Shipyard Prelude Special Ale
"This seasonal specialty is the perfect winter warmer.”
Prelude is a rich, nutty, full-bodied English ale with an inviting amber hue and hoppy finish.
First Brewed:
December 1993
Available:
November - December
Malt Style:
2-Row British Pale Ale, Crystal, Chocolate, Wheat
Yeast:
Top-Fermenting English
Hops:
Cascade, Tettnang, Fuggles, Goldings
Color:
Deep Amber
IBUs:
47
OG:
1.070
ABV:
6.7%
Prelude is a rich, nutty, full-bodied English ale with an inviting amber hue and hoppy finish.
First Brewed:
December 1993
Available:
November - December
Malt Style:
2-Row British Pale Ale, Crystal, Chocolate, Wheat
Yeast:
Top-Fermenting English
Hops:
Cascade, Tettnang, Fuggles, Goldings
Color:
Deep Amber
IBUs:
47
OG:
1.070
ABV:
6.7%
3.2
382 reviews
Portland, United States
Community reviews
Drank from a pint glass at Nik’s Wunderbar in Whitehouse, NJ. Pours beautiful color, with nice head. Nice aroma, not a great taste.
355ml twist off. This is a nice one actually. Buttery toffee notes, big English yeast character. Mellow booze despite the abv. Bit too buttery but it’s drinkable.
Dark orange with white head. Sample pour at Shipyard in Portland, Maine. Every beer here I've had is gross. Tastes like someone mowed the lawn and fed me the grass
12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, best before 6/28/2015. Pours fairly crystal clear reddish brown color with a 2 finger fairly dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big caramel, toffee, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, raisin, plum, fig, light chocolate/nuttiness, herbal, floral, light pepper, and yeast earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready malts, earthy hops, and fruity yeast notes; with good strength. Taste of big caramel, toffee, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, raisin, plum, fig, light chocolate/nuttiness, herbal, floral, pepper, and yeast earthiness. Moderate amount of herbal/spicy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, toffee, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, raisin, plum, fig, light chocolate/nuttiness, and herbal/yeast earthiness on the finish for a while. Damn nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, and fruity yeast flavors; with a nice malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready, and lightly sticky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a damn nice English strong ale style. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt, earthy hops, fruity yeast flavors; and very smooth and easy to drink for the ABV. A very enjoyable offering.
reddish-brown color;carmel malt aroma; sweet caramel malt flavor with bready malt notes and noble hops; fairly well balanced; some mild dark fruit notes
On tap at Twisted Jimmys. Mild sweet nutty aroma, buttery notes and slight oxidation. Medium brown with thin head. Medium body with medium carbonation. Moderately sweet start with light diacetyl and Band-Aid. Meh. Nutty dry bitter after.
Bottle from Signal Variety, Plaistow, NH. Aroma is caramel malty with a little bit of yeasty dough. Appearance is beautiful clear amber red with small white head and minimal lacing. Taste is moderately sweet with lots of caramel and liquor aftertaste. Palate is medium bodied with thick texture and average carbonation. Touches off reactions in the back of the mouth like tannins in wine. Finish is moderate. Overall, a nice looking beer with a good mouth feel. Not the most interesting aroma and taste in the world but highly drinkable and enjoyable for other traits.
Pours a deep dark brown with a thick white head. Aroma of banana esters and funky yeast. Taste follows, signature shipyard yeast and that’s not a good thing. Rough.
On tap at the brew pub in Orlando. Nice dark and malt dominated. Lots of caramel.
Quite good and amber. Nice aroma and sweet features. Not so clear and easy to drink too in cold weather.
Pours a clear orange Amber. Aroma of slight burbon. Taste is more of the same. Reminiscent of a scotch ale.
12 ounce bottle. Pours a nice amber brown with a thin beige head that lasts. Taste is of roasted malt, caramel, grain, chocolate, citrus and some hops. Similar aroma. Has a full body with a slight bitter and dry finish. Easy to drink and rather enjoyable.
