Clipper City Heavy Seas Winter Storm (2005+ -- Imperial ESB)

Brewed by Clipper City Brewing Co.
Style: American Strong Ale
Baltimore, Maryland USA

Good beer and interesting style. Something I would drink as the weather cooled.

Not nearly as good as the beer that first bore this name, a nice attempt to "double" a style that is probably pretty difficult to "double", way too malty, overly sweet, over-the-top heavy, very filling, more like a syrup than a beer, very disappointing, especially seeing as though I enjoy ESB’s so much, very lacking the hop department, only a little spiciness toward the back & in the finish, not a very enjoyable beer experience but some decent numbers for some of the flavors & for the attempt in "imperalizing" a bitter

My Bottom Line:
Candied berries ooze from the luscious caramel maltiness, dancing in unison with the assertive earthy and resinous hoppiness. Not as fragrant as it is flavorful, this friendly muscleman still is a joy to converse with.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam covers the translucid yet snowy copper.
-The earthy, wooden hop nose is modest and pleasant with its citrusy edges, but it doesn’t announce the entire range of flavors to come.
-The portly maltiness is one of this beer’s best features.
-The expansive carbonation thankfully breaks on the tongue quite easily.
-Whatever style you call it, it’s a great beer.
-The best before date is precocious.

Bottle; best before April ’07.

Perhaps I had this beer too late in the season, but I was not too impressed. The aroma was mostly hops, with grainy, earthy notes, some wheat, and maybe some pine. There was some caramel malt too. It poured a full amber color, with a small creamy white head; the beer was mostly cloudy. Its taste was very bitter, and somewhat sour, and the presence of alcohol was detectable. It had a thin, oily mouthfeel, with light carbonation, and after a wet start, it finished dry. The beer was pretty good, just not as good as I had expected.

Pours a thin reddish brown with a thin to medium light light tan creamy head. The aroma isn’t very prominent, definite bitter hop aroma, some sweetness in caramel, and some fruity piney hop. The flavor features mostly a hop bitterness with some sweet maltiness. Niether the flavor or aroma are very prominent but both are solid, which seems to be the story for the clipper city stuff. The palate and finish are both bitter and waxy with the finish featuring more of the warmth from the high alc. Overall, a solid beer. Just no impressive oveall.

Cloudy reddish brown, almost no head. Nice aroma of floral hops, chocolate, caramel, perhaps some bourbon, not neccessarily in that order. Earthy and filling, with a resiny hops dominating the flavor. some unidentfied spicy, peppery notes in the finish. Best by April 2007.

So amber it almost glows. Smells like pine, almost a gin like quality to the nose. Something sweet too. Feels sticky initially. Very bready flavor followed by very bitter hoppiness. Finishes cleaner than I thought it would. Crisp. This brewery can’t brew a stout, but they do a damn fine job with pale ales and pils.

Pours brilliantly clear, with no sediment at all (despite claims to the contrary on the label). The beer is topped by a frothy, initially three-finger thick, creamy-tan colored head. The aroma is nice and hoppy with a berry like hop note as well as a herbaceaus, sometimes grassy note to it. Behind this is a dry, biscuit-like malt character that at times smells like fresh from the oven bread crust. The hop character is definitely the dominant note in the aroma though.

Quite sweet, this really amplifies that berry note from the aroma. Flavors of sweet citrus are also found here. The beer is not quite as thick as the sweetness might suggest; it is certainly chewy, with lots of caramelized malt sugars. It seems to lean towards simpler malt sugars that are more directly sweet, but alot of the percieved sweetness could be an amplification of the fruity hop notes. There are some nice sharp notes here as well and these provide some balance to the hop fruit notes and the sweet malt. Green, herbal hop notes and a solid bitterness add notes of astringecy to the flavor profile that is quite nice.

A touch of hot alcohol is noticeable at times, but it is fairly hidden and seems to be brought out a bit by the sharp, herbal hop notes. This is quite an impressive hop focussed beer. I am really quite pleased by the quality of the two hop monster’s I have had from this brewery.