Eagle Claw Fist

Clown Shoes Beer
Somerville, MA

Available: IL, MA, ME, RI (MD, NH, NY, VA to come)

Brewed with Canadian two-row, English crystal, and a little English black patent malt, with Centennial and Citra hops.

ABV: 8.8
ABW: 6.95
Bitterness: 102
Original gravity: n/a

With citrusy and resinous aromas and a suggestion of caramel in the nose, this Imperial amber doesn't have the big, malty sweetness that often provides the backbone for many imperial versions of beers. Instead, Eagle Claw Fist karate-chops you immediately with an almost overwhelming bitterness that's bursting with grapefruit and pine. Just when you think that bracing bitterness will shred the enamel off your teeth, a hint of caramel and brown sugar sweetness comes in to balance things out and goad you into taking the next sip. A beer that's not for the faint of heart.
- Lisa Morrison

A full-flavoured imperial amber ale with a spectacular name: this beer will grab you one way or the other. Amber-red in the glass, it oozes floral aromas of grapefruit and rye crispbread, both of which, not surprisingly, feature prominently in the flowery taste, along with a little pine and some creamy caramel. There’s ample malty sweetness up front, but hop bitterness slices through to head off any threat that it may turn cloying, and then takes over in the very dry, piney-citrus finish. A bold, busy beer that packs a lot in.
- Jeff Evans

Lisa Morrison
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.

Jeff Evans
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.