BREW REVIEW - Shipyard Ale

In case you didn't already know, this past weekend Maine celebrated it's annual Brewers Festival! As I currently live in Tempe, AZ (approximately 27 hundred miles away) I was unable to attend :(

Eager to raise a glass in honor of my home state I decided to scrounged through some of the least traveled corners of Total Wines & More until I found a familiar label. I was quite excited when I found exactly what I was looking for. The bottle I proudly carried it to the front of the store was none other than Shipyard Ale, a household name back home-but in Arizona-quite a treat!

Now Maine may not be the first state you think of when you consider great craft beer states, but what you should know, is that while places like Colorado, California, and Oregon have been enjoying craft-beer's center stage for decades, Maine has been slowly and surely been gaining momentum (and respect), as a true craft beer state. Blogger's like Luke Livingston have even gone so far as to create entire beer sites based on the platform that Maine (in Luke's case, Portland specifically) is truly among America's greatest producers.

So enough about Maine, lets get to the fun part, the BREW REVIEW!

When I tasted the Shipyard Ale today the first thing I though was 'this beer tastes nothing like I remember'. The second thing I though was 'come to think of it, it's been 5 years since I've last had Shipyard, and I can't remember at all what it tasted like!'

After clearing my head of any preconceptions, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and enjoyed a generous second sip...

The color was a pleasant golden amber and average carbonation. The beer was bone dry, devoid of any hop flavor, and extremely light on the tongue. Maybe the most interesting thing I noticed about the brew was that it had a remarkably high acidity. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a citric acid, but there was clearly a sharp, clean zing to it. The acidity, I think, would make this beer an excellent pair for food that was light, buttery, and delicious (something maybe like fresh Maine lobster tail dipped in a butter sauce?)

As a true Mainer, I refuse to order lobster in Arizona, but you can be damn sure that next time I'm in Bangor, I'll give this pairing a through testing!

By the numbers, I give it an average score of 5/10 [Flavor 5/10, Balance 6/10, Complexity 4/10].

15/30

-Prost!
D.Lux