Clipper City Heavy Seas The Great Pumpkin

Brewed by Clipper City Brewing Co.
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Baltimore, Maryland USA

Pours out a nice mostly clear orange color with a light off white head. Aroma of nutmeg, cinnamon and other typical pumpkin spices along with a little bit of sweet malt and a slightly boozy note in there too. Taste is of pumpkin pie spices, namely cinnamon, nutmeg and a little clove with a few other spice notes in there too, slight malty notes and a touch of some bitterness, but the boozy alcohol notes from the aroma follow into the taste and are present throughout, granted its 8%, but the alcohol could have been a lot more hidden.

Decent beer that’s somewhat pumpkiney but not to the likes of Pumpking or Weyerbacher. Decent, but not great. Can’t see what the rave is about. Some sour beer tastes otherwise drown out other tastes that could have been done up in a more refined beer. But perhaps that’s why those others are higher rated. Glad I tried it none the less.

Bottle thanks to bman1113vr. The look is clear, orange in color, and has an off white head. The taste is sweet, puimpkin, and spices. The smell is nutmeg, pumpkin, cinnammon, and good.

bottle thanks to bman1113vr. light amber with a white head. nose is big spices, heavy pumpkin and not much else. nice on the palate with a smooth pumpking flavor and a spicy finish.

Bottle and served in Duval snifter: Tasted head to head against the Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin:

Hazy orangy amber hue with a fading head and okay lace. Shipyard wins the appearance battle (3-4). The aroma has notes of fresh pumpkin meat, cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg, doughy pie crust and brown sugar. Yep smells just like a classic Pumpkin Pie. The Clipper City wins the aroma battle by a wide margin. (8 -6) Now on towards the make it or break it sense data for all pumpkin brews...

The taste is full frontal kicking in your face pumpkin and spice. Big sweet malts, big traditional pie spice supported by a mild doughy background. What hops may have been used in this beer have long been beat into submission by the spice overtone. Just seems too one note and suffers the common issue I have with the genre, too much spice and not enough beer. The points go to Shipyard here (5-7). The mouth feel is slightly aggressive and the one moment that the 8% ABV shows up in a snappy bite. Still the mouth feel is quite average and gets the score you would expect. I give Shipyard a slight nod here as well (3-4). Overall, while the Clipper City is hardly the worse Pumpkin beer I had, I am let down by expecting this to be the more drinkable and complex of the head to head matchup. Boy this is a shocking outcome, (11)

THOUGHTS: Very nice. A bit like Pum King. It’s definitely in my top four pumpkin beers. Breweries should just stop making non-imperial pumpkin beers. This had the perfect amount of spice for this amount of body and alcohol. The spices went from the tip of my tongue to the back of my throat. It went great with light cinnamon applesauce. When it was done, I found myself wanting more. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a hazy, medium orange with a small, off-white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing. The aroma was moderate caramel, along with nutmeg and other spices, and pumpkin pie. The initial flavor was rather sweet and a little acidic; while the finish was sweet, sour and a bit acidic with an average to long duration. There was caramel malt, pumpkin pie, tons of spices with some major nutmeg and more pumpkin pie. The medium body was somewhat syrupy with fizzy carbonation and a slightly chalky and light to moderately astringent finish.

Location: 22 oz bottle from Gilly’s, 11/16/09

Aroma: The aroma has some of the nice pumpkin spice and other spice characteristics I like in this style
Appearance: A mostly clear orange color with a thin lasting head, and light, drippy lace
Flavor: The taste is also lots of spice malts with a nice hop backing, spice is more cinnamon and nutmeg then pumpkin
Palate: The carbonation is pretty high for this beer, the mouthfeel is pretty nice, and a bit dry, and a bit of alcohol feel
Overall Impression: This is a pretty good Pumpkin beer, but my main complaint is that the pumpkin spice is not as predominant as I would like it to be. That is only a minor compliant though, as I did enjoy this beer. As winter beers start to show up more, and this style is less available in stores, I can already tell I’m about to start missing the pumpkin beers. This is a quite good one.

Enjoyed from a 22oz bomber in a tulip glass. The beer pours a medium to slightly dark amber color with a small head that quickly disappears. The nose and palate are strikingly similar to Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpking Ale, to the extent that the two are essentially dead ringers for one another. Lots of nutmeg, cinnamin, and a touch of store-bought pumpkin pie spicing. Hops are irrelevant and note noticeable. Malt makes an appearance, but is unfortunately vastly overshadowed by the spicing. Overall, this can’t hold a candle to Dogfish Head’s Punkin or Southern Tier’s Imperial Pumpking, but it is a nicely done seasonal that belies its strength.