Applehead

Beer Name: Applehead
Brewery: Shipyard Brewing Company
ABV: 4.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Is this the spiritual successor to the widely loved Pumpkinhead? Only a bottle or two can answer that question.

Applehead is a sort of coppery beer. I guess the best description of its appearance would be that it looks like apple juice. You can try to force some head during the pour, but, much like its pumpkin cousin, this beer just does not produce any kind of head. And, it follows from that, it also doesn't produce any lacing. That's just how it goes with this type of beer. There is a strong spice aroma, sort of like an apple pie.

Hmm. I taste lots of spices, but I am not tasting much apple. If I really concentrate, I think I can convince myself that I'm tasting in the background. But it's definitely overpowered by the flavors of the spice. The beer is very lightly carbonated, and it's super smooth. If you enjoy the flavor, you could easily drink a bunch of these in a sitting.

Final thought - Needs more apple. It has a lot of apple pie spice flavor, but it's missing the actual apple. Not a bad beer, but not something I'd be looking forward to year after year.

-Jon

Pumpkinhead

Beer Name: Pumpkinhead Ale
Brewery: Shipyard
ABV: 5.1%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by Jan 2012

How did this not get a post last year? Did I skip all the beers in the Pumpkin Beer Breakdown? I might have since that was last August and Mmmm, beers! didn't launch officially until September. I guess I'll let it slide.

Pumpkinhead Ale is a golden orange beer that doesn't really look like or smell like beer. It doesn't really have much head or lacing, and it smells like a pumpkin pie. I have sadly learned that the pumpkin flavor in this beer is artificial, which made me a little bit sad. The aroma is just spices, most notably nutmeg I believe.

Much like the aroma, this beer tastes like a processed pumpkin pie. Which is not a bad thing. There is a little bit of pumpkin mixed in with the spices, and it's not very carbonated. This makes for a fairly easy-drinking beer. There is no hoppiness to this beer at all. I wonder if hops are even used in the brewing process. There's a slight aftertaste of spice, which makes sense since pretty much every step in consuming this beer is sort of dominated by the spices.

Final thought - I used to love this beer, and I still enjoy it, just not as much. When I learned that there are no actual pumpkins harmed in the making of this beer, things were slightly ruined for me. Especially when I learned about the organic pumpkin beer from Wolaver's. It's still better than a lot of the other pumpkin ales out there.

-Jon

Old Thumper

Beer Name: Old Thumper Extra Special Ale
Brewery: Shipyard Brewing Company
ABV: 5.9%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown, best by Dec 2010

So this beer has been hanging out in my fridge for a while for some reason or another, probably because I forgot about it or had other beers to drink or it was in the back behind some other beers and I couldn't see it. The point is, this is long overdue.

The first impression I get from this beer is that is sort of smells like bread. I am not sure if that's a possible beer smell, but there's something starchy going on here. Or grainy. Or buttery? Is that even a possibility? I really have to learn more about beer. Whatever goes on in bread is also going on here, ok?

The taste is alright. There's some breadiness happening here too. Maybe some malt or caramel as well. It's got a sweetness to it, but I don't know if it fits with the other flavors. There's also a medium carbonation in this beer, which is probably too much. I believe it would have been better if it had been a little flatter, like a British beer. Especially since this seems like a beer that is brewed in imitation of a British beer.

Final thought - I don't know, I just don't care for Old Thumper. I want to like it, because it has an awesome name. It's also got a sweet label, but those things don't really come into play here. I don't think I'll be drinking much more of this in the future, especially since Shipyard has some other stuff that is much better.

-Jon