Clipper City Heavy Seas Red Sky At Night

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

Tap at Spuyten Duyvil. Spicy hot pepper aroma though without any burn, with a bright wheaty malt coming through. Pour is clear and golden. Big peppery malts in the thin, sweet flavor, with a minor euro hop finish. Very mild, kind of scummy. Easy drinking, medium bodied.

Pours out light and clear amber, thin with little head. Aroma is mostly sweet candy sugar, with a little sour apple and crisp alcohol. THou mouthfeel is suprisingly full, considering the appearance. The flavor doesn’t have any more than the aroma: sweet candy sugar with sour apple, alcohol is barely evident. The wheaty malt base is there, but the hops are totally absent. It was enjoyable, although to sweet and not a repeat.

bottle. Pours a hazy golden-yellow color, smallish offwhite head, noticeable amount of fine particles of sediment. Aromas of smooth fruity sweetness and spicy notes. Flavors feature a quick spicy kick on the front end, some cloves and nutmeg. sharp Yeasty twang. Some grainy sweetness in there as well. Pretty heavy on the sharpness. Palate is full flavored, but a fair bit of sharp tangy finish. Overall... not a bad beer, but certainly not an especially good representation of the style. Too sharp, too heavy.

Wacky but incomprehensible cartoon on the label of this Clipper City Brewing product. Floral, hoppy aroma and a nice orange color. Interesting flavor that clearly has a Belgian character - flavors of raisins and melon, a little on the sweet side. Well-hopped and with a clean finish. I like the Heavy Seas brews I have tried so far.

When I took a sip of this beer, I thought to myself "unexceptional tripel," but I thought it to be pretty decent. When I read the label as to what the brewer intended it to be, my opinion of the beer deflated slightly. It didn’t seem very saison-y to me, and I didn’t get the complexity that was purported. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a bad beer but I’d be reluctant to seek out another. Appearance was a hazy straw color. Head was virtually non-existent. Aroma was of candy sugar and some cloviness. Flavor was very tripel-like, with lots of clove and more candy sugar. Not a lot of "yeastiness" nor did I get any of the funk or diacetyl that is frequently associated with saison/farmhouse beers. Mouthfeel was a bit flat. Not bad, but hardly living up to its labeling. I wouldn’t really recommend this beer, not because it was bad, but because there is a world full of better choices out there. I got 3 bottles of this from a gift membership to the "Microbrew of the Month" club.

I believe this was my first saison. Pours slighly cloudy gold with a white head. Rather sweet consistent with other belgian styles i have tasted. Caramelly/doughy texture. Masks the alcohol quite well. Fair introduction to the style for me.

Bottle. Slightly hazy light orange color, minimal head, big fizzy bubbles. Banana, cloves, and farm aromas and flavors with a bit of a pepper, as would be expected from a saison. This isn’t as flavorful or complex as a saison should be, but as an easy drinking summer beer, it works quite well.

Not bad, smooth and pretty well balanced. Tasted slightly fruity. Didn’t have man notes on this one so it must have just been so so.