Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3

Brewed by Clipper City Brewing Co.
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Baltimore, Maryland USA

pleasant aroma of hops and malt. reddish amber in color with a smallish off white head. nicely balanced flavor of sweet caramel and hops. crisp yet rich palate. finishes slightly sweet and slight bitter. mostly dry. approaching a DIPA, well done.

Is it Clipper City or Heavy Seas? What is this, some kind of Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium thing? Anyway, this is a decent IPA. Nothing outstanding, but maybe a good one to introduce your Bud drinking buddy to. Pours orange with a pinky finger of head. Nice lacing. Aroma of Amarillo hops is apparent. Slightly pungent. Taste is pretty straightforward IPA, nice mouthfeel with a stained roof and tongue.

Draught at Pony Bar, New York
Blond color. Nice aroma of citrusy hops. The body is quite round, toffee flavor, and good hops, citrusy and also a bit resiny. Strong final, resiny, leaner than the alcohol content would suggest. Good hop Ale.

Clear amber body with a moderate white head that quickly dissipates into a thin layer of soapy foam. The aroma is super hoppy and chuck-full of pine and grapefruit, floral perfume and some light lemon zest. Caramel, fresh bread and mild nuts round out the malt side of the nose. The body is thick and smooth, really creamy and quite enjoyable on the tongue. Sweet and malty up front, this elegantly transitions into a moderate hop bitterness. I was expecting this to be stronger, more IIPA and was qutie pleased to be wrong. The easy drinking and quasi-sessionableness of this beer is superb. My one gripe, if you will, is that the "triple hopped IPA" seems to be hopped to the equivalent of several regularly hopped IPAs I enjoy. That shouldn’t detract from this beer, but it is a bit odd. Thanks a bunch Ken: quite the treat!

The Lure:
Luxurious C-hops hypnotize, as chalky resins magnetize their orangey, citrusy fruitiness. The hopfaring fruitiness is blaring.

The Festivities:
The nucleus of this hop Vesuvius is a citrusy propensity leading to bitter wood density. Sweet orange zest sprinkled on lively earth­. A gorgeous American hopping performance.

Transcendence:
Listening to a virtuoso’s solo.

I can’t believe I haven’t rated this until now! I’ve had numerous six-packs, and II even had a cask version at the World Beer Fest in Downtown Raleigh in April that was REALLY incredible. Pours orange gold, fairly hazy, with small white head, nice lacing. Aroma is hoppy, citrus, pepper, soap, some caramel malt. Flavor is also hoppy--but not up front, mostly in aftertaste and at end. Up front, I get caramel, a little alcohol, and in the end there is a good bit of citrus, pine hops. Lovely beer. IF ANYONE GETS A CHANCE TO HAVE A CASK VERSION, KILL IF YOU HAVE TO, IT IS WELL WORTH THE TIME YOU WILL SPEND IN PRISON!!!!

Draught pint at Sunset Grill on 3/23/06 and samples at Kennet Square Fest Summer ’05.
Copper-golden, tending more towards golden, with pale lemon-lime tints. Head is large and fluffy, a well-retained off-white, with fair lacing. Lightly hazy, with plenty of bubbles rising vigorously
The nose has plenty of dry citrus fruits (lemons, limes, white grapefruits) opening up the receptors as smooth carapils notes sneak in and lightly sweetne things. Munich hops are reserved in the nose, thankfully (who needs sourness/biscuity astringency in an IPA?) while light herbal spices, white pepper even and just an all out fade to floral. Warming allows more caramel and lightly spicy chinook hops to emerge, with some bare resin on the end.
The flavor is probably its strongpoint, though I must admit to being more in to the more balanced nature of the samples I had at Kennett. Seems on the verge of being too dry and citrusy now. But a lush wintergreenish-note extracted from the heavy floral and even mildly nectarine or tangerine-like hoppiness, mixes with a perfectly honeyish (in flavor and texture) carapils maltiness. I think I want to be carapils malt when I grow up. I think I might be a little bit biased to that one, but it is just so smooth in texture, supple and sweet without being heavy. Pillowy, you might say and a great balance to floral hops (though heavy pine or citrus overwhelms it). This nearly overwhelms it, but still remains drinkable and near balanced, with no alcohol notes. Low carbonation keeps things creamy.

This poured with a medium orange body and a slightly khaki head. The aroma has some light grapefruit and a bit of almonds. There is also some decent bread crust. The taste has some fairly surprising gapefruit and some hitns of toffee. There is also some tree bark in the finish. The mouthfeel is thin and slick. The alcohol is well hidden in this one. This is a very solid IPA.