Sea Dog Brewing Company - Old East India Pale Ale

This fantastic IPA is brewed traditionally, with heaps malted barley and heavy doses of hops. Look for good head retention in this filtered, deep amber ale. We found it to have a big floral hop nose with a sweet maltiness evident as well. The body is full and dominated with a hoppy bitterness, indicative of a true IPA. Note a dry, lingering hop finish. Overall, a superb representation of the style, very full in flavor and most deserving of its many awards. Consider pairing this brew with meat or hearty pub fare.

The Sea Dog Brewing Co. operates from both its waterfall tavern and brewery in the quaint Coastal town of Camden, Maine, and its riverside tavern and brewery in Bangor, Maine. The brewery presently ships beer to only a handful of states in the Northeast and its beers have been highly decorated at the Great American Beer Festival, the World Beer Championships, as well as numerous other beer festivals. In fact, this month the Maine Times named Sea Dog the best microbrewery in Maine.

Pete Camplin, 55, the owner of Sea Dog, opened the brewery in Camden in 1992. He had been homebrewing since college and made his living working in construction, restoring old buildings. Given his passion of brewing and experience in renovations, no one was surprised when he decided to transform a dilapidated shoe factory into a microbrewery. Camplin is an inveterate sailor and seaman. He named his brewery after his dog, Barney, who was Camplin’s frequent sailing companion. Unfortunately, Barney has passed on, but his memory will live on as he is featured on each Sea Dog label, replete with a yellow fisherman’s cap.

The brewery’s India Pale Ale (IPA) comes to you with some serious accolades, specifically, it won the Gold Medal at both the 1997 & ‘98 World Beer Championships, the Silver in ’95, and a host other awards from state and regional competitions. The IPA style has an interesting history. It was originally brewed to serve the British troops in India. The soldiers were allotted a paltry 8 pint a week ration and to worsen matters, it often arrived spoiled from the long voyage from England. Eventually, British brewers realized that by increasing the amount of malt they could ultimately increase the alcohol content of the beer and it would be less likely to spoil. They also learned that by aggressively hopping the beer, the resulting higher acidity also acted as a preserving agent protecting the beer against infection by wild yeast. Thus, the India Pale Ale was created by the British so they could ship unspoiled ale to their compatriots in India.