22 oz bottle from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA.
So far I’ve been pretty unimpressed with the recent Heavy Seas/Clipper City bomber offerings, with the DIPA being especially poor and the Pumpkin and Marzen not really setting the house on fire either, so I approach this with a bit of trepidation. I feel a little more optimistic about Yule Tide, since I love a good Tripel and this is the kind of beer that should sit well at the elevated 10% ABV level – we’ll see.
Pour is a golden orange which is a touch darker than I usually like for the style. Even though I’m not expecting huge things with this ABV, the head and lacing are a touch disappointing to me.
Nose is pure candied sugar with a touch of alcohol.
The alcohol is pretty well hidden with plenty of bubble-gum and other estery fruits. It’s a little ill-defined for me with lots of obvious, syrupy fruit and alcohol but it seems a bit muddled. Lacks definition and any kind of serious edge for a classic style.
Once again this misses for me. With the seemingly ever increasing frequency of these 22 oz releases, the feeling I get is that Clipper City is rushing these beers out to somehow capitalize on the relative popularity of craft beer. I just feel as though they are off target which is surprising and disappointing given how much I like Below Decks and Hang Ten. I’m a bit disillusioned to be honest.