Shipyard Fuggles IPA

Brewed by Shipyard Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Portland, Maine USA

Bottle: I had my doubts about this one... now I know that Fuggle hops are not my favorites. Funky flavors, licorice? Food Pairing: Licorice?

Cloudy pale amber with a lasting white head. Weak grassy hop aroma. Sweet malty flavour with grassy hops and a medium bitterrness

Bottle from a mixed 6. Aroma is pretty non-existent, some flowers and grassy hops. Taste is realy thin, spicy apples. certainly trends more like an APA than an IPA, but even at that, the hop character is weak and muddled. Watery finish. Not a great one.

12 oz bottle. I’ve had this before and was rather unimpressed then, but this time around it’s not as bad as i remember. Still, not the most spectacular ipa I’ve ever had. It has a rather light and fruity aroma from the style, with light fruit cocktail, minor spicy floral, pears, straw grains, and white bread. Pour was fairly basic with a light layer of standard white head, little retention, medium-light appearing body, and burnt golden orange in color. Semi-watery body initially that becomes stickier with slightly too much off bitter in it for an ipa. Again, a little too much fruitiness to this ipa with out a lot of good solid hop bitter. Maybe this has to do with the hop selection. Apples, pears, fruit cocktail syrup, light indistinct citrus, caramel, bread, and straw grains in the flavor notes. So in the end, I have to say that I’m all about experiments with single hops in ipas, but after trying this one, I’m just not sure that Fuggles is the right man for the job. Respect for the idea, not for the production.

Location: 12 oz bottle from Total Wine in Richmond poured into a pint glass, 7/6/09

Aroma: Light aroma, almost no smell to this one
Appearance: Lightly hazy copper color, almost no head
Flavor: Flavor is a little better then the nose, some fruitiness up front and a pretty light hop bitterness for an IPA
Palate: Kind of an odd finish that messes up the palate for me, decent mouthfeel, a little overly carbonated for my tastes as well, and somewhat sticky
Overall Impression: Wasn’t a huge fan here, didn’t really find the crisp refreshing hoppiness that I look for in an IPA, instead I got a beer with a limited nose and an odd finish to the palate. I’m usually a big IPA fan, but this is one of my least favorite IPAs that I have tried...Alright beer, but for this stlye? Eh...

Pours a copper color with a thin white head. Aroma is citrus, a bit of biscuit and some malt sweetness. Flavor has some good hops bitterness and that biscuit pops up again with kind of a strange but not unpleasant sweetness at the back end. Single hops variety beers are neat, but I think some hops lend themselves a bit better to these kinds of experiments.

Just haven’t been a fan of anything that these guys put out. Copper pour with a 1/2 inch ivory head. Very faint aroma, medium mouthfeel, and subtle flavor. Just nothing worth buying again.

Cloudy copper color with a soapy white head. Aroma of citrus and hops. On the palate-more sweet than bitter. Lots of grapefruit. Strange flavor for an IPA.