Shipyard Sets Sail

Hello all!

Today we've got one of the more popular of the craft breweries (at least in New England), Shipyard Brewing Company.  A brewery with it's roots grown deep in Maine, the brewery has some serious success throughout the country and is able to boast a 38 state market.  That's no small feat for a craft brewery and today I picked up their flagship (no pun intended) beer, the Shipyard Export Ale.

Shipyard Export is hard to miss on your local liquor store's shelf.  It's label is very matter-of-fact and looks classy not cheesy.  Shipyard Brewing Company provides some great in-depth information on each of their brews, including a specific breakdown of hops, yeast, and malt used. It's described as lightly sweet, subtle, and clean at the finish. Do they pull it off?

Ignoring the strange curvature of this photo, the color is really quite pretty. It's sharp and golden color is inviting and it is devoid of smell. On first taste you'll want to draw comparisons to a flagship ale of one of the Big 3. However, take some more time with it. It's definitely refreshing, but there is a lot of subtle flavor to discover. There are slight citrus undertones with the sweetness, quite flavorful but homely simple all in the same.

Maybe not full in flavor, but easy to drink with plenty of flavor to last throughout the glass.  Maybe the name is affecting me, but this really is the perfect beer for a clam boil. I'm comfortable in giving it a UK PINTRS rating, as it is a great flagship ale for a brewery that has a lot of depth. Consider this a nice tip to a bigger iceberg.

A Placid IPA

Hello all!  We're going back to Lake Placid Brewing Company to give their Lake Placid IPA a shot. Again, I recommend checking out their website as the story behind the brewery, especially their Ubu Ale, is pretty cool.

The IPA selection from Lake Placid Brewing Company has the same logo as their Ubu Ale but with color variations.  I'm partial to how they've designed the labels across their selections as it makes them very recognizable regardless which beer but is also subtle enough to differentiate from the four selections they offer.

The IPA has very little smell after pouring, with a large head that settles quickly.  It's color is a darker-than-amber variation in the IPA category. Lake Placid Brewing Company describes this IPA as overloaded with American hops. If by overloaded they mean tame, then yes. Seriously, this IPA is much more refreshing than I originally expected and was somewhat light on the hops.  This could be the kind of American hops used (sorry, no further information there). In either case, they did successfully manage to create a balanced IPA. Along with the balance is a pleasant but slight malt sweetness.

There isn't much else going on in this IPA but I think as IPAs go it's a nice selection to have, especially for the casual IPA drinker.  It's hard to pull off a subtle and flavorful IPA.  Not quite as good as it's Ubu Ale, the Lake Placid IPA earns itself a UK PINTRS score.