hampton’s industrial zone, meaning Smuttynose can propose a light manufacturing and commercial facility without applying for any special permits, Egelston said. The original Towle Farm house and barn still sit on the site. Egelston has proposed moving the house to another location on the property and incorporating the barn into the restaurant component of the brewery. The location is fairly rural. “We’re doing our best to maintain as much of the natural beauty as we can,” Egelston said.

The perimeter of the property is lined with wetlands. Under Hampton zoning law, structures must observe a setback of 50 feet from wetlands. But, in order to meet LEED standards, the new facility must have a setback of at least 100 feet. Egelston is also looking into permeable asphalt for the parking lot, a rainwater catch system and a cogeneration system, which could capture excess heat and recycle it back into the brewery.

“Building a green facility is in line with the company’s values and works well from a business standpoint,” Egelston said. “We’re striving for a higher level of LEED certification, maybe silver or gold.”

In 2009, Smuttynose will celebrate its 15th anniversary. That same year, Egelston hopes to start constructing the new facility in Hampton. The construction process should take about a year. So, by early 2010, Smuttynose might finally have a new home.