365 different beers from 365 different breweries in 365 days with random musings on beer, food, music, sports, dogs and anything else interesting along the way
Day #445 Loose Cannon / Clipper City Brewing Company, Baltimore, MD
Previously from this brewery: Barleywine and Barlewyine + The Wire
Tonight I'm getting right down to business - I officially caught up with the times and bought a scanner, so I've been furiously working to take some classic old pictures and get them to the internet. For example, me at age four or five?
I AM A SEXY MAN
Enough tomfoolery (for the moment), let's get down to a beer review. Tonight I'm going with a beer I had at TJ's a while back, Loose Cannon from Heavy Seas. This beer has a clear, light copper color, with a fluffy white head. There's a nice citrus aroma, and when you take a sip you find pine and lemon, with an earthy dryness, and just the right amount of bitterness. A really nice beer I could drink all night, if given the chance. Great for a night when you're looking to pick a fight with the hoppiest beer in the bar.
Yar, matey.
Unless I'm missing something, you won't find the name Clipper City anywhere on their website. However, I still believe Clipper City is the name of the brewery, and they in turn brew Heavy Seas beer. I think I know this because that's what it says on Wikipedia, and the internet never lies.
Thing To Think About Today: Allow me to point out the obvious connection for tonight: Loose Cannon, meet Cannonball, by The Breeders. Enough said and rather appropriate on a night where I'm pouring over pictures from the 90's. Love this song!
Beer #106 Heavy Seas Barleywine / Clipper City Brewing Company, Baltimore MD
Good productive Sunday - made my wife breakfast, wrestled with the dog to give him his eye drops, went to the gym, and hit the grocery store. Need to pause here for a second, as I saw the cops take a guy out of Wegmans in handcuffs, which I found both sad and hilarious. Shoplifting? Stolen credit card? Can't say, but he got a free perp walk through the front of the store. That guy definitely isn't enjoying the rest of this sunny Sunday afternoon, like I am. Dinner is in the oven, and at long last a beer is in my glass.
Tonight Marci and I are both drinking the Heavy Seas Barleywine from Clipper City. This one is part of their Mutiny Fleet, a series of limited edition releases. It pours a dark
mahogany with ruby hues and a sparse tan head. Your nose picks up aromas of rich malts and.... maybe leather? The taste gives off notes of toffee, raisins, candi sugar, and roasted malt with a buttery sort of undertone. It checks in at 10% ABV which is definitely
noticeable. Solid beer, and I would definitely like to see how this beer changes with aging in the cellar (we had the 2011 vintage).
Ahoy!
Thing to Think About Today:
Finally, after 105 days and with a Baltimore beer up to bat, it's time for you think about the GREATEST television program in the HISTORY of television: The Wire. That isn't hyperbole or a random adjective here; this show is by far and away the best programming I've ever seen in my life. Marci and I have both sprinkled in some Wire quotes here and there, but now is the time we think about it in earnest.
Created by David Simon and Ed Burns and shown on HBO from '02 - '08, The Wire showed life in Baltimore from many perspectives, focusing on one main theme each season (the drug trade, the docks, the police/City Hall, the schools, and the print media). The writers/creators had an amazing ability to make every character both loveable and deplorable, often at the same time. Good guys did bad things, bad guys did good things, friends became enemies, enemies.... well they formed a co-op but mostly stayed enemies. Characters were woven in and out across the seasons, and you saw them evolve (or not) over time while life around them largely stayed the same due to the dysfunctional systems of local politics and street life. With a few exceptions, most of the actors were relative unknowns, but were near flawless in their character portrayals.
You are doing yourself a terrible disservice by not watching the show. Fix that by adding it to your Netflix queue, and see what all of the fuss is about. You'll be glad you did. Check this NSFW clip for a too-quick look at what you're missing:
On my way home today I decided to treat myself to a manicure. My new go to place gets major bonus points because their manicures include a back rub while your nails are drying. For a back rub fiend like myself, this is major. So there I sat this afternoon, nails freshly polished, enjoying my back rub when the clasp on my bra pops open. All I could think is, “Isn’t this how some porn movies start?” Key piece of information, the manicurist was a dude. Alas I did not find out if this was the nail salon that provided happy endings. I just pretended to sneeze and then developed some really bad posture.
***
To ease my awkwardness, I’m breaking open a barleywine style ale from Clipper City Brewing Company. The Heavy Seas Mutiny Fleet Below Decks is from the 2011 mutiny collection. Beer from this collection is described as among their biggest and boldest beers, brewed in small batches and designed for aging like a fine wine. Three plus months of aging is all this one got.
Below Decks poured a lovely mahogany color with a tan thin head. A good swirl brought out lots of carbonation and a rich, sweet smell redolent of molasses. It drank with lightness and was full of flavor. It is rich and somewhat buttery with hints of dark fruits. It finishes with some spice and a solid alcohol warmth. Even more intriguing than the straight up Below Decks is that there are versions aged in cabernet barrels or oak bourbon barrels. Perhaps the beer gods will smile on me and send one to Wegman’s for me to discover!
So is the Below Deck the right thing to be drinking on such a fine spring day? Probably not. But this is a very enjoyable beer and I’ll take it when I can get it. That day just so happens to be today.
