Clipper City Heavy Seas Hang Ten

Brewed by Clipper City Brewing Co.
Style: Weizen Bock
Baltimore, Maryland USA

20070903 12oz bottle. I went through a 4-pk of this beer just waiting for it to live up to the hype....hell, just live up to the style. Never happened. Clear, dark caramel color with small but lasting beige head. Aroma is banana, cookie dough, mild cocoa, and rich cream. Smells inviting. Medium bodied with a coating palate of unctuous malt sugars and feeling heavier behind a dose of syrupy, bready, old fruits. I’ve yet to make it through a whole glass of this stuff. Frankly, it’s boring.

Bottle. Banana/pineapple, clove, and caramel wheat malt aroma. Hazy orange-brown color with moderate head. Sweet banana and clove flavor initially with a strong bitter/astringent finish. Balance is a bit rough - sweet start and bitter finish seem to be at odds with one another.

Dark amber color with practically no head. Slight lacing on the glass. Nice aroma of bananas and yeasty goodness. Mouthfeel is medium to thick, but goes down nicely. I get big hints of smoke in the flavor, for whatever reason. Also, malty caramel and banana bread flavors. Alcohol well hidden. Smooth, goes down easy enough.

Date: 07/23/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Roadtrip

hazy dark amber, fine beige head, bits of drippy lace, light chocolate aroma with a hint of fruity sweetness, rich chocolate flavor followed by a barage of esters and fusel alcohols, the sweet banana esters and rich chocolate manage to fight back to offer some good flavor, big astrengent bitterness kicks in to balance but just adds to this train wreck of a beer, close to being a great beer but held back by a couple of serious flaws
-------- /> Date: 08/19/2007
Mode: bottle
Source: tasting

bitterness has none of the previous astrengency by the fusels are still present

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.7/5.0
Drinkability: 5/10
Score: *4

This four pack of Hang Ten arrived just this week in Georgia, and had notched in best by date of March 2008 on the base of the label. The beer looked like amber sweet tea in the Paulaner flute glass, except for the one finger head fed by some lively streamers. This was quite an aromatic weizenbock that showcased bananas, apples, cherries, and cloves with each smell. The sip revealed this to be one of the most flavorful Heavy Seas beers I have ever samples. The sweet and sour juicy fruit gum flavor was kicking in nicely, until arrested suddenly by a spicy phenolic bite and a hoppy finish. Not at all wimpy and out of style like few of the attempted big beers from this brewery end up as. The flavors were a tad disjointed at this point, but I would say that was more due to the young release. Body was medium thick and quite pleasantly dry. This beer definitely caught the big wave all the way. Highly recommended to any and all wheat lovers. Should be even better with a few months of age on it.

Draught: Aroma of smoke, roasting, soy sauce, and malts. Poured deep brown with hints of ruby and amber in color with a medium-sized tan head that diminished slowly. Hazy. Sparkling. Flavor of alcohol, bubblegum, malts, cream, and chocolate. Medium body. Average texture. Average carbonation. Sweet malt and bubblegum finish. Significant alcohol burn.

Copper brown, medium sized white head. Aroma is bananas and spicy yeast. Flavor is banana, some caramel, floral hops. A big brown sugar sweetness rides this beer, with banana in the background and spicy belgian yeast. Pretty good weizen bock. Thick mouthfeel, creamy, with spices and sweetness. Good beer.

Brown color with red highlights. Little bit of head. Extremely rich banana fudgecake aroma. Very sweet. Very chocolate. Banana finish. Alcohol is well hidden but still noticeable. Weizen bock by numbers is still pretty enjoyable. I like these guys.