Belfast Bay Lobster Ale

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

Brown to copper in color with a fluffy khaki colored head. Caramel and stewed fruit mix with earthy herbal hops. Toasted wheat bread flavors in the front. Middle has a a touch of butterscotch that leads to a sourdough taste. Herbal hops take away any sweetness and adds acidity into the finish. Some toasted dry grains and generic bitterness in the linger.

Bottle from Total Wine St. Pete (from now on just called TWSP). Pours medium brown with reddish tints with 1-finger off-white head. Nose is malt, brown sugar, hops, red winey fruit. Tastes caramel malty, with molasses, earthy brown sugar, and some grapey warming notes.

A reddish amber ale with a thin white head. A doughy oxidized aroma, In mouth, run of the mill amber ale, rather light, doughy, a bit buttery. Baaah...On tap at MMM Bello’s, Newark, Dec. 27 2008.

12 oz bottle. Clear light reddish copper, with a big, lasting creamy beige head...malty, light apple and brown sugar-inflected aroma...very full body features lots of sour cherry, a bit of citrus, and some dry woodiness towards the finish...sour, dry, long finish. This is definitely one of the better Maine micros; I want to try more.

Bottle and served in a standard pint glass: Well it didn’t pour red or ruby damnit, more coppery with a small but lasting frothy head and good lace. The aroma displays no Lobster damnit, but does some caramel and biscuity malt, apple and pear, and surprisingly a pils hop character more than an ale esters I was expecting. The taste is quite grassy and herbal with a acidic twang. The malt is a side note on the finish. Rather straight forward brew, not much palate depth. The mouth feel is fizzy and has a dry and metallic finish. An okay brew, quaffable but not much else.

Bottle (12oz - best before Aug’06). via trade with Fyrecrakker05. Poured bright clear copper with a large lasting foamy-rocky off-white head, decent lacing. Rich aroma of sweet, bread-dough yeast, dairy cream, oily-resiny juniper-like drop herbal hops, rich caramel, almost butterscotch malt character with warming - I"m quite surprised! Taste is more bitter than I expected, still lightly lactic but the caramel seems more artificial, the hops are slightly stale, funky-resiny rather than floral-herbal, and there’s an odd note of wet newsprint and mushrooms, but there’s solid malt here and that saves it. This has a longish finish, with almost harsh hop bitterness at the end - mouthfeel is very thick (I felt it at the back of my throat), almost cloying without being all that sweet, not all that carbonated - and I don’t know if it’s the power of suggestion, but I get some brine in the finish. Unusual - more of a "red" than an amber, not that "red"s a style.

12 oz bottle. Pours a clear light amber with a thin off white head and slight lacing. Aroma is typical shipyard - light to medium Diacetyl with moderate toffee sweetness, and caramel. Flavor is light with a wierrd off pasteurized twang to it- slick and lightly nutty, caramell and chocolate hint. Wierd finish- slick and bitter - almost astringent. Glad I only bought a single.

On draught 4/22/05 at Darby’s (Belfast, ME). Clear orange-golden beer with a small white head, dense but eventually receding to cover. Aroma is full of fruit esters, lots of diacetyl and creamy sweetness. Leafy, lightly aromatic hops. Flavor begins with tons of diacetyl and rich honeycream malt. The fruity esters are off the charts on this one. Raspberries, strawberries, cherries, peaches. Bits of candied fruit as well and a more dry finish, with hints of leafy, fuzzy hops. Soft, low carbonation, medium body, no thinning. I’m very impressed. Looking forward to more from this brewery.