I saw this IPA at my beer store and grabbed it. In recent months I have tried just about all the IPAs that I can find and I have not been impressed with many of them on style i.e. ThunderHead IPA, Weyerbacher - Hops Infusion IPA, Anderson Valley - Hop Ottin IPA, Hop-Ocalypse India Pale Ale and Wolaver's Organic IPA by Otter Creek. Surprisingly, I actually did enjoy this IPA and I will caveat that with this is not the type of IPA style I generally prefer. Along with this I also picked up one of my favorite IPAs Mendocino White Hawk IPA so I did have a side by side comparison. Shipyard pour a medium amber with a nice biege head. The head however had little retention. The fuggle hops were woody and not especially fruity or floral. This beer was dominated by the woody hops and vanilla/caramel malts. The hops were slightly piney but more "cedar" or maybe even sandlewood like. The finish was bitter-tart and assertive. Developing very late was a refreshing citrus tanginess that brightened up the wood flavors. The body was more medium and the low carbonation added to the heavier character. What I think I enjoyed most about this beer was the unique woody flavor from the hops. I found that to be unique. As for style, this seemed to work better as an English IPA or maybe more like a good pale ale. The hops were not especially assertive but so be it. I liked this anyway as a beer. I would put this in the same category as Wild Goose - IPA as being a good beer just not a good IPA. Personally I believe some of these IPAs including the ones I listed above would be better served if called an English style IPA. They are good beers just not good American IPAs. For a good read on the difference between US and English IPA I recently came across this article.
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