Belfast Bay Lobster Ale

This beer is from a brewer I have never heard of - Belfast Bay Brewing Co in Belfast Maine. I've seen reports that it is actually brewed by Shipyard, but I'm not sure of the veracity of that info. Regardless of who brews it, it is a fine ale. It poured a deep copper color, with a small, white, rapidly diminishing head. The nose is mostly caramel and malt. The caramel and malt continues in the flavor, with plenty of hop bitterness in the finish. Belfast Bay also makes an Oatmeal Stout, so I'll be watching for it.

Shipyard Blue Fin Stout

Shipyard Brewery is located in Portland, Maine and they produce a lot of different beer styles. Blue Fin Stout is an Irish Dry style Stout. It poured a deep brown - almost black, with a big fluffy brown head. It has plenty of roasted malt in the nose and in the palate as well. Carbonation was a bit higher than I anticipated, but was not a detriment. It had a pleasant coffee bitterness in the finish. Shipyard did a nice job with this stout!

Virgin Islands Tropical Mango Pale Ale

Another interesting beer I picked up at the local wine and ale store, Virgin Islands Tropical Mango Pale Ale is contract brewed for St. John Brewers by Shipyard in Portland, ME. The beer poured a crystal clear golden color with a medium white head. The aroma is almost all mango, with a little bit of malt underneath. The flavor is definitely mango - much stronger than I expected. I'm assuming that they have added some sort of mango extract to make it stand out like it does. This is not a wheat beer, like most fruit beers tend to be. Underneath the mango, there was a little bit of malt, a very light body, and a slightly bitter finish. This is another nice warm weather beer.

Gritty McDuff's Vacation Land Summer Ale

Tonight, I tried another beer from Gritty McDuff's Brewing. I posted about one of their other beers a while back. It was their Original Pub Style Ale. This beer is called "Vacation Land Summer Ale", and is just as good as the Pub Style. Vacation Land is an informal nick-name given to the state where this was brewed - Maine. Gritty McDuff's Brewing is in Portland, which is also home to Shipyard and Sea Dog. This was a nice refreshing ale, light in color with a big white head. It's much lighter colored than a pale ale. It had a nice distinct hop presence in the finish. It was nice to drink a summer ale that was not made from wheat. I have nothing against wheat beers, but sometimes I think the breweries feel that wheat beers are the only variety to drink during the summer. This light ale proves that it doesn't have to be so.

Sea Dog Apricot Wheat Beer from Pugsley Brewing

Pugsley Brewing is a Maine brewery, and they're known for their fruity wheat beers. This is the first time I've tried their Apricot Wheat. Since I have my own Apricot Wheat Ale fermenting as I write this, I thought I'd try a commercial version. I've also tried the apricot ale that Dunedin Brewery makes. This version has a strong apricot aroma, and pours a golden yellow color with a small white head. The head was a little disappointing for a wheat beer. It has a strong apricot flavor that tastes like it was created using an extract of some kind. Once I got used to the apricot, I was able to taste the tartness of the wheat. This is a very mild beer with very little hop flavor. It's good, but I think my own apricot wheat will be better - no extracts used in that one!

Shipyard Chamberlain Pale Ale

Shipyard Brewing Co. is based in Portland Maine, and they're a good solid microbrewery. At one time, they had a brewery based in the Orlando International Airport, but they closed it down. I guess the folks travelling through Orlando weren't interested in putting down their Budweiser long enough to try something different. This beer is their APA style, which they have named Chamberlain Pale Ale. It poured a medium amber with a cream-colored inch tall head. This is a basic APA, nothing exotic. I detected some caramel, and a finish that was hoppy enough to be satisfying. It went well with my dinner, without overpowering any of the food. It was worth trying, but I probably won't buy it again. So many beers, so little time!

The Shipyard Brown Ale

I'm preparing to bottle a brown ale that I just finished fermenting, so I decided to compare my brown to a commercial brown. While it's not really a fair comparison, given that my homemade brew is not carbonated yet, I thought it would give me an idea what it will be like. My last brown ale was a quasi-disaster because of some artificial hazelnut flavoring I added. My new batch is pure, no artificial colors or flavors added. But I digress. Back to the Shipyard brown: It poured a crystal clear brown color, with a 1 inch tan head that was gone very quickly. It smelled of sweet malt and brown sugar, and the taste had hints of chocolate and caramel. The finish was hoppier and more bitter than I expected - a nice surprise. Shipyard is another fine microbrewery in the Northeast quadrant of the US.

Sea Dog Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter

Portland Maine is the home of Pugsley Brewing, which creates the Sea Dog family of beers. Mr. Pugsley is also the brewmaster at Shipyard. Sea Dog Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter is the first non-wheat beer that I have tried from Sea Dog. As you can see in the photo, it poured a very dark brown with a tan head. The head lasted longer than most of my recent beers. The hazelnut was not overpowering, and the chocolate malt shined through. In an earlier post, I mentioned one of my homebrews that went astray, and it was a hazelnut brown ale. The hazelnut in my brew was overly strong, and gave the beer an unpleasant bitter edge. Now I know what a hazelnut ale should taste like.

Gritty McDuff's Original Pub Style Pale Ale

Gritty McDuff's Original Pub Style Pale Ale is brewed in Portland Maine. The Northeast part of the US is a brewing powerhouse, and equals the Northwest in quality and style. This particular ale is very refreshing. It poured a beautiful clear amber, with a decent head that lasted for a short while. It had plenty of pine flavored hop presence. This was my first sample of a brew from Gritty McDuff's, and I will be looking for more varieties in the near future.

Shipyard Brewing's Prelude Ale

This ale is a leftover from the holidays, and is in the style of a strong ale, or a Winter Warmer. It's a malty spicy brew with a higher level of alcohol. It poured a deep mahogany color with a small cream colored head. I enjoyed the rich malt flavor with hints of chocolate mixed in with the spices. I've had thie beer before when it had a different label, but this label's snowy scene gives a better clue to its style. I enjoyed this one a lot, even if it is nearly summer.