Spruce Tree Ale
Tofino Brewing Company

Single purchased from the brewery - full disclosure: I rarely have drain poured a beer (a Duvel Tripel Hop once that was way too old and my fault, and a spruce tip IPA from an Alberta brewery) I do not like like the flavour of spruce tips, yet after a small sample at the brewery that did not make me gag, I bought a can for a fair trial (then fearfully sat on it for a little while).
Bright orange golden pour - essentially clear - with a half finger of short lived head.
The nose is at the outset a coniferous explosion - spruce tips dominate, piney, yet somehow fruity - orange, orange peel and perhaps even a caramelly malt note (yeah the spruce tips made me a little nose stunned).
There is an opening sweetness on the palate - orange, orange peel - but then a blast of spruce (quickly remembering spruce may be my cilantro of beer) - Christmas tree in my mouth. That said the piney component (coniferous crossover) is not bad and sweetness of the malt with honey and floral notes balances better than previous spruce tip beers I have had. As worked through the spruce tips mellowed and I did appreciate the vibrant flavour, even if it is not clearly for me.
Solid medium to medium full mouthfeel with a sticky mix of spruce tip and almost honey sweetness coating.
Am I a spruce tip convert? Hell no. But I think this is a well made beer with an ingredient I will never like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016-07-22
22oz bottle served in a large mug. 018 D-1 1849 is printed on the bottom, whatever that means. No other dates to be found.

Pours a nearly clear golden with a medium sized head and good retention, solid carbonation. Smell is lagery, a little spicy, looking for spruce or evergreen, but not finding it.

Taste is where the spruce tree is hiding. It's clearly present, but not overpowering (at least not on the first sip...). Works nicely with the malt body and yields something slightly honey-like as a balance to the evergreenness. Doesn't quite hide the lagery kick, though.

Mouthfeel is dry, resinous. Overall, not a bad beer.

More pale ale than "herbed beer", this is really just an American pale ale (/borderline IPA) with a profile leaning a bit more toward the piney, resin-y side of things. Bitter, herbal, almost juniper, gin-y like character, some lingering purple fruits.

Nice enough, I says, but not setting the world on fire.

 

 

 

650ml bottle - nice description of the island forest experience, especially the 'And rain. So much rain' coda. Ha!

This beer pours a clear, bright medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly ecru head, which leaves some random stringy lace around the glass as it slowly and evenly subsides.

It smells of bready and crackery pale malt, some soft caramel/toffee sweetness, a bit of dry earthy chalkiness, subtle green piney acerbities, and more floral, leafy, and wet grassy hop bitters. The taste is zingy spruce and pine resin, bready and doughy caramel malt, a hint of edgy yeast, some tropical-leaning muddled dark fruitiness, and additional leafy, weedy, and floral green hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite tame in its lolling-about frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and mostly smooth, just a wee green, let's just say pea pod thing, doing its usual disservice to the proverbial princess here. It finishes off-dry, the complex base malt standing strong, as the various green forest and unheralded fruity characters head to ground.

Overall, a rather tasty and engaging bitter ale - if they hadn't mentioned (or named the thing after it, for that matter) that this was a spruce beer, I would have just assumed that it was an IPA made with some experimental new hop that exhibits pine and sundry esters. Whatever, it's pretty good, with the spruce taking a supporting, instead of leading role.

Pours a deep gold with copper highlights and surprising good head. Aroma is spruce, pine, vanilla, and a touch of caramel and toffee. This beer tastes like christmas. Moderate woody and pine bitterness, followed by the spruce, which lends a slightly sweet note. There is a solid malt backbone consisting of toffee, caramel, and maybe a tiny bit of butterscotch. Feels moderately thin and finishes with a mild bitterness and sweet note. Spruce beers can be all over the mad but this is certainly one of the best ones I have had.

 

 

Appearance - Pours a clear copper with a finger of foamy white head.

Smell - earthy hops, hint of piney hops, hint of spruce, bready malts, hint of orange peel.

Taste - hint of earthy and piney hops followed by hint of spruce and bready malts. Too bad the spruce doesn't play the dominant role.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with light to moderate carbonation. Finishes with a lingering bitterness from the hops and the hint of spruce lingers.

Overall - A spruce beer that plays the flavours on the safe side. I wish the spruce tips played a more dominant role.