The Spring Beer Scabs: # 7 HS Aarsh vs ST Farmers Tan

      Since the #7 and #10 seeds from the Farm, Hops and Reds Region were so F-ing bad, they have been replaced.  So we bring in two big beers to replace them.  Heavy Seas Aarsh Imperial Red Ale will take the # 7 seed. While Southern Tier's Farmer's Tan Imperial Farmhouse Ale takes over the # 10 seed.  Two imperials head to head.  Aarsh pours out a light red with big caramel, citrus and a touch of yeast on the nose.  Tan pours out a slightly cloudy straw with a strong honey,caramel, and citrus herb nose.  The Aarsh has big yummy flavors here with mocha caramel,and citrus hop throughout, that's good.  Wow Farmer's tan is very impressive as well with nice crisp citrus herb, honey, and caramel.  The Aarsh has a nice body with a pleasant 7 % ABV.  But Farmers Tan has a nicer 9 % ABV, point Farmers.  I really like these both and Aaarsh is the best red I have ever had by a long shot.  This is as close as it gets, but Farmer's Tan pulls away at the end to win this one.  I would recommend both these beers unreservedly.  Again now we have a very good 10 seed, oh well.  Better than me having to drink crappy beer.  Oh yeah, fuck those losers I threw out, those beers sucked.

Heavy Seas Siren Noire

      Oh,  Heavy Seas you produce such good beers,HERE and then utterly undrinkable garbage, HERE and HERE.  So to get back to just mediocre they need a winner.  Of course,  Imperial Chocolate Stout, sounds like a winner to me.  Noire, of course, pours out black as night with a staggering amount of chocolate on the nose.  There's nice hop bite all around strong chocolate and mocha flavors. This has a heavy body with a buttery quality to it.  The chocolate flavors have amazing depth and quality. I could see how some would complain that it's not that beer like, being more alcoholic chocolate.  I would disagree, I think there's enough hop here to bring it into the realm of beer.  I loved Young's Double Chocolate Stout, but this is way better.  This is great, the chocolate lover will adore this.  One of my favorites,  although this is not an easy drinking beer, more a dessert.

Heavy Seas Winter Storm

      Heavy Seas has produced really good beers, Prosit, and really bad beers, Letter of Marque.  I hope their Winter Storm is more of the former.  The Storm pours out a classic amber with hop, caramel, vanilla, spice and mocha.  And all that potential is completely fucking ruined.  The stupid jerks have masked it all with a truck load of painfully strong hop.  So no other taste is discernible.  I will endeavor to slog through this to see if it gets better.  I managed to finish it, but this is still a fail.  A hateful mess.

Heavy Seas Mutiny Fleet: Letter of Marque

      Letter of Marque is part of Heavy Seas strong Mutiny Fleet line of beers.  By strong they mean high alcohol and high flavor.  I loved their Imperial Octoberfest, which was fest on steroids. But, this is a rye porter so let's taste it shall we.  This is a nice dark brown and has a strong hop nose, with mocha, caramel and spice.  Up front their is a massive flood of bitter hop.  Maybe there are some other flavors a bit of cara...wait.  Nope, this hop is totally ruining this beer.  It's so strong it's burning my mouth.  I can't believe anyone would ruin all this alcohol this way. They should be ashamed.  Heavy Seas has really let me down.  Now I'm going to have to choke down this garbage to extract the precious alcohol.  Do not buy this beer.

Heavy Seas Prosit! Imperial Octoberfest

      A pirate themed beer will kick off my series of posts from the Outer Banks.  I like Heavy Seas because they make beer with much yummy alcohol and don't overcharge for it.  Imperial Octoberfest is such a stunning concept.  Take one of my favorite styles and kick it up a notch.  Up to 8% ABV.  But have they succeeded or failed?  This beer pours out a dark amber and you can see the body in it.  Prosit is sweet and thick.  Heavy on the smoky toffee, rich caramels and yummy strong.  There's strong hop in here, but is well balanced by the other powerful flavors.  After a few of these I would gladly clamp a cutlass in my teeth and swing aboard enemy vessels.  Can't wait to have my next Prosit, it.s fantastic.

Summer Beers: Satsuma vs Red Sky at Night

Satsuma is a wheat beer from Abita, brewed with fruit and spices. There are oranges on the bottle so I'm assuming that's the fruit, but it doesn't say. Red Sky at Night is a Belgian farmhouse style wheat beer from the people at Heavy Seas . I admire Heavy Seas because they like to put more alcohol in their beer, 7.5% here. They are my friend. The Satsuma pours out a pale orange juice. Seriously. It has a citrus, tropical fruit,and mild hop nose. Red Sky is clear straw with a strong bitter, apple and yeast nose. The Satsuma tastes like a classic white ale, which is a shame as I dislike this style in general. There is citrus a bit of hop and that strong off yeast flavor I hate. It's O.k. I guess if you like this stuff. No wait, the more I drink the less I like it. Every bottle of this garbage should be poured in a ditch. Did I mention how much I like summer beers. Any way. The Red Sky is very fruity with mild hop throughout,and some caramels. The flavors are strong, but it has a bit much farm in it for me. It's a drinkable beer although I can't conceive of why they put this out as a summer beer. This is clearly a spring style for me. Neither of these beers is worth much. The Red Sky is at least decent, though. Oh well, the only summer beers that have stood out so far are the Wacko and the Summer Solstice. I'm gonna take one more look at those, then I am done with these awful summer beers.