Bottle. Clear ruby color. Aroma of toffee caramel biscuit. Light sweetness. Some roasted malt. Light bitter. Pretty smooth. Nice flavors. Decent brew.
Pours deep amber with a thin tan head. Starts sweet and malty but finishes lightly spicy and bitter, especially as it warms.
"a nice soft nutty vanilla-based malty aroma is the beers forte. it’s got a decent body and a pretty rich flavor. better than the norm for shipyard, too. kind of a one-trick pony flavor-wise, but pretty nice."
Transfer from BA -
Poured from bottle into pint glass
Appearance - A deep red color almost on the verge of brown. Forms a nice head that retains for some time giving way to some decent lacing.
Smell - A bit of sweetness and some maltiness. A fine hint of some tasted nut as well.
Taste - The taste is very roasted malt heavy at the forefront. There is a little bit of sweetness that peeks through at the end as well as a bit of spiciness of nutmeg toward the end.
Mouthfeel - A very nice level of carbonation and a wonderful creaminess that coats the tongue (especially at the forefront of the tasting when the carbonation is the highest).
Overall - Alright, but nothing really too special for a winter brew as the taste is a little lacking.
12 oz bottle. Deep mahogany with a decent khaki head. Aroma is of cinnamon, malt, brown sugar. Taste is of malt, brown sugar, toffee, and holiday spices.
Bottle. The look is clear, reddish in color, and tan head. The smell is caramel, fruits, toffee, malts, and egh. The taste is caramel, fruits, cardboard, ok.
August 10th, 2012 - I always struggle to say something intelligent about ESB’s. Compared to the emotional charge that a deep, leathery, and well aged stout can imbue, ESB’s seem sort of plain. They’re not a let-down, and often match the drinking environment better than the best sours or IPAs. But there’s hardly anything to say. The median ESB is the mean ESB is the modal ESB, with only slight variation, but that’s not so for Shipyard’s Prelude Ale. It’s a tanned leather brown with an unfiltered murkiness, which gently perfumes the air with an exceptionally sweet aroma: crunchy leaves, clove, cinnamon and other pumpkin pie spices. The first smell is divine, the second less so. The sweetness very quickly and aggressively becomes cloying, as it does in the flavor, where a combination of a sweet nuttiness and straight sugar make a fairly overeager ESB into anything but a sessionable drink.
Dark red, amber color. Hints of chocolate and hints of molasses.....very much like a porter. Yuengling porter comes to mind. Not a very heavy beer. I could drink several. I would get it again if in the mood
12 oz bottle pours amber with a off white head. Aroma of malts, spice and toffee. Taste is malty, floral and caramel.
Una ale americana molto strana estrimizzata nei sapori e un po' povera di corpo e anche di profumi. Al naso note tostate
---Rated BY Italianbeer85
Pours dark amber into a nonic pint glass with a thin tan head dissolves slowly. Aroma of sweet malt and some yeast. The initial drink is a bit sweet from the malt but towards the middle it starts to taste a little dry. Spicy taste with a little hop bitterness on the edges. Lingering finish. Not bad for a buck 50.
330 ml bottle in Pompano Beach, FL. Pours a chestnut brown with a huge tan foamy head. Aroma is malt cookie dough, candy and fruit. Taste is a tart version of the aroma and the palate ends dry and lasting. Ok.
Pours a dark amber color with only a minimal white head. Nose is malts yeast and nuts and taste is nutty and smooth. Well done.
Pours a dark amber with a thin head. Nose is sweet malt and nuts with yeast. Very smooth drink with a light sweetness followed by a crisper nutty finish. Very refreshing.
bottled, amber color , frothy tan foam, has a lot of prickly hops, some dryness, plain with some cardboard, never really goes anywhere
(Bottle). Aroma is a mild and sweet malt. Hazy copper complexion with long-lasting thick white head. Nice semi-sweet malt flavor that is easy to session. This could be a fine English pub ale.
Strong cinnamon flavor in this ale. I wish there was a little more going on, but it’s pretty one note.
light sweet nuts aroma,golden, hazy, off white foam, light sweetness, lightly bitter, light body, oily feel, bitter,