Spruce Bud Ale
Fort George Brewery in Astoria, Oregon, United States 🇺🇸
Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey - Herbal Regular Out of Production|
Score
6.27
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Ale with Wild Spruce Tips
No hops, just wild, hand-picked spruce tips. The piney, fresh, forest-y sweetness of springtime in the PNW.
Every year, right around the beginning of May, Fort George goes out to the forest to pick spruce.
People have been making stuff out of spruce tips on this continent for hundreds of years. In the 16th Century, First Nations people taught sailors from Europe how to brew a tea from cedar that contained enough Vitamin C to prevent them from dying of scurvy. Easy to make, likely to keep sailors alive and also alcohol. Win, win, win.
We don't make Spruce Budd every year because we're otherwise in danger of dying of scurvy. We just make it because it's tasty.
Spruce Budd is comprised of pilsner malt, water and hundred of pounds of hand-harvested spruce tips.
Hops: None
Malts: Rahr Pilsner
Other: Spruce Tips
Yeast: ESB
No hops, just wild, hand-picked spruce tips. The piney, fresh, forest-y sweetness of springtime in the PNW.
Every year, right around the beginning of May, Fort George goes out to the forest to pick spruce.
People have been making stuff out of spruce tips on this continent for hundreds of years. In the 16th Century, First Nations people taught sailors from Europe how to brew a tea from cedar that contained enough Vitamin C to prevent them from dying of scurvy. Easy to make, likely to keep sailors alive and also alcohol. Win, win, win.
We don't make Spruce Budd every year because we're otherwise in danger of dying of scurvy. We just make it because it's tasty.
Spruce Budd is comprised of pilsner malt, water and hundred of pounds of hand-harvested spruce tips.
Hops: None
Malts: Rahr Pilsner
Other: Spruce Tips
Yeast: ESB
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5.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
On tap at Imperial Bottleshop. Pours clear yellow with a white head. Aroma is mostly spruce. Flavour has spruce and some sweet malts. Bland and disappointing.
Tried
from Draft
on 11 Aug 2024
at 05:41
5.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5.5
On tap at Imperial Bottle Shop, pours a clear pale golden blonde with a small white head. Aroma brings out woody spruce notes and toasted biscuity malt. Flavour is not complex, with subtle spruce, cereal grains, and light residual sweetness. Fort George can do better than this. Lacking body and oomph in general. Disappointing.
Tried
from Draft
on 06 Aug 2024
at 06:18
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
On tap at the brewery. Pours gold. Bubblegum, raspberry, grain, lemon, fragrant. Medium body. Nice.
Tried
from Draft
on 23 Jun 2024
at 02:44
6.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
16oz can from Noshies. Clear, bright golden with a small, creamy head. Aroma is citrus, tangerine, pine needles. Taste is sweet, tangerine, light pine resin. Oily feel.
Tried
from Can
on 08 Aug 2021
at 01:42
6.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 5
Called a gruit. Clear body with thin white head. Spruce aroma. Citrus and spruce taste with no malt. Swift finish.
Tried
on 23 Jul 2021
at 03:23
6.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 6.5
Can. Pours a clear dull yellow gold with a white head that dissipates quickly to the edges. Aroma has flora and spruce with a bit of sweet citrus and light biscuit. Flavor has sweet grains, straw and a light citrus with some spruce in the finish.
Tried
from Can
on 02 Aug 2020
at 04:39
6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Draft at the source. Pale gold, white head. Grains, floral notes, spruce, pine, mild fruitiness. Okay.
Tried
from Draft
on 22 Feb 2019
at 05:50
4.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 3
Texture 4
Overall 5
Pale and hazy. Has almost a relish/mayo taste. Weird. Very sweet, no real balance, a dash of fruity, nothing I could drink a pint of.
Tried
on 18 Oct 2015
at 12:39
7.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
On Tap at Bier:Thirty Very cloudy light beige/orange with a very dense thick sandy head. Light pale fruity aroma. Muffled by the head. Very plesent soft fruit flavoros. Some raspberry, and some pear and a little yeatiness. If this is Spruce, it is very mild. Very light and tasty. Soft creamy palate.
Tried
from Draft
on 30 Jun 2014
at 12:21
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
On tap at bier thirty. Pours out a cloudy straw topped with a white head. Nose is sweetness fruity raspberries and some spice. Taste is as the nose with lots of raspberry notes and a nice finish.
Tried
from Draft
on 16 Jun 2014
at 16:47