Red Sky at Night – Heavy Seas
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.”
– an ancient, unknown weatherman
Saisons are a delight. Generally light and refreshing, these Belgian farmhouse style ales refuse to fit an exact style description — some are spicy, some are wild, some are wheaty and crisp — but I find most Saisons to be lively, fresh, and quite enjoyable.
Clipper City Brewing’s “Red Sky at Night” is a member of the Heavy Seas lineup of big, bold beers. Red Sky certainly boasts a big 7.5% ABV; but, compared to the other Heavy Seas beers, Red Sky has a surprisingly soft taste and mouthfeel. Fortunately, that doesn’t detract from this beer’s ability to please.
I popped the bottle cap off my 12 oz bottle and poured Red Sky into a wide-mouthed goblet. The beer poured a soft golden color with an effervescent white head that spread across the goblet and quickly exhausted itself.
The beer was about 50 degrees when I poured it, but the nose was rather dainty — some clove spice and fruity Belgian yeast teased by alcohol and biscuity malt. I took a deep sip and the softly grainy malt flooded my mouth with a sugary sweetness that melted into a warm spiciness and left me with a yeasty, malty aftertaste.
Red Sky at Night’s label describes the beer as “refreshing yet intensely spicy”, and the Clipper City website explains:
This beer is brewed in the Belgian Saison style (country farm house ale). A potent yet delicate ale, brewed with a unique Belgian yeast which develops a spicy, fruity flavor. Enormously complex. Available from May to around August.
Red Sky at Night is a relatively tame Saison that has been enlivened by clove spice. There’s just enough candy sugar to balance the spices, but not enough “wild” taste to push the envelope. Instead, Red Sky at Night comes across as a complex but entirely accessible Saison. Since many beer drinkers have never tried a Saison, this beer’s drinkability can only be a good thing.
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2 Comments
July 16th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Good stuff.
Nothing mind blowing, especially for the style. But in the past couple of months, this beer has helped me to accomplish two things:
1. Introduce non-craft beer drinkers into a new world of good beer. Males, females, whatever. They all have enjoyed this beer. Even with its 7.5% ABV. I’m guessing the slightly fruity notes help. Most have claimed, “great summer beer!”
2. Turned folks onto good local beer. Just like many folks now are buying their veggies, fruits, etc. at local farmer’s markets – we should try to do the same with beer. Not to mention, I know many of the guys who brew this stuff and they’re all great people – all the way up to Clipper City’s owner/founder.
Between this review and your Clipper City “Loose Cannon” review, I’ll make sure to point those same folks in this direction and hopefully they can, in turn, spread the news on good local Baltimore beer!
Thanks for sharing. Glad you enjoyed.
July 26th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
[...] Clipper City Brewing Co. – Red Sky at Night – Saison Ale from Clipper City’s Heavy Seas [...]