Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning

Small Craft Warning
"Über Pils"
USA
POP: Hampden Park Liquors, 3701 Falls Rd Baltimore, MD 21211
Price: Forgotten

          Heavy Seas beers have never really herked my jerk when I'm looking in the fridges of my local purveyors. This is too bad, since the founder of the brewery, Hugh Sisson, is a good guy based on a two-minute Google search of his name. His bar was one of the first two in Maryland to have Guiness on draft and he is responsible for legalizing brewpubs in the state. He also does "Cellar Notes" on WYPR, which this blog is supposed to be the opposite of. I hate Cellar Notes.
          Clipper City brewery started in 1996. Clipper City beers rebranded as Heavy Seas in 2010. They offer 24 different beers under three different "fleets". The label has a cartoon pirate on it. The cartoon pirate is supposed to be more appealing to a national audience than the super-local names that the company used in the past. I think it's just silly. Super local names are silly, too. Beers have to have stupid names to stand out in a crowded fridge, but I think they are annoying.
            I don't know what Über Pils is supposed to mean. Is it a Pilsner that has read Nietzche and feels empowered to annex the Sudetenland? As I noted earlier, the cartoon pirate on the label irritates me. He looks like a refugee from an Op-Ed page. If he looked more like Captain Crunch, one of my earliest enablers, I'm sure I would be in his power.
           The beer pours out much darker than I expected. It is a rich amber color. The head dissipates pretty quickly. The nose, well, it smells like a really good Yuengling basically. This beer seems like it is really the ghost of what Yuengling should be. It has more flavor than you would expect from a Pilsner, much more malt flavor at the end. This beer is really not bad. I would eat pit beef with it, especially with a nice pickle on the side and some fries. I feel like this would also go great with pizza. I wouldn't mind seeing this beer on draft at the Charles Village Pub.
B+