Spruce Cannon
BJ's Restaurants & Brewery

cool beer here from a brew group that gets less love than they should, maybe because its a chain, but they make some very good and also quite innovative beers, including this spruce infused semi strong ale, which i believe was also oak aged, its sweet and sturdy, wintery to me with the obvious pine, not a ton of barrel character but its woody and woodsy and its sufficient, very flavorful, although personally, i could almost always take more spruce, i really love it. this beer is unassuming in the glass, golden, pretty clear, shorter white head, nice shine, looks less outwardly malty than expected i suppose. the aroma is honey from the malt and cut spruce, very genuine, somewhat modestly dosed, but easily appreciated at the same time, fresh, tea-like to me as well, with a candied richness thats ahead of its color, light alcohol wafts, cool to see spruce in a beer that isnt an ipa or a pale lager, which it always seems to live, this is different, and the flavor is like the nose, quite a lot of residual sugar in this making it seem heavier than it really is, but real pleasant spruce the whole way, honest and oily and sticky at the same time, somewhat weedy, no real fermentation profile here and just supportive and complimentary hops, but less bitterness than expected, its overridden by the sweet, which is a touch generic, but its distinctive and yummy, some wet wood there at the end too. i wish it had more carbonation, it sags a bit on the palate which is a shame, but this is cool stuff, unexpected from these guys but maybe it shouldnt be, they have consistently been good over the years no matter where the beer is coming from, its true!