Ringwood Old Thumper (USA)

Brewed by Shipyard Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Portland, Maine USA

Bottle. Nice malt backbone, biscuits notes. Nothing extra special, but a good session brew.

Cask @ the Abbey Brewing Co. Copper color., creamy white head. Aroma is very nutty, caramel. Flavor is mild, caramel, and even a little fruity. So mellow. Perfect session with friends. Thank you Beershine. 24FEB08

I had this on cask from the beer engine, which usually really elevates my opinion of a beer...but with this beer it was elevated to merely OK, which makes me doubtful how good it would be when NOT on the beer engine. However, my experience with it was alright, but not far above average, if at all. Appearance was quite good - gold and clear with a nice 3 cm head. Aroma didn’t have a lot to it...if I sniffed really hard and deeply I got just a touch of hoppy non-descript fruitiness. Flavor was more of the same. Some non-descript bitterness, nicely balanced, but with only a wiff of fruitiness. Not much really all that exciting in there. Mouthfeel was pretty dry but unremarkable. I wouldn’t really recommend this beer. Nothing against it, I just didn’t find anything particularly special in that glass. I had this from the beer engine at Abbey Brewing in Miami Beach.

Had hand-pulled cellar temp at Abbey. As good a pour as can be. Gold with thick even head leaving nice lacing rings. Aroma is bland. Flavors are clean with good fruit pit bitterness and some peachy and banana fruitiness to balance the crisp hop afterbite. Nice!
Rating from bottle: 5-4-7-3-12. Nice golden color leaves lacing even on a plastic taster cup. Smell is a little chlorine. Straightforward and not a bad beer but the bottle version is a different beast.

Feb. 2007 - Beer poured a pale brown, decent head and lacing. Strong aroma of buttery diacetyl. I don’t mind a little of it, but the flavor was sickly and buttery. If this were a true perishable good, I’d be afraid to consume it. Some hop bitterness at the end as well.

Bottle. Pours hazy orange with a lacy pale yellow head. Just a skosh of aroma, mostly grass but a bit of fruit as well. Medium body and fine carbonation. Peachy toffee taste. Lightly bitter finish with a hint of soap around the edges. Pretty good, aside from the soap thing.

Holy crap this is awful. Aroma was grass and metal. Pour was nice. A very deep amber with a thin off white ring for a head. Taste was very malty and metallic. Caramel in and out but the metal is just too strong to overcome. Sweet malty aftertaste. LIttle to no carbonation round out this mess. Blah.

Tap at Crickateer Arms. Pours a nice amber with a thin head in pint glass (what happen to the imperial pint glasses?) Aroma is very faint, but had a fruit, hop, and yeast in there. Taste is smooth and malty, balanced well with the english hops. Sneaky strong, also. Very nice.