Clipper City Heavy Seas Below Decks

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

She pours deep mahogany with a decent head that recedes into a thin film at a brisk pace. No head to speak of, but a scattering of larger, pock-marked bubbles keep her company. I can smell her nose from my chair and I like what I smell. Sweet, rich, and malty with a bouquet of mouth-watering spices; cinnamon, nutmeg, all-spice. Maple syrup and butter is slathered upon piping hot yams and baby baked sweet potatoes while vanilla and rum ride bready pumpernickel notes. Never one to keep a lady waiting, our first meeting is clean with a dominant sweet presence that mixes beautifully with cinnamon, nutmeg, and interestingly enough, paprika. There is a deep, earthy quality to Below Decks which reminds me of old oak barrels that have been used to age some of the finest rums. A mildly dry finish, the sweet potatoes and yams add meat to her palate while butter coats and cinnamon lingers in the breath with growing warmth due to her higher ABV. She is a barleywine, after all. The more she warms, the dryer her palate grows while a burgeoning undercurrent of maple and molasses join the potatoes. Lacking a bit of the heavier weight and depth of palate, the only real detriment I can find in Below Decks is that her lighter body makes for a weaker presence which, for a barleywine, is not always beneficial. I can quaff her easier, but the overall depth is compromised as a result. As we come to our lip-smacking finish, one last flourish of butter soaked and cinnamon sprinkled sweet potatoes with a side of fresh pumpernickel are carried out in rum-soaked oak barrels that whisper of vanilla and earth.

Overall, I would have liked more weight in Below Decks from Clipper City Brewing. I expect extra oomph in a dark, hearty English-styled barleywine. That aside, I enjoyed her diverse palate which communed together so well. For someone who is a bit leery of the heavier, richer, and more complex English-style barleywines, Below Decks is a great gateway brew. For me, maybe I need to go down one more deck.

12 oz. bottle from Ludlow Wines in Cincinnati. Pours a dark amber with a foamy light tan head that laces the glass just a little bit. Aroma is of raisins, citrus, hops, sugary malt. Flavor of alcohol, raisins, nuts, brown sugar, bread, malt, figs. Alcohol definitely wins the race and hangs around for the aftertaste. Sticky mouthfeel, with a lot of carbonation. Not a bad barley wine, but I’d like a little more balance in the flavor.

2008 Bottle 10% from Sicilianos, Grand Rapids, MI enjoyed 7.15.09. Pours an unclear dull dark caramel color with a nice thick frothy white sudsy head. Aroma is quite oxidized, pine, tons of citrus, baby diaper, resin, raisin, salted and burnt fatty nuts, light caramelized brown sugar, earthy, skunky, definitely seems more of the "show well upon release" instead of the "evolve for you years" part of the description. Flavor is all over the place, nutty, cardboard, citrus, tootsie-roll, pine, caramel, malts, dark fruit, alcohol, some cherry, nothing making any real sense, totally hot. Alcohol curls the back of the tongue. Medium/full bodied with ubiquitous fluffy carbonation, slightly sticky.

2008 bottle... pours with a slight haze... deep coppery brown with a lasting small tan head. really fruity aroma... raisins, figs, bready yeast, candi sugar?, caramel, flowers, toasty grain, pennies and a bit of nutty chocolate. spicy alcohol singes my nostrils a little. the alcohol is oppressive in the flavor... even when the beer is ice cold... components of nutty chocolate, caramel malt, spice, flowers and an alcohol laden finish. the sweetness become cloying when the temperature heats up... so that pretty much makes it like napalm on the palate... 6/4/6/3/13/3.1

Bottle from Sicilianos, Grand Rapids, MI. Dark amber with red tint, almost clear, medium to large, creamy, pancake, beige head. Aroma is sweeter caramel, dark fruit, light alc, raisin, nice. Sweeter red fruit, a little grape, raisin, some plum, only the lightest tinge of alc. Medium to thin, watery, active carbonation. Lacking a lot of things for a barleywine, but nice.

Smells of strong raisin-ey malts. Taste is thick and bitter with lots of dark malts and some alcohol and raisins. Not bad.

2006 bottle thanks to JME. Thanks, buddy. Pours hazy copper with thin but persistant white head. Sweet caramel malts, mild fruit, some bready notes. No real hop presence. Mild oxidation, but not too much. Solid. One of the better Clipper City beers.

pours copper with a small offwhite head. Sweet malts, caramel, some alcohol on the finish. not too bad.