Clipper City Heavy Seas Big DIPA

Brewed by Clipper City Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Baltimore, Maryland USA

22 oz bomber from Jonathan Ron. Poured a nice burnt copper with a large frothy off white head that leaves some serious lacing on my Stone IRS snifter. Aroma is lots of citrus and pineapple hops, toffee and caramel malts, some bready grains and a very light touch of alcohol. Nice full bodied mouthfeel with no trace of alcohol and only a mid bitterness which is sortof a let down for a DIPA. Flavor actually is muchmore hop forward then the aroma with lots of citrus rinds, grapefruit, slight alcohol and grainy breads. Solid enough but not knock your socks off hoppiness that I was hoping for.

Pours deep amber into a snifter. Beige head with medium retention recedes leaving slight sheets. Grapefruit and resin aromas. Thick with upfront caramel and a sharp pine and resin finish.

A less than average IIPA. Aroma was a bit medicinal with a light hoppiness. Pour was a nice deep amber with a thin off white ring for a head and no rising bubbles.Taste was not very good. Very sweet (almost like sugary) with just a hint of hoppiness and no aftertaste. Thin and weak with little carbonation.

22oz bottle thanks to 17thfloor. Copper color with creamy beige head. Aroma is spicy hops, grapefruit, sweeter caramel, nice. Fruitier caramel flavor, nice bitterness, grapefruit, some bubblegum or banana, pretty sweet, peppery, spicey, nice. Creamy and medium, slightly syrupy, light carbonation. Much more like a barleywine and better than some of the others in the heavy seas series.

Bomber from Chevy Chase in DC. Deep amber color with a nice off-white head. Aroma is good with earthy/floral hops standing out as well as a little sweet malt. Flavor is not quite as good, but still decent. Loads of sweet caramel malt, earth, resin, citrus, and alcohol. More bittering hops than aroma/flavor hops though, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but makes this really stand out as an east coast DIPA. Palate is syrupy and a little more boozy than I’d like it to be, which isn’t surprising really for a 10.6 percenter. Middle of the road DIPA overall.

Bomber pours clear copper with 60 second tan head. The aroma is bold with pulsing pine hop goodness and some resin along with a bit of sweet malts and a touch of grapefruit hops. The taste begins with a pulse of malt sweetness that gets stomped out quickly by pine hop bitterness and pine hop flavor and some grassy – resiny bitterness. By about midway it smooths out with a second pulse of slick malt sweetness with increasing hop bitterness into the finish. It does seem like an American style barleywine

Bomber from Green’s in Columbia. This is a bright orange colored beer with a decently formed head. The aroma is fairly hoppy. I can tell a boatload of hops was utilized in the brewing process but the end result fails to realize a superbly defined IIPA nose. Some citrus, melon, and wooden bitterness are noticed as well as more than ample malts. The palate is very sticky with a full flavor profile hiding the alcohol deftly. The finish is bitter with substantial bite, but could definitely use some more real hop character in the flavor. I appreciate the clarity of their standard IPA more, though this is a reasonable brew.

[2394-20090801] Bottle. Rich hoppy grass aroma is a little toasted. Clear, amber orange body with a quick foamy light tan head. Toasted sweet yeast flavour has a barbecued pineapple aftertaste. Medium-full body. Nice and drinkable, rich and tasty.
(w/ others @ BCTC; Cooperstown, NY)