Shipyard Fuggles IPA

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

Pours from the bottle to a bright orange-red color with off-white head tha t kingers through mid-glass and okay lacing. Strong hop aroma, with grass and a hint of citrus (grapefruit). Flavor is less fruit and more grassy hops. Palate is dry and somewhat bitter, although I found it to be a very enjoyable beer.

Orange hops aroma, orange/amber, a finger of white foam head. Citrusy hops flavour, some light malt. Hoppy, bitter. Decent version.

A slightly hazy dark gold/amber pour, with a white foamy head. Nice hops aroma with a decent hops bitter. A decent maltiness with a creamy smooth mouthfeel. Just a little light for an IPA. A decent beer.

From the bottle.

Pours a light orange-amber with an explosive frothy head. The aroma is peach and cut hay, a bit of lemon and a hint of whisky and a (not too distracting or offensive) whisper of sour stale spilled beer.

On the front end of each sip, the flavor is almost surprisingly laid back; a relatively thin if exceptionally drinkable palate augments the impression. But in the midrange and finish, this beer comes into its own, and it’s a delight. Warm, mildly sweet malts weave in and around lemon peel and hay hops, laying out an intriguing and never overly aggressive array of flavors in dynamic succession. The finish is long, almost delicately bitter on the tail end. I’m really warming up to this beer - it’s a summer quaffing IPA, not a winter warming IPA, for sure, and the lighter, less oily mouthfeel helps a lot here, as does the texture of the not-overwhelming hop bitterness and the not-in-your-face malt sweetness.

Obviously a single-hop fuggles IPA is not going to come out with PacNW c-hop guns-a-blazin’, no matter where it is brewed, and this one is no surprise in that regard. But I wonder if many missed this in the ratings, which surprise me what for being so low. If you go in expecting a Diamond Knot or Stone competitor, of course this falls short. If you go in letting it shine as its own beer, you’ve got a lovely almost British style IPA on your hands. Enjoy it!

A very nice IPA..seems to me to be a slightly hoppier version of the Shipyard Export Ale.

Amber color with big head. Smell of hops, flowers and baby powder. Taste os light hops, citrus and a sour bitterness. Not a good IPA for my taste buds.

Haven’t a shipyard for a while, and I am not sure if I ever had it on draft but had this one (3) on the Blue Mermaid Deck in Portsmouth and it was delicious. All the normalness of an IPA but that tasty malt backing seemed to even it out and make it better almost stand out good.

Amber, white head, prominent hop aroma, flavor starts up with sweet caramel malt, then a pleasant moderate hop finish, hit the spot on a 90degree day.