Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3

Copper color with a fairly foamy head. Aroma of pine and sweet malt. Flavor is pretty hoppy, but with a clean, sweet balance and a dry finish.

Draft: Buttery aroma. Amber color, thin head, good lacing. Orange peel taste, not complex. Nice hop finish. Sticky mouthfeel.

On tap at Barley’s Taproom: Copper colored with an off white head. Big, piney aroma of hops. Medium body with a creamy mouthfeel. Big hop flavors at first, malty sweetness takes care of the bitterness in the end.

I picked this up at Norm’s Beer & Wine in Vienna during a recent visit to the Washington, DC area. This beer pours a slightly hazy dark yellow with a scummy head of mixed large and tiny bubbles which clung aggressively to the sides of my pint glass. Aroma is hoppy sweetness backed with a bit of stale cerealness, but still good. Mouthfeel hits before flavor, and it is fairly thick and syrupy. Flavor is good; it is pretty much all hops (which I heartily approve of, especially for an IPA!) and is a bit sweet and balanced with some piney-ness. While the mouthfeel is a bit thick and slick, this beer still feels rather dry. Definitely recommended.

Bottle sampled. Pours a clear amber color with a white head. Aroma of citrus, pine, and some grapefruit. Flavor is quite hoppy with a nice malt/caramel sweetness and a bitter finish.

12 oz bottle. First thing I do when beer-loving friends and relatives swing through the Balmer-DC area to say "Hi": I pour ’em a local brew. And this is invariably the first one I grab. I think it’s the best thing brewed in Baltimore...or DC...or Annapolis...or all of Maryland and Virginia combined. A hophead’s dream: big in your face showcase of what a great East Coast IPA is all about. And you can always see it in their face after the first swallow: a huge floral/citrus hop BAM!!!! But that’s not all: there is body, decent ABV, nice maltiness, super head retention, nose out the ying-yang, and a nice neat finish. Very drinkable. Kirk like. Come visit me sometime!

12 oz bottle. Pours an amber color with a small white head. Nose was hoppy with some citrus flavors. Taste was mildly hoppy, but with floral undertones and a citrus kick. No lingering hop aftertaste. I’m not normally an IPA type of guy, but I enjoyed this one.

Bottle. Pours a bright hazy orange body with a small white creamy head. Lots of orange and citrus aroma accompanied by some sweet biscuit malt and apricot. Juicy flavour with nice hop resin but not overly bitter. Some fruitiness is present too in the form of apricot and pineapple. Not bad, but a bit sweet for my tastes.