The return of Red Sky at Night

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Red sky in morning, sailor take warning.”
— old sailing adage

Heavy Seas Brewing's Red Sky at Night Saison, served on draught (with a side scoop of hummus) at My Parents' Basement (a combination good-beer pub, graphic novel shop, and arcade game parler) in the City of Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA (some 570 miles south of the brewery).

22 July 2025.

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About Red Sky at Night

Heavy Seas is a thirty-year-old 'craft' brewery, founded in 1995 (née Clipper City Brewing) in Baltimore County, Maryland, USA. The Red Sky at Night appears to be a limited re-release for the brewery's anniversary. Here's the brewery's description of the beer in 2010, when it was an annual spring release:

Brewed in the style of Belgian farmhouse ales – using a unique Belgian yeast and authentic Belgian candi sugar. It is a potent and spicy ale with deep complexity. Pairs well with Thai cuisine and mussels.

• ABV: 7.5% [alcohol by volume]
• IBUs: 17.5 [international bittering units]
• Hops: French Strisselspalt
• Malts: Pale, 2-Row, Wheat Malt

My impression (now, in 2025):
The beer poured with a pleasantly hazy appearance, typical of the saison style. In flavor, there were hints of spice (such as anise), notes of candi sugar fusel alcohols, and a 'red delicious' apple character. Tasty!

My Parents' Basement mistakenly, but humorously, referred to the beer as Red Rum Sky at Night, mixing a cinematic horror allusion with a nautical aphorism (quoted above). To be fair, so had the beer-review app, Untappd.

About Saison

(pronounced: "say ZAWWN")

Beers in this category are gold to light amber in color. Often bottle-conditioned, with some yeast character and high carbonation. Belgian-style saison may have Brettanomyces or lactic character, and fruity, horsey, goaty, and/or leather-like aromas and flavors. Specialty ingredients, including spices, may contribute a unique and signature character. Commonly called 'farmhouse ales' and originating as summertime beers in Belgium, these are not just warm-weather treats. U.S. craft brewers brew them year-round and have taken to adding a variety of additional ingredients.

— CraftBeer
a website of the [U.S.] Brewers Association

A series of occasional reviews of beer (and wine and spirits).
No scores; only descriptions.

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Innovation in 'craft' brewing.

On 18 February 2020, beer writer Stan Hieronymus hosted the "Ask Me Anything" weekly one-hour broadcast at the Facebook group "Craft Beer Professionals." Technology misbehaved as it often does...with glitches. So, Mr. Hieronymus conducted things in writing rather than via Skype. Well, via Facebook posts, that is.

Early on, he was asked:

The past decade we have witnessed enormous growth in craft beer. What do you believe will be the guiding principle for the next 10 years? Great beer? Great business skills? Innovation?"

He answered:

...The growth in the number of breweries is larger than the growth in sales. Brewing very good, flaw-free beer gets you in the game. Writing a realistic business plan keeps you there. If by innovation you mean novelty, that is overrated. If by innovation you mean taking advantage of what technology has to over, then it is underrated."

Words to brew by.

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Drinking, again! Euphonia Pilsner

It was during the 2013 Craft Brewers Conference that I took my first whiffs of hops Ariana, Calista, Hallertau Blanc, Hüll Melon, Mandarina, Saphir, and Smaragd, the new German harvest of American-esque hop varieties (although the Germans would NOT like that characterization!). Aromas of melon and mulberries, and even foxy tones.

I revere German brewers' traditional, 'noble' hops such as Hallertau Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, but I was impressed by these new kids, bold yet elegantly restrained. During the six years since, those hops have caught on with brewers in the States.

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Euphonia Pilsner

Here's one such beer, American-brewed, paying homage back to that. It's Euphonia Pilsner, brewed by New Realm Brewing, of Virginia Beach, Virginia (and Atlanta, Georgia).

I enjoyed it al fresco and 'still life'd,' in Decatur, Georgia, on 14 April 2019.

• The brewery's website states:
  

  German-style pilsner combines tradition with modern hopping techniques for a nice floral hop character. Brewed with German Pilsner malt, and late addition hops to provide a soft bitterness and vibrant hop aroma. 5% abv [alcohol-by-volume].

  
  
• The can states:
  
  • "Hersbrucker, Huell Melon, Saphir, & Sterling" hops.
  • 5.8% as the abv rather than the website's lower claim of 5%.
  • The provenance, "Brewed in Georgia," whereas the punt of the can is clearly stamped with the words, "Brewed in VA,"
  • The packaging date: 14 March 2019 (also inked on the punt, under the can).
  
  
• Now, my turn:
  
  Restrained use of new-age fruity lager hops overlays classic spicy/floral hops. There's a hint of classic lager sulfur but NO hint of the brunchy —egg and apple— foul of many 'craft' lagers. In the background, there's firm shortbread malt.
  
