Shipyard Barley Wine Style Ale (Pugsley Signature Series)

Brewed by Shipyard Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Portland, Maine USA

Serve in Snifter

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Shipyard Barley Wine is a dark ruby ale with a brown sugar colored head that has excellent retention and lacing. It has a very wooden aroma. It smells resiny and smokey with some sweetness and warmth. It’s full bodied and smooth with a chewy finish. It tastes very smokey and resiny with lots of roastiness. It has a whiskey barrel quality. It’s mature with some nice complexity. It’s a nice late night sipper.

i really liked this one. drank fresh so the hops were very previlant which i really liked. it cut the sweetness with a nice bitter bite on the finish. taste lasted for a while after last drink. finishes smooth and sweet with a crisp hop bite. great drink

Bottle: Deep red colour, creamy brown head. Aroma of viny,citrus,malts,and sweet caramelly, and some rasberry. Flavor had a creamy mouth feeling,spicy,caramelly, medium to full body, long spicy and coffee fruity finish. Nice!!

Dark brown reddish color with tan head. Fruity aromas and fresh wood. Dark fruit flavors and chocolate. Slight hoppy finish but not overdone. One of the better barley wines I’ve had.

625ml bottle: rating this after sampling it fresh, this sample has a couple of months in the cellar on it. Pours a hazed dark brown with ruby highlights. Sticky 2 finger cap like espresso foam, laces the snifter well. Aroma is complex dark fruits, treacle, raisin bread, cherry pipe tobacco, a little vanilla becomes more pungent as it warms - nice! Rich oleaginous mouth feel, robust body.fruity complex character, well balanced, well rounded very drinkable for such a big ale. Flavor profile begins with a rush of malt complexity, dried fruits and hops slamming the palate, then this becomes a complexity of flavors and tones whirling over the tongue - dates, vanilla, cinnamon bun, dark treacle, coffee, cocoa, dried cherry - then the finish becomes pleasingly bitter with resinous hops taking over as it goes clean, roasty and lightly dry with a lingering roast/bittering after taste. Wow! What a great Barley wine. This begs to be barrel aged.

On draft at Oldsmar Tap House. Pours a brownish red, with tan highlights and thin wet lacing. Aroma is big on caramel and woodsy notes, with brown sugar. Flavor has a roasted aspect to it, with caramel, some oak, chocolate, and espresso in the finish. Dry, medium-bodied, smooth and good, alcohol is hidden. Not sure why this is rated so low.

UPDATED: APR 18, 2011 Shipyard Barley Wine Pours a dark reddish brown with a reddish edge. Appears thick and gooey with a medium tan head (more than most barley wines) Good retention. Strong sweet aroma of roasted vanilla, candied ginger and a mild hop note. Strong malt presence on the nose. Flavor is super complex with lots of booze and malt. Mild earthy hop note with some chocolate and coffee. Smells sweeter than it tastes and actually has a mildly sour finish. Excellent, and will see what a few years can do for this

22oz bomber from the local Hannaford. Pours a nearly opaque very dark brown with nearly an inch of light tan head that leaves some impressive lacing. Caramel, toffee, chocolate, butterscotch... Chocolate, coffee, caramel, toffee characterize the flavor. Hints of butter here and there, but diacetyl was impressively subdued. On the upper side of medium-bodied with moderate carbonation. Not bad, a solid example of an English Barleywine for sure, being more of a malt bomb with hops playing second fiddle as it were. Not sure it was worth the price - maybe it was... However this has to be about the best Shipyard I have ever tried. Way to go Shipyard!

650mL, lcbo. Pours very dark amber with beige head. Aroma is very nice, chocolate, coffee, toast, nuts, caramel, bread, odd for the style. Flavour: a lot of the same, with accentuation on the bread and caramalt. Much deeper, darker, richer in certain areas than I would expect from the style. One could almost call this an ’American Strong Ale’, if that was actually a style, or a thing at all, but it is not. I don’t get how this could be seen as British in style, even remotely so. There’s a lot of hop activity, lots of bittering hops with flavour in the finish as well. Over-all quite an enjoyable brew, maybe the best I’ve had from this brewery.

Black pour with frothy tan head. Good lacing. Very malty sweet aroma with chocolate and a hint of yeast. Full bodied. Big malt flavor. Bitterness balances the sweetness nicely. Very good beer.