Blueberry is the new Pumpkin

Ok, so that's a lie.

NOTHING will replace the awesome abbreviated season that is Pumpkin Beer season in Aug/Sept/Oct. But this new Shipyard Brewing Company offering gets me excited.

In only their second year, Shipyard's Smashed Pumpking went from something new to something to find. I heard about it last year and low and behold found a small packy up in New Hampshire that carried it. Big alcohol taste up front, big nose, decent pumpkin throughout... overall decent in their first attempt. The following year, my friends and I conducted a blind pumpkin beer tasting... consisting of 10 different varieties. Admittedly, my tastebuds were a bit tired after all of the "research", and our system could definitely use some tweaking... but nevertheless, Shipyard's Smashed Pumpkin ended up in most of the tasters top 3.

Enter new offering stage right... introducing Shipyard's Smashed Blueberry. As the article below points out, it joined a small list of offerings from Shipyard's Signature series, all of which have received awards here and there.

This beer clearly is a "sit down and drink this" sorta brew. You don't grab a sixer with your friends and play wiffleball in the backyard. And while I don't really gravitate towards fruity beers, I do love me some Blueberry beer... ideally out of the draft (Seadog Blue Paw) with frozen blueberries in there. (I know I know, beer purists are probably saying, "Don't Fruit the Beer." Yeah well you know what? This is Kate and I's blog, SO YOU WILL READ EVERYTHING WE HAVE TO SAY!). Haha... Along the lines of the "summer time" beer theme, its also worth pointing out that this going to be more on the heavier side. As I mentioned earlier, you aren't grabbing a six pack and going to town, this beer not only has a high ABV% at 9%, but Shipyard writes that is a mix btw a Porter and a Scotch Ale... "Rich mouth feel and a body of complex intensity"... "This beer pairs well with glazed duck, ribs, barbeque, chocolate, and blueberry deserts."

Expect a full review if I can get my hands on this... would be even better if I could find this on tap! We'll see if it makes the trip from Portland, ME.

Source:
http://mainebusiness.mainetoday.com/newsdirect/release.html?id=9883