Portland’s own Shipyard Brewing Co. officially announced today that their Brewer’s Choice beer — a yearly limited edition recipe created by the brewing teams at Shipyard and Federal Jack’s — for 2008 will be what the brewers are calling a Royal IPA. The beer, which will be available for a limited time beginning in January, will be released nation-wide in 6-packs, 12-packs, and locally on draft.
The Royal IPA, which gets its name from the enormous amounts of English hop varieties used in making the beer (Challenger and Target hops provide the bitter quality and East Kent Goldings hops lend the aromatic character), boasts a nice 6.5% ABV, to boot. As to why this beer was chosen by the brewing team, the press release from the brewery quoted some key Shipyard brewers, saying:
“It seems imperial this, and double that are all the rage these days,” noted head brewer Mike Haley. “We found the big IPA’s we tried were all pretty one dimensional and very similar within the realm of extreme hoppiness. That’s where the use of the British hop varieties differentiates this beer from others of the same style. We also followed the design philosophy of Shipyard’s other beer recipes, placing the emphasis on balance and drinkability.”
Visit www.shipyard.com/news for more information, and look for Shipyard’s Brewer’s Choice Royal IPA nation-wide in January.