  
• Conclusion:
  
  Overall, Euphonia Pilsner is bright and crisp, and overtly, if not bluntly, aromatic, with a sustained finish. It's proof that New Realm's brewmaster co/owner, Mitch Steele —the 2014 recipient of the [U.S.] Brewers Association's Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing, the former head brewer for Stone Brewing and, before that, a brewer for Anheuser-Busch, and the man who literally wrote the book on IPA — knows how to brew a pilsner, by Groll! That the beer tasted 'born-on fresh' a full month after it was packaged is a further testament to his brewing chops.

A series of occasional reviews of beer (and wine and spirits).
No scores; only descriptions.

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Drinking, again! Sierra Nevada / Weihenstephan Oktoberfest 2018 (a review)

Sierra Nevada Brewing's Oktoberfest 2018 is a collaboration with Weihenstephan in Freising, Germany, brewed in the U.S. by Sierra Nevada.

We’ve partnered with Bavaria’s Weihenstephan, the world’s oldest brewery for this American take on the classic German Oktoberfest. A malt backbone is balanced by subtle hop character in this crisp, clean, and drinkable crowd-pleaser. Nothing captures the spirit of celebration like a beer among friends.

— Sierra Nevada Brewing

From the brewery, here are the zymurgical specifications:

• Malts: Two-row Pale, Steffi, Pilsner, Munich.
• Hops (bittering): Sterling.
• Hops (flavor and aroma): Sterling, Spalter, Record.
• Yeast: lager (strain not specified)
• ABV (alcohol-by-volume): 6%.
• IBUs (international bittering units): 20.

From me, here are my reactions. I tasted Oktoberfest, poured from a bottle, in Atlanta, Georgia, on 23 August 2018. I'm not certain if Sierra Nevada is brewing the lager exclusively at its original plant in Chico, California, or also at its newer brewery in Mills River, North Carolina, but the sample I tasted was brewed at the former.

• Appearance: Like a shiny, new penny
• Conditioning: Fine bead, lasting carbonation; long-lived, lightly moussey head.
• Aroma: Toasted marshmallows in an alfalfa field.
• Taste: Sweet start with a dry finish. Lightly toasted bread; a good depth of malt. Even a soupçon of 'Meillardy' dark-meat poultry (in a good way).

And, here's a kicker. As a neurogastronomical experiment, leave a bit of the beer unfinished in your glass, overnight (if you can). In the morning, smell. Those noble-heritage hops linger on. Glorious!

Munich, Germany, begins its Oktoberfest celebrations on Saturday, 22 September, continuing for sixteen days through Sunday, 7 October. I began early.

A series of occasional reviews of beers (and wine and spirits).
No scores; only descriptions.

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De gustibus non est disputandum.

A few days ago, Jaime Jurado —who, among many beer business accomplishments, was the recent Head of Brewing Operations at Abita Brewing Company, in Louisiana— posted, to his personal Facebook page, a link to an article written by Bryce Eddings ¹, at a site called The Spruce, entitled, "A Working Definition of Craft Beer. The attempt to define 'craft' beer is not as easy as you think."

As you might think, there was a large thread of responses. Mine covered one aspect of the question: the elusive definition of 'craft.' Given that this is my blog, I've expanded upon my response and unraveled it here.

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The [U.S.] Brewers Association ² does NOT define what a 'craft' beer is. And, fortunately, it does not define 'craftsmanship,' either. It does, however, define what so-called 'craft' breweries are: its dues-paying members. It's a distinction often disregarded. The BA promulgated its newest 'definition' in 2014: "An American craft brewer[y] ³ is small, independent, and traditional."

• Small: Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to the rules of alternating proprietorships.
• Independent: Less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by a beverage alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.
• Traditional: A brewer[y] that has a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation. Flavored malt beverages (FMBs) are not considered beers.

Compare that to the BA's older, pre-2014, definition in which corn and rice had been deemed 'evil':

Traditional: A brewer[y] who has either an all malt flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers brands) or has at least 50% of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor.

Four years before that, in 2010, the BA also changed its definition of a small brewery, making it a lot less small. It tripled the size limit for breweries from annual production of two million barrels or less ... to six million barrels. In other words, as the BA put it, it stopped penalizing member success. Or, in other words, it ended its worry about losing the advocacy and financial support of its largest member, the Boston Beer Company, who, at that point, was right at the two-million-barrel threshold. of course, now both Yuengling (allowed in, in 2014) and Boston Beer are closing in on the newer limit. Will what 'craft' is change again?

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New definitions

A 'craft' brewer(y) is a brewer(y) that pays dues to the [U.S.] Brewers Association. And a 'craft' beer? That's:

1) a beer that tastes good, and/or

2) a beer made with craftmanship, and/or

3) a beer made with chemical-laden breakfast cereals, and/or

4) De gustibus non est disputandum ⁴.

Or, in other words, cocoa-puffs, chemicals, and artificial ingredients in your beer are okay and big non-beer venture capitalists owning your brewery are also okay. Just not big breweries.

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