(10/31/08) Draught at Lucky Devils in Hollywood. Cloudy golden-orange color with a white head. Aroma of malt and some grassy hops. Sweetish malty flavor with some bread and a nice bitter grassy hoppy finish. A decent Lager.

Draft. Rich amber beer with an off-white head. Spruce, malt, and light spice aroma. Spruce flavor with malt and yeast. Medium body. Spruce, bready malts, and light pine linger. Too much spruce.

Black with medium beige head. Sweet aroma with roasted malt, caramel and hints of sweet liquerice. Sweet flavour with roasted malt, liquerice and bitter coffee.

On tap. Listed as Craftsman Holiday Spruce at Fathers Office Santa Monica. Pours what, in the dim light I can see as a hazy amber with an off-white head that clears to a ring and leaves okay lacing. Aroma is pine, spruce and light spices with cedar... a bit understated and mild. Taste is pine and spruce, what I assume are tree like hops, and a very green, nearly ever green, bitterness. A touch of spice and sticky molasses malt as well. The beer is a bit too fizzy on the tongue for me. Lightly creamy when you can get past the bubbly-ness. Overall this beer has an interesting spice or hop profile and is a good take on the winter brew and more unique than OSA in my opinion, but this is nothing amazing. Wish that Fathers Office had not run out of Cabernale!

On tap at The Linkery during the RBSG Pub Crawl Tour on 08/01/2008. Dark black body with a small tan head. Slightly sour aroma with some fruit. Somewhat sour flavor with light caramel and fruit. Medium light body with high carbonation.

Draft. Hazy amber beer with an off-white head. Nice spice, clove aroma with light citrus and some wheat and malt. Big spice flavor with lots of clove, malt and wheat. Medium bodied. Lingering clove, malt, spice turning to a bit of cereal notes. Much nicer than I expected.

Draft. Golden beer with a white head. Low malty, light hay aroma. Malt, hay, spice, and grass in the flavor. Medium bodied. Crisp and refreshing. Malt lingers with hay and some sice.

On tap. Pours with a large, white head and a deep yellow body. Head is long lasting. Aroma is sweet, with some grains and maybe a bit of banana. Taste is lightly corn with some vanilla. Smooth mouthfeel.

Wow that’s a bad original rating. Re-rate: Clear golden yellow, somewhat pale, white head slow to fade. Aromas show a light hop element, some bready malt, light corn sweetness, very very low levels of DMS. Clean yeast wise. Flavors show a light fruit note, low hops and sweet bready, malty, cornbread. Lightly sulfury. Clean, light crisp. Bitter to balance. Dry and light. Very drinkable.

Draft at Lucky Baldwin. An unclear golden beer with a white head. The aroma is sweet with notes of malt, alcohol, and sage. The flavor is sweet malty with spicy notes of sage and notes of alcohol, leading to a dry bitter and alcoholic finish.