Spruce Pilsner
Short's Brewing Company in Elk Rapids, Michigan, United States 🇺🇸
Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey - Herbal Rotating|
Score
6.93
|
|
Imperial Pilsner brewed with spruce tips
Every June the Short’s team gathers and heads to the wilderness to hand-trim the fresh, juicy tips off of local blue spruce trees so that we can make a couple of very special beers, including Spruce Pilsner. This is a historic beer for us, one of the 13 beers in the 2007 Imperial Beer Series, and admittedly one of Joe Short’s favorites. But how does it taste, you ask? Exactly the way a spruce tree smells. If you love gin, if you love the smell of pine, you will love this beer.
Every June the Short’s team gathers and heads to the wilderness to hand-trim the fresh, juicy tips off of local blue spruce trees so that we can make a couple of very special beers, including Spruce Pilsner. This is a historic beer for us, one of the 13 beers in the 2007 Imperial Beer Series, and admittedly one of Joe Short’s favorites. But how does it taste, you ask? Exactly the way a spruce tree smells. If you love gin, if you love the smell of pine, you will love this beer.
Sign up to add a tick or review
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
12 oz bottle as simply Short’s Spruce Pilsner. Pours clear golden with a white head. Aroma, wow, this seriously smells like an evergreen, very strong. Some citrus hops are barely detectable under that. Flavor is again dominated by the spruce needles, but they’re smoother and better blended than in the aroma. Again not a lot detectable beyond that, maybe there could be some citrus hops. Definitely some bitterness. I’m drinking a Christmas tree and it’s not bad.
Tried
from Bottle
on 20 Jul 2010
at 21:42
8.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
11th October 2008.
GABF. Once again a big thanks to Scott for a swift measure from behind the counter! Hazy gold beer. Hugely aromatic spruce and hops. Tons of sprucy freshness. Dry finish. Outstanding. Spruce and Hops are natural bedfellows. Well done to Joe Short for making the connection and brewing this fine fine beer.
GABF. Once again a big thanks to Scott for a swift measure from behind the counter! Hazy gold beer. Hugely aromatic spruce and hops. Tons of sprucy freshness. Dry finish. Outstanding. Spruce and Hops are natural bedfellows. Well done to Joe Short for making the connection and brewing this fine fine beer.
Tried
on 17 Jan 2010
at 08:05
7.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottled@Konttori, Tampere. Hazy orange colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is lots of juniper, conifer woods and some sap. Flavour is lots of conifer wood, sap, resin and some slight grassyness as well. Really fresh, and kinda strange in many ways. I o like it, but not really sure I would drink that many bottles of it after eachother...
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 Apr 2009
at 16:15
7.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
(Bottle, 0.75 l, at Pikkulintu, Helsinki, on 2009-04-04 -- shared with sayravai and isos, thanks!) Hazy amber. Medium sized white head. Young spruce needles and fruitiness in aroma. Medium bodied and dry palate with medium carbonation. Young spruce needles, bitterness, frutiness, lots and lots of hops and citricness in taste. Young spruce needles and bitterness in aftertaste. Impressive beer, although 0.75 l would be too much for one person alone.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Apr 2009
at 04:05
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Thanks to Rogueone for sharing a bottle. The beer is a hazy golden amber color with a thin and compact off-white head that dissipates slowly. Thin rings of lacing. Aroma of pine and spruce with some spiced hops in the background. Medium-bodied and moderately bitter with flavors of Saaz hops and evergreens. Luckily the spruce flavor does not get to car air freshener levels. Very little malt is present, which leads to some astringency. The finish is bitter with a lingering piney hops aftertaste. An above average and Interesting beer overall.
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Feb 2009
at 15:35
6.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle 75cl. @ [ Shorts Tasting ].Clear medium orange color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white to white head. Aroma is heavy hoppy, spruce, caramel, earth, spicy, fusty. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and heavy bitter with a long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. It is TO MUCH !! [20081108]
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Feb 2009
at 09:53
4.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 4
Tasting at Papsoe
Hazy golden color; creamy head. The rosemary aroma reminds me a roasted chicken more than a beer. It seems a very solid Ale, with good malt, some sweetness, good hopping, unfortunately the rosemary (spruce) is so out of place. 10 years ago, following an ancient recipe, I brewed a beer with rosemary from my garden, it was undrinkable. Controversial, and I decide for thumbs down, as I did 10 years ago.
Hazy golden color; creamy head. The rosemary aroma reminds me a roasted chicken more than a beer. It seems a very solid Ale, with good malt, some sweetness, good hopping, unfortunately the rosemary (spruce) is so out of place. 10 years ago, following an ancient recipe, I brewed a beer with rosemary from my garden, it was undrinkable. Controversial, and I decide for thumbs down, as I did 10 years ago.
Tried
on 10 Jan 2009
at 17:36
6.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
75 cL bottle. Pours hazy orange with a white head. Pinewood and spiced aroma. Light citrusy. Light vegetable note too. Spiced and malty with a solid citric and dry dry dry bitter flavour. Solid citric and spiced finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Nov 2008
at 03:13
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottled. A hazy amber beer with a lazing off-white head. The aroma is sweet with hoppy notes of grass. The flavor is sweet malty with notes of alcohol and spruce needles, leading to a dry grassy finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Nov 2008
at 17:19
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
(Bottle 75 cl) Hazy golden with a dense off-white head leaving laces. Very fresh piney aroma. Medium-bodied with lightly sweet pale malts. Distinctly bitter and astringent finish. An odd one, interesting but far from harmonious. 311008
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Nov 2008
at 10:01