Shipyard Wheat Ale

Shipyard Brewing Co.
Portland, ME

Available: AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NV, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, VT, VA, WA, WI

Shipyard Brewing Co.’s origins were in the Portland brewpub Federal Jack’s. Founder and head brewer Alan Pugsley has designed numerous American brewpubs and micros. His recipes employ the distinctive Ringwood yeast strain.

ABV: 4.4
ABW: 3.5
Color: golden
Bitterness: 23
Original gravity: 1046

If you want your breakfast cereal in liquid form, Shipyard’s new seasonal is for you. This clear, golden-amber brew sports a crisp, white head and a slight effervescence. Aromas of toasted wheat with a touch of honey and a whiff of spice greet the nose. At first sip, the beer is a bit creamy in the mouth, and the toasty flavors are reminiscent of the classic American breakfast cereal, Wheaties, making for a wonderful top ‘o the day beer. Because, as the saying goes, you can’t drink all day unless you start in the morning.
- Lisa Morrison

Sometimes it helps to know what a brewer is trying to achieve. Shipyard’s Bruce Forsley has been widely quoted saying that this bright amber beer falls into a group of “lower alcohol session style ales that do not sacrifice flavor.” This goes some way to explaining the slender body and the notable dryness, particularly in the snappy, bitter finish, but I might have marked it down without the benefit of this knowledge as it doesn’t quite deliver enough to get me excited. What’s there is good, though: nut and caramel maltiness and crisp, delicate orange notes from the hops.
- Jeff Evans

Lisa Morrison
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.

Jeff Evans
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.

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