Heavy Seas Pale Ale - Clipper City Brewing Company, Baltimore

I tend to prejudge beer by their label, it's a bad habit of mine. Hey, we all of our flaws. When I first saw this bottle of Heavy Seas Pale Ale I thought of Johnny Depp... well, actually I thought of Captain Jack Sparrow. Clipper City put a big cartoony skull and cross bones with an eyepatch and a pirate hat. It just comes off as being too full of itself. These guys want you to think they're "hip" and "with it," tapping into the "underground chic" of pirates... Packaging like this makes me assume the beer inside couldn't be sold without tricking the Ed Hardy crowd into buying a six pack because it seemed a little more extreme than Miller High Life.

I did put all of that aside and gave this beer a fair review, and you know what? I actually liked it... The aroma didn't impress me much, but the lack of a powerful hop presence was definitely intriguing. There is a good amount of maltiness, even though it's pale, which works really well with the subdued hop profile. One odd thing I noticed throughout this beer is a weird sweet milk aroma/flavor that seemed to keep popping up. It wasn't as out of place as you'd think, but it was enough to get my attention. It may have just been the combination of pale malt, a hint of sweetness and the creamy texture that tricked my palate.

The Heavy Seas Pale was a solid beer. It was more well balanced than I was expecting. It may have been a bit pedestrian in the end but I'd drink another pint or two if I had the chance.