Shipyard Export Ale

Brewed by Shipyard Brewing Company
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Portland, Maine USA

Bottle sampled with Stegosaurus. Pours a copper-golden color with a white head. Aroma of sweet malts and hops. Flavor was smooth, sweet, caramel. Not bad, i picked this up while I was in Vermont.

If you know what a golden/blond ale truly is this is an outstanding representation of the style. Aroma of light malt. Pour was a dark gold with a nice 2 finger white head. Taste was more tasty than most if not all g/b ales I’ve had. Strong malt gives it an almost buttery taste/texture in the front. Some caramel is in there as well and you’d never guess by it’s lighter color. An ever so slight hoppy aftertaste rounds this beer out.

Rated 5/5/06: Nice refreshing brew, I really enjoyed having a few of these during the warm spring season. Pours a light copper/dirty yellow color with a nice thick head and a good amount of lacing. The aroma is malty with a strong bread scent, mild hops seem to be present. A nice full mouthfeel is pleasing on the palate. The flavor is surprisingly crisp and really seemed to quench my thirst. Strong sweet malt presence backed by some mellow hops, there is a mild buttery taste that is hit or miss with this one. Overall It is rather enjoyable once in a while.

Pours a pilsner straw gold with evanescent thin head; no lacing. Nose is pretty nice, with a sweet pastry, creamy note and grassy, freshly mown hop character. Not sure you can say this is full-bodied, but then again you can’t say it has a distinctive ’hope’ taste either. Thin palate, but with a decent moderate rooty bitterness to balance the mildly citrusy sweetness. Maybe it’s just that I don’t drink this style often, but I found this to be quite drinkable.

Bottle from mixed 12-pack. Pours a golden yellow brown color with a white head. Some lacing along the glass. Initially a sweet and malty aroma. Flavor includes a nice amount of hop bitterness to balance out the sweetness in the malt.

Pours a decent golden brown, with a smoky aroma. Bland and sour flavor, kind of like an IPA, with a bit of a bitter aftertaste. Not great but not horrible either.

Enjoyed from a 12oz bottle in a pub glass. The beer pours a golden color that is slightly darker than straw, but not quite a full, deep, gold. The head is moderate and fairly long-lasting. The aroma gives hints of low-crystal malt, which seems to have been mistaken for diacetyl by some others. There is also a bit of earthy hop tones in the nose, that, along with the malty nose seem to betray the betray the beer as an imitator of Dortmunder Export. The palate seems to put an end to this argument, though, as there is a significant amount of yeast-derived esters, showing English ale strain characters. The palate is at first malty, caramel, light toffee, and some nuttiness; and medium-full across the palate. Hops come in to show a balancing bitterness that is just short of being assertive in its own right. The finish is slightly fruity, with a return to malt characters. Overall, it lacks the complexity of many beers, but complexity and beating you over the head with malt/hops doesn’t seem to be what the brewer was after here.

Poured a rich golden hue from the 12oz. bottle: Aromas of caramel, sugar, and butterscotch. The finish leaves a sweet sensation that’s better than the mouthfeel, which is a bit fizzy. Everything is light and faint: aroma, flavors, finish. Crisp bite to it with minute apricot notes. Pretty bitter. #137 on 11102009, DG.