All Fuggled Up
Written: Feb 09 '01 (Updated Feb 09 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Delicious showcase for the hop, well-brewed and tasty.
Cons: Uhhhh... Some folks don't get Brit hops?
The Bottom Line: Try this several times. Most American drinkers aren't used to Fuggles--but the education is worth it.
|
|
|
| beerfly's Full Review: Shipyard Fuggles IPA |
Fuggles.
Say it. FUGG-gulls. Sounds funny, doesn't it?
So's "tiramisu" (at least to me), but they're both wonderful. Fuggles is a strain of hop that originated in England, a "chance seedling raised in by a Mr. Richard Fuggle," according to the Hopunion website (a fascinating source of hops information, highly recommended for both the home and commercial brewer: www.hopunion.com). Note that it goes by either "Fuggle" or "Fuggles," both are considered correct.
There are UK Fuggles and US Fuggles, there is the Willamette hop, a US-created derivative of the Fuggle, and there Styrian Golding, a Slovenian-grown Fuggle. All are fairly low in alpha-acids, but quite aromatic, making for a hop largely used for aromatics rather than bittering.
Why all the hop details, when I usually write much more chatty, sense-oriented reviews? Because this is a beer that is all about one hop: Mr. Fuggle's baby. The beer is Fuggles, and there's not another hop in it. This is what's come to be called in the craft brewing biz a "single-hop" or "varietal" beer. It is a showcase for the characteristics of this hop.
Shipyard's head brewer and beer brain-genius is Alan Pugsley, a man I've referred to as the Johnny Appleseed of American craft brewing. Pugsley spread microbreweries all across the eastern half of North America in the 1980s and early 1990s, working with British microbrewing pioneer Peter Austin. Then he settled in Maine with the people from Kennebunkport Brewing/Federal Jack's brewpub, and shortly thereafter opened the Shipyard microbrewery in Portland.
I had a chance to talk to Pugsley about this beer two years ago, and asked him why he decided to make a single-hop beer. "We knew that in England single-hop varietals were becoming popular," he said. "It's similar to making wine and using one kind of grapes. We decided that in a hoppy beer that kind of display of one hop would be interesting."
The hop he chose, Fuggles, has some problems for that approach. "It's a nice gentle hop," explained Pugsley, "and it's actually hard to make an IPA with it, it's low alpha [alpha acids are the content of the hop that produces bitterness]. But that was appealing to us. I always tend to go with the lower alpha aromatics. Some beers that are made with higher alpha hops taste something like licking the surface of a freshly tarred road." Alan managed to stuff enough of them into the Fuggles to raise the beer's bittering units to 50, which he calls "not ‘blow your head off,' but good bitterness and lots of hop flavor."
Shipyard uses something Pugsley calls a "hop percolator," a steel vessel that is plumbed inline downstream of the brew kettle. It is packed full of hops and hot water during the brew, creating a hop "tea" that then blends with the beer as it flows to the heat exchanger and into the ferment tanks. This creates an intense hop aroma.
What's here? There's a slighty hazy golden hue to the beer, just gorgeous in the light, capped by a tenacious, solid cap of white foam (Pugsley often adds a small portion of torrefied (that's a $2 word for "dried") wheat or wheat malt to the mash of his beers, the protein it adds acts as a natural aid to head retention). The aroma is rich and room-filling, grassy with a hint of firtree sweetness. There's a hint of malt, and a little general spiciness, with a nip of pear fruitiness.
The beer in the mouth is, not surprisingly, bitter, but it's a round bitterness, not sharp. The earthiness is more pronounced here, and the nutty richness you'll find in some beers brewed with Ringwood yeast is there, though subdued. It's a mouth-filler, though not really heavy; it's definitely not any kind of light beer. The finish is relatively short, but quite nicely bitter. I love this beer all by itself on an afternoon, but it makes an admirable companion to rare beef and hearty casseroles.
Shipyard has created a beer that is not only delicious and extremely drinkable, but, in a very dry sense, educational as well. Thanks to this beer, everyone can know just what Fuggles taste like. If you want to widen your beer knowledge, here's a perfect place to start.
All in all, I think I'd rather just have another.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
beerfly
|
|
Member: Lew Bryson
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Reviews written: 88
Trusted by: 82 members
About Me:
One bourbon, one Scotch, one beer, eh? I'll take Kentucky Spirit, Scapa, and HopDevil.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.