FollowWon a Shipyard prize at George Hamm’s, Hamm and Turkey too event.
I appreciate the opener and pint glasses. I just wish they made better beer. In the great beer town of Portland, Maine it’s both the biggest brewer by far and easily the worst.
Currently drinking a Prelude one of the two 22oz beers in the prize, Shipyard’s winter ale and its frankly disappointing. Oddly spicy and malty with poor balance. 78/C+
The other 22oz is their flagship Shipyard Export which is probably my favorite beer of those but still an 84/B. Nice, but not exceptional.
Part of Shipyard’s issue is that they only go with Ringwood yeast which provides a very similar almost cereal flavor to their beers. To me the Ringwood yeast makes many of their beers taste similar including the ones they contract brew for Gritty’s, Trader Joe’s (the Kennebunkport line) and Atlantic Brewing (much better if from Bar Harbor).
I also don’t much care for their Applehead spring beer, which I find very gassy and sweet. Nor do I like the Pumpkinhead which is Shipyard’s biggest seller in the fall which is incredibly sweet.
In a great beer town they are good, which is just not good enough.
I am thinking about going to the Beer Blogging Conference in Boston next year and plan to highlight breweries and beers throughout the year. Let me know what you like and feel free to give comments.