Clipper City Heavy Seas Big DIPA

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

Medium orange, clear, touch of amber, good head. Aroma is caramel malts and cooked citrus hops. Flavor matches, with a clear alcohol note that isn’t entirely pleasant. In the end, I get cloying sweetness, baked grapefruit, alcohol heat, and a bit of bitterness. Not my favorite take on the style. Lauren, on the other hand, made a game try to sample some herself.

22oz bottle. Red color with a medium head and lasting foam slick. The aroma has a nice spiced grapefruit hop thing going on, but is also a blast of sweet, caramel-laden malt. The flavor is sweet and malty with a big dose of caramel, lots of spicy and piney hops, and some cookie sweetness. Thick with a light stickiness and lower carbonation. As an imperial red, this is quite enjoyable, but were they really trying to make a DIPA? I guess the DFH 90 influence is in full effect here. I’ll stick to their much better loose cannon IPA in the future for a hop fix, but this is still a nice drink.

22oz bottle. Pours cloudy amber in color with tan head. Aroma sweet, grapefruit and citrus hops. Taste citrus hops, grapefruit and sweet malt with bitter finish.

Strong dense head over an inch thick and receeding very slowly. Light carbonation. Hmmm, strange aroma. Some wet dog, sweet malts, vegetal aromas and some floral hops. Color is a dark copper. Woah, much better flavor than aroma. Lots of sweet caramel malts, a plethora of resinous hops, citrus and some smoked grains. Noticable alcohol presence. Finishes roasty and bitter with a lingering sweetness. A very good tasting IIPA.

Bottle from Jonathan Ron Brielle. Pours out a slightly reddish copper color with a moderate off white head. Nice aroma of citrus, pine and slight floral hops, slight sweet grain notes also. Taste is pine and citrus hops, caramel, sweet griainy malts and a little alcohol on the finish.

Bottle at Papsø’s - Thanks to CaptainCougar. Clear amber - white head. Nice hoppy, toasted, berries, caramel, sweetness, sweet malty, light alcoholic, sharpness, earthy, light mould, wood - forrest. Very nice.

Steady and thick off-white head; two-fingers thick. Clear with a neutral amber color. Good ring lace. Earthy and hoppy nose. Overall, well-balanced aroma. Pine and citrus notes. The taste has more alcohol warmth than I expected based on the smell. Great hop as a counterbalance. Borderline extreme. The body is as I expected. With the alcohol level, I couldn’t have many of them, but I am enjoying this one.

22oz from Sturgyks in Minneapolis. Yar! This pirate’s a little like the dread pirate Roberts from "Princess Bride". Devilish, charming and duplicitous...but half hearted and ultimately less than it claims. The colour and appearance in the glass look fine, copper with thin lacing. The aroma is assertive and complex. But on tasting this IIPA packs less of a punch that expected. The roasted malt jumps out before the hops take over...it’s almost as if they are two different components that aren’t really directly linked. The hops also don’t linger as long as some other top IIPA’s. But I am nitpicking somewhat. The palate is very good and the malt is very enjoyable, even though the hops seem less than expected. So it’s a very good IIPA but not a top notch one. No mutiny here but this is Captain Jack Sparrow, not Black Beard.