Ringwood Old Thumper (USA)

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

Bottle: Poured a medium brown color ale with an average size head with average retention. Aroma of light caramel malt with a weird yeasty flavour which kind of clash with the malt. Taste is mostly dominated by semi-weak malt with some weird yeast finish which doesn’t really fits well. I wasn’t too fond of this one but it seems to be a recurring theme with my taste buds and Shipyard yeast.

Rated 8/31/06: Good Special Ale here. This is the third offering I’ve had from Shipyard and they all have a similar underlying flavor, but it seems to work best for this ESB. Slightly bitter-sweet aroma buttery and malty, rather calm. Good amber color with a decent off white head and very nice lacing. Creamy and full mouthfeel, finishes nice. Flavor is also bitter-sweet malty and minimally hopped. There are hints of toffee and caramel with that distinguishable Shipyard butterness. Not great but a very good brew for a generally low key style.

On tap. Dark amber colour with a foamy white head. Aroma of bitter hops. Initial taste is creamy with slight bitter hops and malts. Crisp finish with hindering malts and lasting palate. Good lacing and great retention head.

WTF? I obviously am missing something here, or my batch is bad. This ale tastes initially of scorched plastic. Then a little malt and nuttiness sets in. Not bad really, but I was a little surprised; if someone had put this in my mouth without telling me it was some sort of beer, I would have spit it out. A bit o’ hops, and maybe a caramel apple, but shouldn’t an ESB have some bitterness somewhere? This looks nice, and certainly appeals to some people, but it is not what I want in an ESB. I’ll give it a fair rating since it is okay, just not my thing, I guess. Maybe my batch took a turn for the worse since it was labeled as best before this month and sold at roughly half price? I doubt it, but I’m trying to give it a break.

aroma is oranges and slight burnt carmel with a hint of raisins. light amber with off white head. flavor is true to the aroma. carmel malty bitter with citrus floral and undertones of toasted nuts. simple but balanced

12. oz bottle. pours copper color with a thin, bubbly head. has a sweet floral aroma. lightly carbonated and malty with a crisp finish. a mediocre beer

copper color with beige head, it has sweet fruity aroma. the flavor is straightforward, solid esb.

Bottle. Pours a clear copper with a thin white heade. Aroma of nuts, floral hops and from the bottle, bananas. Flavour of malt, sweet fruit. Light body. Not much finish, sweet malt.