Shipyard Fuggles IPA

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

12 oz bottle. Light amber color with nice head retention leaving lacing in a tulip. Maybe I just don’t care for Fuggles as a sole hop. I found this ipa to be bland and without much zip. Starts off malty enough and as you hit the point where you want some hop to balance it out, the hops shows up non chalantly. The slight bitterness does nothing to distract from a strange flavored beer.

Huge fluffy head, light orange beer. Descent hoppy flavor. Nothing special here. Has all the characteristics of an IPA, but just average.

Orange beer with olive shine; yellowish-orange head, not lasting. Creamy nose, bit dull, spicey. It’s definitely Fuggles; with some decent American hop in this concentration, aroma had gone trough the roof. Snif. A bit honeyish. Quite bitter taste, but uniform, unidimensional. Just a little crystal malt, toasted maybe underneath. Bitterness diminishes gradually, fading with no new aftertaste. Bit burning MF, light to medium bodied. Empty palate for an IPA. Timid, apart from the bitterness. Americans, leave the Fuggles/Goldings and above all the Maris Otter to the Brits. There’s enough of that dead-boring stuff around.

Very fruity aroma, some toasy/bready malt, a little spicy hop character. Hazy copper color, thin off-white head. Mild flavor, mix of fruity esters, bready malt, and spicy hops, kind of watery, mild bitterness in the finish. Medium body, medium-low carbonation. Definitely what you’d call an English-style IPA, and a not-very-interesting one at that.

Bottle. This one came from Kaggie97 in a huge shipment. Pours a cloudy, hazy, dark golden color with a big head that falls quickly. Not much in the nose here. Let’s begin. This one tastes like the nice Fuggles hop that they put into it. Very English IPA here and good crisp dry bite in the palate. Nice medium body and an enjoyable flavor. Not really malty, but still has nice balance and mouthfeel. I like it, but it won’t knock your socks off. Good session beer! Thanks Kevin!

Orangey body smells, to borrow a phrase from Bpai Horngnam, like "grain fungus." Palate is watery and soda-poppy. There are far too many impressive IPAs out there to bother drinking this one.

Not sure this is the right beer, but it’s the only shipyard IPA i see. I had this on cask at the Cricketer’s Arms in Orlando, FL, where the bartender said it was brewed by shipyard specifically for the bar. I’m assuming it’s the same beer, but whatever. I was further put into doubt by the fact that the beer I tasted hardly felt like an IPA. Very very mild, smooth, and much more like a pale ale. Low hop bite, but pretty drinkable. Re-rate: had this in Maine several times when visiting the various shipyard incarnations. This was the only beer of theirs that I could stand. It’s clear gold, mild malty aroma. caramel, hint of roast? noble hopping throughout. a VERY mild IPA.

Bottle: pours light orange/yellow with a small white head. Light grassy hop aroma. Flavor is pretty hoppy but not in a good way. I guess I don’t like Fuggles as the only hop. I prefer the citric/piney hops in my IPA’s. Bitter finish.