Heavy Seas Winter Storm Category 5 Ale

Review Date 7/5/2007 Last Updated 1/9/2025 By John Staradumsky

  Style: Imperial ESB   Brewery: Clipper City   Country: USA   State: Maryland   $ Per OZ: $.21 (B)   ABV: 7.5%

I’ve always said that Christmas is just too big a holiday to celebrate only once a year. That being the case, I like to rekindle some of that Christmas spirit every year with a little “Christmas in July” celebration. After all, what better than the thought of pristine white snow, brightly decorated trees, and jolly old elves all decked out in red fur coats to cool you off in the midst of summer?

And of course, Christmas wouldn’t be complete without beer (at least not for me anyway). That’s because the holiday season really is the most wonderful time of the year for beer lovers, with so many wonderful special release brews hitting store shelves. Beers like Heavy Seas Winter Storm Category 5 Ale.

Fortunately, holiday beers are often hale and hearty creations well suited to being set aside for six months or so. It’s an interesting experiment, too, to see how they change over time. Winter Storm has the added benefit of being bottle conditioned, or packaged with a dash of live yeast. This allows the beer to develop in the bottle and helps to extend its drinkable life.

Baltimore’s Clipper City brewery, makers of the Heavy Seas line, calls Winter Storm an “Imperial ESB” in style. I can see that actually with all the caramel malt and juicy hop flavors going on. There is a good balance of the two here, though I think perhaps that the beer leans a bit toward the hops. Alcohol is gale force too at 7.5% by volume.

Heavy Seas Winter Storm Category 5 Ale pours to a reddish amber color with a light creamy head formation and a fruity, hoppy nose. There’s more of that fruit in the palate, juicy pear and apple notes riding atop a wave of chewy caramel malt.

Winter Storm is brewed with a veritable plethora of hops: Cascades, Chinooks, Centennials, Fuggles, and Magnums. The beer is dry hopped, or aged on whole hops, imparting a floral aroma. But it’s the bitterness that really grabs your attention here, intensifying into the finish and depositing a log, dry grassy bitter buzz that lingers long after sipping. There’s a little bit of alcohol warmth there, too.

Winter Storm is a beer that will hold up quite nicely if properly stored and kept away from heat and light. Normally, I’m not big on “imperializing” existing styles as was done here, but this beer works, and seems a bit more than just a re-named IPA. Be sure to pick some up during the holidays, and just for fun sock a bottle or two away in the fridge to enjoy in July.

Update 1/9/2025: So last November while holiday beer shopping, I picked up a single of Heavy Seas Winter Storm Warning Imperial ESB. That was a mistake. Not that I picked it up, mind you, because it is a wonderful beer, but that I only got a single when I should have grabbed a six-pack. I did this, as I recall, because I saw a bottle while browsing the singles section, but didn't see a six-pack in the store. I drank my bottle on a cold winter's evening, on the even of a rare winter storm here in Georgia. The beer was rich and malty but even more earthy grassy hoppy with a truly brilliant bitter hop finish.

Heavy Seas says on the bottle neck:

With a full ruby hue. rich malty character, and earthy hop aroma, Winter Storm is an original-a category 5 strength Imperial ESB for the winter months.

I paid $3.49 for my single bottle, which is stamped BOTTLED ON 10/19/24. The Total Wine website says they sell it for $14.99 a six-pack and that the Alpharetta store has some left. Were I not snowed in today, I would go get some. If weather permits tomorrow, I might just go get some.

Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??