Spruce Tip Pale Ale
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

Clear golden with a creamy off-white head.

Menthol, resin and rosemary combine as if reduced by a pine fire, (though it's not smoky at all). A bit of toasty pale ale fights to make itself barely present, which has me pining for the real thing.

The nicely pleasant froth softens a medium body.

I should know better by now, as it's been thoroughly confirmed by now that I fucking hate spruce tips in beer, but I keep doing this to myself.

Spruce Tip Pale Ale from Hoppin’ Frog. Four-pack of 16 fl oz cans picked up at the brewery, 16/10/25 - $23.38 (Including tax and tip)/$ 0.365/fl oz. Reviewed 23/10/25, review 3617. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Bottom of can stamped “CANNED ON JUN 18 2025.” Stored at home at 40 degrees F. Served at 42.4 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 46.7 degrees F.
Appearance – 4
First pour – Straw (SRM 3), clear.
Body – Deep Gold (SRM 6), clear. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, same.
Head – Average (Maximum 2.2 cm, aggressive center pour). White, high density, average retention, leaving a 0.5 – 0.7 cm crown and a thin complete cap – fed by LOTS of effervescence.
Lacing – Fair. Tight band of near-microscopic bubbles with a couple of blunt stalactites.
Aroma – 3.75 – Initially, virtually none - no hops, no malt, no alcohol, no piney resin. As it warms a bit (47.3 F), the spruce tips appear.
Flavor – 4.5 – Begins weakly sweet and caramelly with piney resin – as it warms slightly, the spruce tips become more obvious. No hops, no alcohol (7.9 % ABV, according to the label). No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Mild gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Medium: Watery approaching creamy: Soft but lively carbonation.
Style: Follows the BA style description.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 Uncredited art work. Very drinkable pale ale, slightly on the sweet side. The spruce tips make the flavor uniquely American. Fruit Fly ignored.

Clear, medium-dark copper color; dense, slow-rising carbonation; thick head, white and dense with a creamy texture. Toasted grain and mild caramel nose; an indistinct spiciness wafting around. Taste starts out sweet and then a powerful punch of spruce tip flavor wallops the palate; a note of honey and eucalyptus; soothing phenol bitterness. Heavy body; rich and chewy; a bit sticky.

Overall, I love the taste of this beer. It certainly highlights the spruce tips. The aroma doesn't give much away in this regard, and the mouthfeel seems a bit too rich and heavy for a pale ale, but these are minor issues. Overall, one of the most forward and unquestionable use of spruce tips I have encountered in a beer.

ABV: 7.9%; pouring temperature: 52.5 °F; canning info: CANNED ON JUNE 18 2025
Source: Tavour

Spruce flavor came through big time. Too sweetened up tho, as if to take it down. A blander pale backing may have worked better. Tap small pour at the source.

16oz can from Tavour. Clear golden pour, silky white head. Piney aroma, notes of caramel. Taste is sweet, toffee, soft piney flavors. Slick and creamy with some mild lingering bitterness.