Sea Dog Old East India Pale Ale

Brewed by Sea Dog Brewing (Shipyard Brewing Co.)
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Topsham, Maine USA

Aroma: Where are the hops? Some light toasted malt, some green-apple. Appearance: Almost no head, attractive amber color. Clear. Flavor: Where are the hops? This IPA is big on malt, which is kind of out of style but the malt profile here is tasty. Toasty, caramelly, it has it all. Just not enough hops. Palate: Enough bitterness to balance the malt sweetness, no problems here. Overall: Not a bad beer, more of an English style IPA than american. The maltiness is solid and tasty, but when you lable yourself and IPA I want a little more hops.

Bottle. 12 fl. oz. A dark amber color with small off-white head. Light sweet, hoppy aroma. Flavor starts out sweeter and more malty than expected and ends with a tart, dry, finish. Not your typical IPA, but not too bad.

Bottle at KClingers. Tea-colored amber with hardly any head at all. Little aroma, either. Tart to the tongue, also kinda like tea with a hoppy twist. Pretty unremarkable ... can’t get past the tea analogy with this one. (#3012, 7/6/2007)

Pours a deep copper with nice light tan head. It has a malty aroma with medium roasted malts and a bit of biscuit. There’s also a bready note that goes well with the malty aroma. I only get a faint vague hop smell behind the malts and bread. Like the aroma this beer has a hefty malt taste for an IPA. I taste roasted caramelized malts, some biscuit malts, some Melanoidin malts and a malt astringency. Competing with the malts is a grapefruit hop bitterness that seems to be at odds with the malts. In the background is a bready note that soaks up the rest of the flavor. This is a nice beer but it doesn’t really work for me. Maybe less astringency and some late addition hopping might blend the flavors a bit more.

Bottle. Pours dark amber with very thick off-white head. Diacetyl nose (eww). Flavor is all green apple diacetyl, with a tiny resinous hop bitterness in the background. Lightly bitter finish.

Caramel malt aroma with feint spicy hops. Pours orange copper color. Smooth caramel malts, nice fruity hops, some citrus. A pretty decent session ipa.

Bottle rating… but the draft I had at the brewpub last year was best.

Dark copper body, tall ivory head. The aroma is largely fruity, red apples, pears, plum, apricots… followed by the quintessential Ringwood yeastiness. Some spicy spruice like hops to help round things together… the bottle was just not as tasty as I remember the draft and cask being.

(Bottle) Pours an amber color with a small white head. Aroma of moderate citrus from the hops, along with a heavy toffee and biscuit from the malt base. One of the maltier IPAs I’ve had. Not particularly bitter, but overall not too bad.