• Review – Heavy Seas Sea Nymph

    May 11, 2012 Author: Scott
    3 Comments

    Today Chris and I are reviewing Heavy Seas Sea Nymph.  This particular review comes after a trip I made to The Perfect Pour to meet Hugh Sisson of Heavy Seas from this short article (note the signed six pack above).  In our ongoing review series we’ll be covering the following 5 items:

    • Appearance
    • Aroma
    • Mouthfeel
    • Flavor
    • Aftertaste

    Here is a quick guide for the beginner http://indybeers.com/beer-tasting-guide/. At the bottom of that page is an HTML template that can be used in our comments if you would like to post your own reviews along with us.

    From the Heavy Seas website:

    Brewed by Baltimore’s Clipper City Brewing Co., Heavy Seas is produced by Baltimore craft beer pioneer Hugh Sisson – the brewery’s founder and managing partner – and Brewmaster Ernesto Igot, formerly brewmaster at San Miguel Brewery in the Philippines.  After successfully lobbying the Maryland Legislature to legalize brewpubs, Hugh began brewing professionally in 1989 at his family’s Baltimore pub – Sisson’s – which was coincidentally Maryland’s first brewpub.  In 1994 he left Sisson’s to found Clipper City and has been involved in all aspects of the business – brewing, finance, marketing, and sales.

    Heavy Seas, as a brand, was an extension of Clipper City to handle  higher gravity beers.  The company is now called Heavy Seas with the beers segmented in one of three categories based on style/season: Clipper Fleet (lighter beers), Pyrate Fleet (high gravity beers), and Mutiny Fleet (seasonal beers).  Sea Nymph is a member of the Clipper Fleet.

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/heavyseasbeer

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeavySeasBeer

    From hsbeer.com:

    Light gold in color, yet crisp and refreshing. This summer ale will pair well with grilled seafood and salads. Available May – August.

    Appearance

    Scott:  Light gold in color is spot on.  Mild carbonation showing up.  Could easily be mistaken in looks for a light beer.

    Chris: Yep, light gold. Can I just copy off you Scott?

    Aroma

    Scott:  A slight sour smell with a hint of earthy.

    Chris: I catch just a hint of malts, but just barely.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Smooth and easy.  Very similar to the light beers previously mentioned.

    Chris: Clean.

    Flavor

    Scott: Smell and flavor are going hand in hand on this one.

    Chris: Very difficult to pickup. Lightly sweet.

    Aftertaste

    Scott: Not much there.  The flavor dissipates quickly.

    Chris: Nada. Uggh.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott:  Not a beer I would go after for flavor, but I could easily see myself throwing a few of these back on a nice hot day. 3/5.

    Chris: Exactly what I was expecting based on the Heavy Seas description. 3/5

     

  • Beer Tasting with Heavy Seas Owner Hugh Sissons

    April 21, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Hugh was on hand to do the pouring for the tasting. He was also happy to pose for pictures.

    From an email I received from The Perfect Pour:

    Heavy Seas is a local craft beer staple. Founded by Mr. Sisson in 1994 as Clipper City, the brewery has been putting out award-winning and downright tasty beers for almost twenty years. Their broad range of beers is brewed “to be the best combination of modern beer thinking blended with traditional brewing methods in the beer world today.” We think they succeed.

     

    Hugh will be pouring two special beers and one customer favorite. Try the brand new Sea Nymph summer seasonal and the newly-released Plank II, a Doppelbock aged with eucalyptus and poplar, and remind yourself of the greatness that is Loose Cannon.

     

    Come support your local brewer and enjoy some of the best craft beer on the market.

    So I decided to head over to The Perfect Pour after work and check out the scene.

     

    Hugh was on hand to do the pouring for the tasting. He was also happy to pose for pictures.

     

    With pen in hand he was also signing six packs and bottles!!

     

    Overall it was a good time.  Hugh was happy to answer any questions people had about his beer or his brewery.  I’m happy to see local business owners coming out to do meet and greets with fans of their products.  Hugh really is a pleasure to be around.

