Shipyard Prelude Ale

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

Clear darker brown color with a nice off white thicker than normal head. Aroma is of malts, chocolate, honey, and some yeast. Flavor is of malts, earthiness, roasty, and spices. Not too bad at all. Much better than I was anticipating.

2009 22 oz bottle..hazy deep amber pour,thin off white head ,no lacing. Aroma of caramel and light chocolate notes.Flavor is much like the aroma ,caramel,chocolate,butterscotch with some fruitiness and alcohol. Medium bodied. Finish is very dry and earthy.

12oz bottle. Pours a clear, brown colored body with a tint of amber. Thin, tan head that dissipates quickly and leaves a light lacing. Aroma is malty and earthy. A good amount of toasty caramel cookies, chocolate, and nuts. The hops provide a nice earthiness and give off a light fruit as well. Fairly strong flavor has a nice earthiness and rounded malt body. More toasty caramel cookies up front before a good amount of earth, some spice, and a more noticable roasty flavor comes in. The finish smooths out with some nuts and chocolate before it dries with a light bitterness and roastiness. Lingers for a lengthy duration. Medium body, smooth, and a moderate carbonation. Overall, a tasty holiday beer. A pleasant hoppy roast with a nice malt and spice balance. Not bad at all.

Prelude to what? Nice dark amber with a small lasting head. Aroma is earthy malt, bread. Flavor starts malty sweet with some hop bitterness to follow. Nice dry finish. Pretty good.

On tap: Somewhat brownish color. Tannish head. Aroma was mostly of nutty malts. Tasted rather nutty with a whole lot of malts. However, I would argue that there were not enough... for the beer still had a somewhat boozy taste, regardless of the fact that there is not really that much alcohol in it. Got a few spices and all too. Body was medium as one would expect.

Nice dark color with poured. Off white foam head that is small and sparse. Nice roasted nut aroma. The flavor is that of nuts and dark chocolate. A very nice Christmas beer.

Rouge red colors, like a watered-down Coca-Cola. Big puffy head. Glassy and clear given its depth. The aroma is good, pungent and slighly sweet, almost like a barleywine. Strong alcohol smell. Hint of dark grape sweetness. Very pungent sweet grape with lots of alcohol. Like a light barleywine. Very sweet, very strong. Bitter barleymalt balances it. Spicy with some apparent ginger. Minor dry yeast. Feels thick and chewy. Has a liqueur burn on the way down. Syrupy. Strong, sweet loaded with alcohol. Really a fine beer.

Date: August 08, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Ticker
Appearance: clear brown, fine beige head, streaks of lace
Aroma: sweet chocolate and caramel aroma, touch of fruityness, light balancing earthyness
Flavor: sweet caramel flavor, touch of chocolate, light fruityness, light balancing bitterness
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4