Shipyard XXXX IPA

I've reviewed another one of Pugsley's Signature Series from Shipyard before, the Imperial Porter. It was a very good porter (B), but the American IPA is a very competitive type. It seems every micro brewer has a version of it out. Lets see how Shipyard has done.

There wasn't much effort in opening this, it popped like a champagne bottle. Once it was open it poured a nicely retaining head that was more foamy than crisp like other IPAs and the hops were unavoidable. Besides floral hops citrus was found as well. It's taste was very different with strong hops as expected, but what was unexpected was grapefruit. I never would've thought of it but grapefruit complimented a strong IPA perfectly. A slight taste of yeast and malt was there and it ended with the dryness of hops. Somehow this beer has achieved what other brews have tried, "an intense IPA that isn't hard to put down".

A grapefruit IPA, I liked it. It did not take long for me to settle on grading this an A (excellent). Many would think "XXXX" in the title of an IPA would make it for those who dared to drink it. This is not a beer Shipyard tries to make as hoppy as possible. Watch out Dogfish.