Clipper City Brewing Company - Heavy Seas Red Sky at Night

This is a domestic version of a Belgian farmhouse ale, a traditional style brewed by European farmers, often intended for consumption in hot weather while working on the farm. Because they were brewed on site, they were often imbued with barnyard-like notes such as horsehair, grass and earth (dirt). On the nose, expect a gently sour note, suggestions of hay, champagne, toffee and yeasty mustiness. The beer is quite refreshing in character, but offers a complex combo of slightly wild yeasty notes, toffee, mild funkiness, sparkling white wine, sweet green grapes, all offset by a sour, gently tart twang. Finishes with mild spiciness and restrained bitterness that pushes and pulls against the tartness. Alcohol warms the belly at 7.5% ABV, so do pace yourself. A highly approachable interpretation of the style, it omits most of the horsiness found in Belgian or French examples. Pair with chicken stuffed with wild mushrooms and aged parmesan cheese.

The history of the Clipper City Brewing Company goes back to the mid-1980s when Hugh Sisson, owner and founder of Sisson's, a local restaurant and bar, first recognized the potential for a small brewery in Baltimore. Upon attempting to get a license to brew beer at his restaurant, he quickly discovered that legislation prevented brewpubs in Maryland. So he began working with Senator George Della, Jr. to successfully lobby the Maryland General Assembly to pass legislation permitting brewpubs in Maryland. In 1989, Hugh began brewing at Sisson's, Maryland's first brewpub. The move helped usher in the wave of craft brewing in Baltimore, and Hugh engrossed himself in the development and market recognition of both Sisson's brewpub and its beers, while simultaneously serving as this pioneering facility's first Brewmaster. After five years of brewpub brewing, Hugh took his craft brewing to a larger platform by starting a full-scale microbrewery. Three guesses as to who stepped in to say he couldn't do it… that's right, the state. It seems that "they" (a.k.a. "the man") took issue with his owning both a brewpub and brewery. The logic behind this legal blockade? Your guess is as good as ours—this is the business model used throughout Europe for hundreds of years. Fortunately, Hugh was undaunted by the legal challenge, did battle with the powers that be, yet again, and pulled out the win less than two years later. In early 1996, Clipper City Brewing, borrowing a Baltimore sobriquet as its name, officially began brewing on the scale Hugh was going for. For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (410) 247-7822 or check out their web site at www.clippercitybeer.com .