Clipper City Heavy Seas Red Sky At Night

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

Pours pale gold with a thin white head. Smells of residual sugar and has some saison aualities, but they are all garbled. Tastes fruity and overly sweet for the style.

FIRST TRIAL: pours a straw yellow with very little head and an abundance of floaties; aroma is subtle, with some spice and malt; taste isn’t quite as subtle with a fair amount of spice and yeast fruitiness; mouthfeel is smooth with a hint of fruity sweetness at the end. Hmm... The commercial description says "enormously complex" but this feels very, very far from complex... particularly when compared the numerous saison incarnations from other craft brewers. Saison seems to a style with exceptionally wide guardrails, and this beer seems to ride the center-line. It’s yeasty without being "barnyard-ish", it’s not as fruity as other saisons I’ve had, and the mouthfeel is rather dull compared to the effervescence of something like Saison Dupont. Thanks to BeerBelcher who was kind enough to share this bottle with me (which he got from his beer of the month club... which apparently doesn’t mind mailing out beer 9 months past its pull date... so, hopefully I’m not giving this beer an unjustly poor review).

12 oz bottle-pours a foamy white head and yellow color. Aroma is spicy-coriander/clove, yeast, light malt/wheat. Taste is sweet light malt, spicy-coriander/clove/pepper, yeast, herbal. Semi dry finish. Occasional.

On tap. Noses in a very mineral heavy, soft Thai spices, with a bit of alcohol, pineapple and soap. Pours a hazed golden with a frothy, tall head in white. Flavor develops rich spiciness, then a good dense chewy malt base. I appreciate the texture of this beer and it’s inline with the other heavy seas beers, that come with a very mineral rich profile. It’s almost as if the beer has been brewed with Evian water and then filtered through cotton. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. This does give a little too much phenol and quashes the overall drinkability with some alcohol and sugar, but it’s not terrible.

A hazy golden ale with a thin white head. A pleasant cloves and bananas in aroma, with light vanilla notes. In mouth, a restrained spicy malt, with light herbal notes, good alcohol in final. Medium bodied. Middle of the road Saison.

Poured a clear yellow-gold with a two finger head. Aroma is malt and worcestershire. Flavor is the same as the aroma. Not great but not bad.

Well, I’m not so sure of the overall on this, as I think it’s fantastic! I guess the only thing that could be better is the carbonation, which is a bit overdone. Otherwise, it pours a hazy yellow, with fluffy white head. The aroma is of yeast and bread. And the flavor is right up there with some of the better wheat beers I have had. Lots of clove, and banana on the finish. Very tasty and drinkable. Cheers!

12 oz bottle from one of my buddies. Pours a clear medium bodied honey orange with lots of visible small floating particles and a small bright white foamy head. Aroma is too sweet for a saison with lots of corn syrup up front and the pepper and spice notes secondary. finishes with an articifical sweetness somewhere between raisin and grape to plastic. Medium bodied with average carbonation and a smooth finish. Could finish drier for a saison. Flavor is on the sweet side again with raisin bread, slight pepper and spice in the background, perhaps some wet wheat/hay in there. Ah it’s drinkable but as a saison this one falls short.