Clipper City Heavy Seas Below Decks

Brewed by Clipper City Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
Baltimore, Maryland USA

Pours a brownish red with a nice off white head. Aroma of fruits, caramel malt, and sweet candy. Flavor has a lot of sweet fruit going on. Caramel malt, sticky sweetness, and blueberry? Odd. Slightly syrupy, mild carbonation. I could have used a bit more of a hop bite in this one, but dangerously drinkable with this high of a n ABV. Very nice.

Label on bottle reads 2006. Pours a clear but dark brown. No head. Nose is kind of a roasted thing going on with some fruits in there as well. It’s fairly mild. Flavor has a big zing to it. Noticeable alcohol and an almost meaty texture to it. Feel has a good carbonation to it. Overall this was okay. I feel like it is either way too tight and needs to sleep for a lot longer, or it is just lacking and will never show an interesting side. Nice to try, but probably should have waited at least 2 or 3 more years (or more) to see it at its best (if it can get to that point at all).

12 oz bottle-pours a rich tan head and slightly hazed brown/copper color. Aroma is sweet medium malt-caramel, some spice/earthy, nutty, resin/pine. Taste is some slickness/ sweet medium malt-caramel, some spice/earthy, nutty, resin/pine-hops with some bite, alcohol. Solid in style of an American BW, nice. Medium body. OK effervescence/carbonation.

This bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a small sized head of foamy finely sized tan colored bubbles that were and left behind a transparent typically carbonated brown colored body. The mild aroma was sweet and malt hop. The mouth feel was tingly at the start and at the finish. The yummy flavor contained notes of malt hops and caramel. A decent one that I would consider buying again. Kibnd of a different barley wine. Nice for a change.

2007 vintage - 10% ABV. Clear brownish orange beer. Quickly departing off-white head. Cheap toaste blended with strong vegetal undertones (think beans and various legumes). Disturbing noble hop aromatics would better fit a bock: floral and spicy herbal. Rather pungent, but strongly contrasting with the candied sweetness that abounds. No freshness noticeable. Strong fruity (mango, apricot, pineapple juice) and candy-like sweetness + toasty munichs. And emptiness, very loose texture. I can’t believe my tastebuds. If this had been a pilsner, I bet the current 3.2 score would have been, at best, 2.5. The complexity is minimal, the aroma off-putting and the hop selection highly dubious. I can only hope this was a bad bottle, but it was bought at Julio’s, I’d expect that this store, of all stores, keep their stuff properly. Anyway, this is a <1yr barley wine. Very poor.

on tap at kelly’s. pours a clear amber, with little to no head. a not terribly overwhelming smell of caramel malts, berry-like fruitiness, some earthy hops, a rather whiskey-like flavor, and a hint of alcohol. taste is much the same, with a nutty caramel malt dominating, some grape notes, followed by a bit of hops and some bready malt. light but lingering bitter finish, with a thick, chewy, sticky body, but very little carbonation. not a bad offering. it was served a bit on the cold side, and more character came out as it warmed. i’m sure i’ll have this again.

12 oz. Four finger, creamy head atop a beautiful ruby-dark copper beer. Leaves very nice frosting all the way down the glass. Faint dark fruit and grass aroma. Slightly sweet dark fruit, grain, and spicy molasses on the front turns to peppery-raisin, grain, and grass in the middle. Finishes with a nice balance and some chest-warming, but fairly well-hidden alcohol for 11%. Very nice balance on this one. Medium-heavy body is smooth, slightly tingly with alcohol, and just dry enough to make you want more.

1/13/08: Bottle.
Light brown body with little to no head. Small hoppy nose. Hop, malt and alcohol flavor with a sour finish.