Royal Tannenbaum Christmas Ale
Kulshan Brewing Company

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a medium orange red with a fine, one finger light khaki head with great retention and solid lacing; looks nice. Aroma of pale and biscuit malt, piney hops, spruce and pine, grapefruit. Flavor is biscuit and pale malt, piney and citrus hops, spruce, pine, grapefruit and mixed citrus. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess, nice mouth feel. Now this is a evergreen winter ale. The spruce character is excellent as well some other piney sap. The malt is mostly pale ale, but with some biscuit for depth. Hints of mixed citrus and a little grassiness in the background. I like conifer flavors in winter warmers and I love this one. Malt body is great and supportive and the light hops accent the pine. I was waffling on getting this one because I had a few new winter warmers already in the fridge, but I'm glad I got it and look forward to seeing it again. Really well done and seasonal. Not for the conifer resin averse.

 

 

Golden orangey amber with a decent head in the Blanche de Chambly glass. Wonderfully aromatic with pine and a bouquet of honeysuckle. Tangy and spritzy in the mouth. Medium body.

Mellow and lushly drinkable. Just sweet enough with a deep resiny but fruity flavor. The 2014 version is 8.62% ABV. Hops are listed as Columbus and Cascade. It's quite hoppy in the nicest imperial IPA way. This must be a first-- it's bewed with not one but two, two evergreens-- Douglas fir and Norway spruce.

This is one of my top favorite winter beers of this season. Stupendous in its aromatic, malty richness, with a sharp edge and a hoppy flavor that finishes with a bitter flowery flourish. From the 32 oz growler purchased at the brewpub in Bellingham.

Tastes like a Christmas tree smells. Good stuff.

Update 12/31 - The recipe has been tweaked. It is better now.

 

Without question, the most assertively dry and spruce-heavy beer I’ve ever tasted. Makes Alba Scots Pine Ale taste under-flavored. Beautiful golden/amber color, nice lasting one inch rocky, white head, strong nose of spruce sap and earthy hops that carry over BIGTIME into the flavor. This is, basically, like sucking on a Christmas tree, but with ample malt backing, and a subtly spicy underpinning that compel you to keep coming back for another sip. The alcohol is relatively restrained, and the extreme dryness makes this feasible as a strong (albeit dangerous)session ale, Yet another winner from this tiny, wonderful neighborhood gem of a brewery.