Heavy Seas CrossBones Session IPA

While most Northeast Ohioans may not favor a certain Baltimore football team, that shouldn’t stop them from sipping one of the many thirst-quenching brews from Maryland’s own brewery, Heavy Seas.

This month brings the release of the brewery’s first year-round addition in more than six years: CrossBones session IPA.

After opening Maryland’s first brewpub in 1998, Hugh Sisson would later embark on a far more ambitious endeavor six years later — founding his own brewery, Clipper City Brewing Company. In 2003, the company formed a brand for higher-gravity beers appropriately named Heavy Seas, and by 2010 the brewery moved all its products under the Heavy Seas banner.

Heavy Seas continues to grow each year, and its beers can now be found in 18 states. The brewery is projecting sales of 60,000 barrels for 2015 thanks to an expansion project last year that now allows Heavy Seas to increase potential brewing capacity up to 175,000 barrels.

Until now, six Heavy Seas brews could be found year-round. Among them were Loose Cannon, a 7.5 percent American IPA; Small Craft Warning, a high-octane imperial pilsner; Cutlass, the brewery’s easy-drinking amber lager; and Peg Leg, a robust imperial stout. This month its seventh all-year offering arrives in the form of CrossBones, a hoppy-yet-smooth session IPA.

Floral and citrus hop flavors graze your palate while supplying the malt backbone many have grown to love from the beers of Heavy Seas. Coming in at a surprising 4.5 percent alcohol per volume, CrossBones is both incredibly quaffable and satisfying to your taste buds. The beer offers the same flavors and aromas found in Loose Cannon but in a far more sessionable package.

Look for CrossBones around town at Giant Eagle, Acme and Buehler’s locations, as well as finer craft beer stops like West Point Market, Fishers Foods, World Market, Mustard Seed, Lizardville and 101 Bottles.

/ Writer Aaron Fowler is a sales representative at Cavalier Distributing.