Baltimore’s Heavy Seas Returns To Microfestivus

It has been several months now since a couple of Roanoke area restaurants added Baltimore based Heavy Seas’ Loose Cannon IPA to their draft selection. It continues to be one of the areas best “finds” in terms of craft beer on tap, hands down. When Microfestivus rolls around in August, Roanoke area beer lovers will have a chance to sample more of the brewery’s offerings as they are the latest to be added to the guest list for the city’s annual beer festival.

Heavy Seas, formerly known as Clipper City (which the overall brewing operation continues to be known as), is a regular at Microfestivus. Although I do not as of yet have any specific beer confirmations, I believe the Loose Cannon has been featured for tasting at past years’ events, as well as their pilsner Small Craft Warning. If I’m remembering correctly, their Peg Leg Stout has been available to try as well. All of these beers are regularly stocked in stores around Roanoke, including the Wine Gourmet on Franklin Road as well as at some Kroger locations.

With any luck, something a bit out of the ordinary will be available to sample as well – at the World Beer Festival in Richmond in June, I had a chance to taste their Smoke On The Water Smoked Porter. Honestly, I’m not an enormous fan of either smoked beers or porters, but the deep, rich, but velvety smooth beer with the faintest suggestion of smoke I can still taste in the back of my mind as well as if it were yesterday. It was definitely one of my better take away tastes of the festival. To tell the truth, I have not tasted one of Heavy Seas’ beers that I have not cared for.

I’m working on trying to get a confirmation of which beers specifically will be available for sampling at Microfestivus, and definitely will post them here when I do. Either way, make sure you make it by their booth when the festival gets here on August 14^th! Until then, if you’re curious about their highly hopped up Loose Cannon India Pale Ale, it is available at Fork In The Alley and at Grace’s Pizza currently. According to the website, Loose Cannon uses a ton of hops in the brewing process – in the kettle, in the hop back, and is dry hopped as well. Look for a bunch of grapefruit and some pine like flavors, plus a bit of rough hop oils flavors as well with a slightly bitter finish – very crisp and refreshing. Almost eight hundred reader reviews on beeradvocate.com have Loose Cannon currently rated an A-. It’s a solid example of a very good, somewhat bitter IPA, and a good one to try your tastebuds on if you’re making your way into the world of hopped up beers.