Heavy Seas Loose Cannon (Hop3)
Our flagship beer, Loose Cannon wins people over at first smell. The carefully cultivated interplay of Simcoe, Palisade, and Centennial creates a most fragrant IPA - its nose bursts with notes of grapefruit, herbs, and pine. Bitterness is somewhat subdued by the floral quality that pervades the taste. The color is burnished gold, and the mouthfeel is creamy. A strong malt backbone balances out the triple-hopped beer. Its nickname, Hop3, comes from the brewing process: our brewers hop Loose Cannon in the boil, the hopback, and the fermenter. It won a second place CAMRA award at the 2010 Great British Beer Festival.
3.7
1393 reviews
Baltimore, United States
Community reviews
Bottle (355 ml) from Systembolaget. Clear deep golden, medium white head. Fruity, piney, floral aroma. Medium to full bodied. Semi dry, medium to high bitterness. Slightly alcoholic.
0,355 l bottle from Systembolaget Sollentuna. Good IPA, although a little bit less strong and hoppy as I hoped.
Pours a hazy orange color with a very thin white head. The aroma had a very citrusy orange smell to it. This has a very hoppy grapefruit flavor to it. I would definitely drink this again!
Strong fruit flavors with a robust bitter finish. This beer is for people who like strong fragrances. Good one!
Aroma: Bright grapefruit citrus from the hops. Earthy and dank undertones and a lightly toasted malt aroma reminiscent of dry biscuits.
Appearance: Clear body with a burnt orange color. Head dissipated quickly but remained on the beer. The texture is mostly tiny bubbles with a few medium hugging the edges of the glass. Lacing is low.
Flavor: Sweet malt character initially, with flavors of toasted grains quickly followed by a strong bitterness that lingers. The hop flavor is grapefruit, the very bitter kind. The finish is bitter with the balance being hoppy, the aftertaste is sharp.
Mouthfeel: High carbonation, thin body and moderate alcohol warmth. Beer is far from creamy, and sharply astringent from the bittering hops.
Overall: A good malt sweetness followed by the hops. The hops provide a strong level of bitterness but not a ton of flavor. A decent IPA.
Amber with thin head. Not getting much aroma but that could be me or the beer is too cold. Some resinous pine hop notes come through and that is about it. Taste is pretty well balanced but with the scale topped a bit towards the hoppy bitter side of things. More resin and slight sweetness. Bitter finish. Decent but a bit too bitter for me to have as a regular
West coast hops. Is good, but not as good as lost Coast
Very floral and malty aroma. Shiny gold with an off white head. Taste is also floral, not a lot of hops, watery palate, drinkable for the ABV. Pretty good, not worthy of upper 90's ratings.
Had this many times (In fact, loved it in Baltimore Fells Point - The Horse You Came In On). Poured from a can into a pint glass. Great appearance with solid lacing. Super smooth at 7.3%. Nose is tropical fruits; gets a juicy start. Creamy and smooth with no booze or metallic notes. Very hoppy and juicy. Cheers!
On tap at Heavy Seas Alehouse (Arlington, VA). Slightly hazy, golden/amber body with an average, lasting, white foamy head. Good hoppy aroma with malty and piney hints. Its sharp hoppy taste is similar to the aroma and ends with a decent bitter finish.
Draft from the source - Pours a light copper with an ivory colored head...decent lace. Nose is heavy floral, hibiscus and cracker. Good feel, moderate spritz. An herbal edge joins the floral architecture, rosemary, a little spearmint. A whisper of dankiness comes out with warmth. A very yummy IPA!
Pours golden with nice lace. Smell of wheat and citrus. Tastes of grapefruit
Pours reddish amber with a thick white head. Aroma of centennial hops, earthy notes. Taste has woody notes, oak. Palate continues this, layers them with the aforementioned hops and delicate stone fruit notes. Good beer.
Draft at Brass Tap, National Harbour, MD. April 2019.
12 oz bottle. Smells of orange juice. Clear and orange in color. Well balanced, slightly malty with a citrus kick. Low bitterness for an ipa. Interesting IPA, it has juicy qualities without the haze. Slightly bitter finish. Quite nice.
