Crisp copper coloured body with a touch of a nutty brown glow and a nice, one centimetre tall tan head. Aroma of malt, caramel, toffee, nuts, figs and a bit of raisins - a touch of basement too. Medium-bodied; Assertive roasty malt with a lot of full caramelised sugar flavour, a lot of nuts, some raisins and a decent amount of alcohol. Aftertaste shows a lot of body with more depth in the malt flavours, but some noticeable with the earthiness and a little spice kick at the end. Overall, a nice and potent beer with a good complex flavour, fitting for the season without going over the top with an imperial stout or barley wine. I sampled this stubby twelve ounce bottle purchased from Village Market in San Francisco (Ferry Building), California on 15-January-2012 for US$1.79 sampled at home in Washington on a surprisingly chilly evening on 26-March-2012.

Pours a very clear, yellow-amber with little head. The aroma is a floral one, with the spruce standing out. Flavor takes some getting used to. I didn’t really care for my first sip, but it got better. There’s a strange, piney-malty sweetness caused by the spruce tips, with a bitter finish that’s not entirely pleasant, though it’s not really all that bad. Actually, on second thought, it’s really kind of gross.

Purchased at Breeze Thru Liquors in Milwaukee, WI; enjoyed while trying to rehab a bum elbow that I almost broke while running in icy conditions. Appearance a darkish, clear amber with a thin white head. Aroma of malts, a bit of cinnamon spice, touch of maple syrup, caramel. Taste is really unique, throws you off, those spruce tips add an interesting lemony/citrus sweetness that’s almost candy like. Aside from that, definitely malty, somewhat of a pine flavor as well. It’s just OK.

21st April 2009
Clear amber beer. Silky dry palate. Dry malt balanced with what tastes like sweet white wine! But I guess this is the spruce tips! Moves to a sweet hop and vanilla taste toward the finish, teh dry malt stil riding alongside. Unusual and tasty beer!

Bottle from Healthy Spirits, San Francisco. Clear bronze pour with a fair sized yet fading tan head. Super sweet aroma with some nice spruce notes alongside the malts, and a hint of spice. Rather thin and watery palate, some slight earthy hop, but doesn’t quite get out of 2nd gear. Some lingering sweetness in the finish. Clean and drinkable enough, but this, my first Alaskan beer, wasn’t a particularly outstanding one.

12 ounce bottle courtesy of Sparky27. Thanks! Pours a slightly hazy copper color with a thin head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma of pine and caramel with a buttery note. Taste is toasted malts, spruce, candied citrus, butter and caramel. Medium bodied.

12 oz bottle. Smells sugary. Pours brownish amber with a fast-disappearing head, moderate lacing. Tastes like cotton candy--strange. A little thin and watery. Another winter beer that goes against the grain. This I respect. Still, this is no masterpiece.

I found a six pack of this at a liquor store near my apartment - I’m guessing it’s last year’s batch, as this place had a limited craft beer selection, and did not exactly look like a place where many people shopped for decent beer (the vast selection of malt liquor tipped me off) - anyway, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had a beer with spruce in it, and so I have had time to forget that the aroma it imparts to beer reminds me very much of Swedish Fish - one whiff of this beer reminds me of this - thankfully, there are some notes of caramelized sugar and heavily toasted grains behind this to kind of wash this out the more I smell the beer - thankfully, the flavor has none of this character - there is nothing very old ale like about this beer - a very toasty character, some light syrupy qualities, pine needles - the spruce tips meld with the sweetness to created a pine sap kind of quality to the beer - fairly clean and quite drinkable, but kind of an unremarkable winter ale - now I have five more bottles to get through - thanks crappy corner liquor store!

Bottle 35,5 cl. Clear amber golden with a small, rough off-white head. Lightly sweet malt and caramel in the nose. Medium body, lightly sweet caramel with a weird candy-like tang. Very discreet bitterness. 100709