  • Tales of Beer – Tröegs

    December 13, 2011 Author: Scott
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    I don’t remember  where I got the coaster.  It caught my eye right away, and I’ve never looked at one of their bottle caps the same since then.  I would have loved to had seen the other entrants (I’ll have to look for that later*).  But I had forgotten I had the coaster until I reached for a beer.

    My wife and I have a wine party every year, but it’s really just an excuse to have a Christmas party.  Our tree is up, and the house is decorated in Yuletide spirit.  While it’s our wine party, I always make sure to stock up other alcohols as well, beer included.  This year I headed over to The Perfect Pour and went nuts.  Part of that purchase was the Tröegs Mad Elf Ale.  I picked up a six pack, but no one at the party seemed to want it.

    Tonight I opened my beer fridge to see what was looking good, and the Tröegs was beckoning me.  Lined in neat rows front to back, each unique beer had its own place in the left to right view, and the Tröegs stood out the furthest.  A week ago the guests of my wine party inadvertently chose the beer I am drinking as I retell this tale.  So to those who forwent the Tröegs, thank you.

    -Scott H

    Beer drinker, beer lover.

    * This site lists the link to the finalist, which seems to have been removed:
    http://www.realbeer.com/blog/?p=208

  • Beerporn

    November 15, 2011 Author: Scott
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    Store: The Perfect Pour

     

     

  • Review – Southern Tier crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout

    November 13, 2011 Author: Scott
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    Today I am reviewing Southern Tier’s crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout.  We did our real beer float review a few weeks ago and several people suggested we use this beer.  I couldn’t find any at the time, but last week I found a bottle of it at a great beer store, The Perfect Pour.  They had so many great beers I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.  I’m watching football while getting a few things done around the house, so Chris will not be with me and I’ll be going this one alone.  Also, I was a little lazy and used my cell phone camera instead of my real camera for the pictures.


    In our ongoing review series we’ll be covering the following 5 items:

    • Appearance
    • Aroma
    • Mouthfeel
    • Flavor
    • Aftertaste

    Here is a quick guide for the beginner http://indybeers.com/beer-tasting-guide/.

    About Southern Tier Brewing Company:

    Based out of Lakewood, New York they started operations in 2002 and have grown to produce over 30,000 barrels annually.  They were listed as one of the top 50 American breweries in the June ’07 issue of  BeerAdvocate magazine.  The crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout is listed as a Summer seasonal on their beer page, so I was happy to score one in mid-November.

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/stbcbeer

    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SouthernTierBrewingCompany

    crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout 

    Without Ice Cream

    Appearance

    Scott: Very dark brown, almost black in color.  The head lasted about a minute before dissipating.

    Aroma

    Scott: Unquestionable smell of crème brûlée.  I’m looking forward to getting a taste of this one.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Somewhere between a syrup and a creme with light carbonation.

    Flavor

    Scott: No mistaking this flavor.  It is a liquid form of one of my favorite desserts.

    Aftertaste

    Scott: There is a slight bitterness.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott: Very good, although not something I would have sought out.  With plenty of other stouts from which to sample I don’t see this one coming back around too soon, which is fine as it is a seasonal beer.

    crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout

    With Ice Cream

    I still had some Hoffmans Ice Cream left from our real beer float review, and as this was one of the beers recommended by the reddit.com commentators,  I decided to try this with Ice Cream, too.

    Appearance

    Scott: Well, head abounds.  Like the others poured over ice cream, this beer wants to fill the glass with head.

    Aroma

    Scott: I need an old school batman POW or BAM image to describe how the smell crème brûlée is hitting me in the face.  While the smell was there without the ice cream, the combination of the two has pushed the smell over the top.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Similar to the other real beer floats, this one has that nice creamy feel, compliments of the coupled dessert.

    Flavor

    Scott: High quality palate pleasure.  If you love crème brûlée, this is for you, but drinking this while eating crème brûlée may be overkill.  If you can’t have crème brûlée, this is a cold, second cousin.

    Aftertaste

    Scott: Seeing I finished the whole thing in about a minute, aftertaste is all I have.  Like any good dessert following a great meal, I feel well satiated with a pleasant “mmmmm” resonating though my mind.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott: If you get the chance , give this a try.  Ice cream and beer has been a new found pleasure for me, and this one is high on the list of those I think anyone new to the experience would enjoy.