Pint at Winking Lizard, Peninsula, Ohio. Smell the hops, somewhat sweet smell. Clear deep golden yellow and clear. Small white head with film on glass. Taste some citrus but not over hopped. Very well balanced.Smooth. Little bit of hoppy after taste. Good for the style. Cheers!
Golden/amber in appearance. Good lacing. Solid carbonation. Resiny, bitter, grapefruit. The batch I had must have been decently fresh. Balanced.
won me over at first smell and kept me asking for more with the first sip.
Bottle pour into nonic pint glass from Total Wine & More, Danvers. Appearance is lightly hazy, light brown-orange with light sparkle, finger-width, off-white foamy head with poor retention and mild, leggy lacing. Aroma is citrus, dank, caramel malt backbone, floral/muted candied sugar. Taste is as aroma. Palate is light-to-medium bodied with thick, smooth texture, average-to-lively carbonation and fairly dry finish as taste. Overall, this was a bit old (best by 11/6/18) so hop contribution likely muted a bit as this leans more to the malt side than a fresh batch likely would. Will have to re-rate at some point. Still, can tell there's quality construction here.
On draught in Washington D.C. pours copper and clear. Nothing off but nothing outstanding.
From can at Cantler’s Riverside Inn. Amber with cream colored head. Floral aroma. Malty with a hoppy, slightly bitter finish.
Recently enjoyed this both on draft and from a bottle, the draft pour featured some added creaminess but otherwise both versions were indeed consistent in their flavor and poured with lots of lacing and white foam that lasts throughout the whole pint. Before trying this apparent flagship IPA, I had heard of Heavy Seas Brewing but had never tried any and was unfamiliar with their beer; when served to me by an unknowledgeable bartender and with only a tap handle to go by, I honestly mistook this beer to be a hoppier amber ale initially, given the deep golden amber appearance and the intense aroma and flavor of warm bready caramel malt. This IPA struck me as "east of east coast" in its rendition of the style, with an unusually dominant caramel/malt-heavy flavor profile, although to be sure there is a firm grapefruit and orange citrus hoppiness. Medium-bodied and refreshing on the palate. Although there is overly generous caramel to balance out the hops, the maltiness is not sugary sweet, and the beer finishes with a solid hoppy bitterness. Although I really enjoyed drinking this, in my experience there is too much malt to taste more delicate hoppy complexity.
Bottle. Orange pour. Aroma of orange, grapefruit, bready malt and citrus. Taste has soft piney garlic hop, citrus, bready malt, grapefruit and bitter herbs. Nice classic is IPA.
bottle. An amber pour with a thin creamy off-white head. Fruity citrus aroma. Light-medium body, creamy mouthfeel with a tart finish. Heavy malt flavour upfront, sweet bread and caramel notes, bitter-sweet grapefruit and apricot with a touch herbal hops.
Pours a somewhat cloudy golden yellow. Grapefruit and citrus in the aroma. More of the same in the flavor. Not as bitter or as over-the-top fruity as a lot of the newer IPAs, but a well-made and enjoyable beer.
Wow randomly picked this up in Skaneateles Byrne diary beer cave and was blown away. Crisp hoppy ale with flavor and punch
Can from Total Wine. Seems a classic & beloved old school IPA. Nice pine bitterness, subtle squeezed grapefruit, a bit of sugar. The finish is long & steeped in resin. I can see why people like this (ratebeer ratings from some friends 10 years ago are super high) & can also see why this seems a little dated. Whatevs. It works.
This has become one of my go-to IPAs up here in the DMV area. Not as hoppy and tropical as the ones in FL that I became accustomed to. But, it is pretty smooth and well balanced....and the price is super affordable (Often find it for $6.99/6 if not then $7.49-$7.99). Light on malt with a lighter hazy orange appearance. At 7.25%, this is good valued economy borderline macro brew.
Sweet caramel start. Modest floral bitterness. Would prefer an IPA to be more hop forward than this and to finish with a bigger bite. Not bad but not great.
Extremely impressing taste for the lack of appearance. Good flavor, light enough to enjoy all day. Would buy more.