Shipyard Brewers Choice Special Ale Brown Ale (05-06, 09-)

Brewed by Shipyard Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Portland, Maine USA

From bottle. Nice mahogany colour with a thin head. Smooth syrupy texture. Earthy with hints of oak aged barrels. Smooth and sweet and not really on the bitter side but still very enjoyable.

Found this today in NH - it has apparently been brought out of retirement for a limited time only. From a 12 oz bottle this poured reddish brown with a tan head. Aroma was definitely malty with lots of dark fruits/raisin and toffee. Taste was primarily raisin with same malty follow up as well as some caramel and toffe. Different than some of the other brown ales I have had recently - good brew. Not overly carbonated like some brown ales tend to be.

Tap at OTH. A nice change from the regular brown ale version. Pours ruby/brown with light mocha head. Aroma was malty, dark fruits, bready notes and nice roasted malts. Taste, some banana came forward as it warmed up, light roasted malts and caramel. Good stuff.

cask @ redlight redlight (i think its come out of retirement!) Nice chocolatey aroma caramelized sugars with spicy notes. Pours a cloudy amber brown with a very thick off white head. Very smooth brown ale. Good chocolatey and caramelly malt flavors shinning through with a crisp and spicy hop bite, with a smooth caramelly sweet finish. Pretty solid brown ale one of my favorites from Shipyard glad they brought it back!

Sampled in early 2005: I’ve never really been a big fan of Shipyard beers but this is one of their better one’s. $5 a six pack is a very affordable price, although I wouldn’t want to pay much more for their offerings. They also have a tendency of using the word "Special" in many of their beers. Maybe because they are a rather average brewer they have to use it to try and pump up their selections. Either way... This pours a dark brown, almost amber tinted beer. Topped with a nice amount of foamy head. Malty aroma with a malty, slightly sweet, roasted flavor. Some chocolate hints in there as well. I guess this is a brand new beer that is going to be released on a limited basis in the northeast that started February, 2005.

From the cask at Rossi’s it poured a chocolate brown color with a thin off white head that left minimal lacing around the glass. The aroma was of sweet and bitter chocolates, nuts, and roasted caramel malt. The flavor shows much the same with milk chocolate, nuts, caramel, and some bittering from hops on the back end. This is more full bodied and roasted than their regular brown ale. This had a nice smooth finish of caramel and chocolate with a touch of hops. This is drinking really well right now and was very solid coming off the beer engine. I am glad I got to try this.

2006 bottling, BB 07/06. Poured clear, darker copper with an explosive cap of beige head (1" liquid, 6" head). The aroma picked up dusty sweeter chocolates and cocoa with a bit of English floral notes.. definitely some sourness creeping in due to age. The flavor was quite tasty.. sweeter chocolate, light molasses, brown sugar, and vanilla with rising vinegary tartness toward the back (managed to compliment the maltage rather well).. sweeter finish with a mild herbal bitterness. Lighter-bodied and smooth across the middle of the palate.. light bitterness and some sour notes toward the back. Held up better than it probably should have, but doesn’t have much (if any) life left.

Pours a clear dark copper mahogany with a spotty-lacing, small frothy tan head. Has a sweet toasty, bready caramel malt aroma with some nuttiness. Body starts slightly fizzy revealing some more sweet toasty darker malts and earthy English hops before a drier, sticky bitter finish. Could be smoother and better balanced.