Greenwarden
Banded Brewing Co.

A Maine-made pale ale featuring foraged spruce tips and Chinook hops? That sounds like the recipe for a piney, spicy, bitter beer to me. I'm trying to go in without expectations here, but that ingredients list makes it tough... this seem very purposeful with a clear direction. Guess we'll see.

Pours kind of a light-amber, orange-hued color with intense haze and a thick, chunky head of rich, white foam that sinks to a half-finger in my glass. Plenty of suspended solids. Lace is pretty nice; tiered and distinct with a nice sheen to it. Solid looking brew.

Nose is pretty strange with an upfront "Pine-Sol"ish cleaning scent that most likely has to do with the spruce tips added. I get a light yeasty funk, crusty bread, a bit of lemon and somewhat peppery spice. Not much else here to speak of. Kind of unsure where this one's going, despite it having given what seemed to be a solid direction in its description on the can. Not convincing me so far.

Flavor is definitely much better with some unique notes for this general category of beer (pretty sure they weren't really playing by the BJCP rulebook, but it's pretty much stylistically in-line with an American pale ale, I guess) including some menthol-laden citrus and white pepper. There's a huge yeasty hit here that rounds out each sip, keeping bitterness rather low. Still getting the breadiness from the nose, but it's made even more intense thanks to the spruce tips playing off the light sweetness.

Medium-full bodied for a 5.4% ale, with a chewy malt base and average carbonation... a bit more bitter in the finish than expected from the first few sips, though there is a nice malt/yeast balance here that keeps everything anchored.

This is certainly not a traditionally "bitter" beer due to its inclusion of adjunct bittering ingredients, nor is it really an APA the way most people think of them. Banded Horn seems intent on pushing stylistic boundaries frequently, especially outside of their usual rotation, and I'm totally down with that. This beer is certainly not bad, but it's not great either.

 

 

 

16 oz can poured into a nonic pint glass.

Pours a somewhat hazy orange honey colorwith a 0.5 finger frothy white head, leaving a ring of lace with small splotches.

Initial aroma is somewhat floral and bitter like a West Coast IPA, with a pleasant note of orange and honey, though that may be the color suggesting it to me.

Initial taste before swallowing is bitter like a West Coast IPA, floral again, a note of honey, and a note of fruit esters.

After swallowing I get honey first, bolstered by sweetness, followed by a note of lemon, followed by a light west Coast IPA bitterness, followed by a nice floral dryness on the front and tip of the tongue and back of the mouth, somehow white in taste. This floral dryness lasts into the finish, where it takes on a bit of a bright grassiness.

 

From the can, it pours a hazy lighter amber color with a modest, lasting, white head. Lacing. In the nose, it is a woodsy scent over malt. In the mouth, it is a woodsy almost piney flavor, followed by the malt. Interesting ale variation.

Spruce tips addition are original and truly augment the character of the beer. Unique and innovative craft beer that reminds you of hiking deep in the New England woodlands.

 

 

I didn't know what to expect when I purchased this beer but was very pleasantly surprised. It seemed gimmicky but the spruce flavor is very well balanced with the overall flavor profile. I wouldn't be able to drink a lot of it but it was very unique and worth trying.

 

Pours almost clear pale gold with a bone white 1 finger head. Aroma has a slight spruce/pine whiff to it but mainly pale malt. Flavor is a prudent amount of spruce - just enough to have a presence but not overbearing. The best part is the sweet caramel malt in the finish that mixes superbly with the spruce. Love it. Feel is a little soft and lightly seltzered. This is a great beer for the style. Worth trying.

 

Pint can - dated 05/12/19 - poured into a Scottish thistle at 44F.

Pours a lightly hazed brassy golden colour, with a finger of loose white head, that recedes to a massive collar, leaving some lacing behind.

Nose: The wheat-heavy, rustic grainy base is the primary foundation of the aroma. Very much akin to a typical saison malt bill. Lemon, grapefruit, white pepper, wet grass, and fresh greenery. There is a faint, but distinct candied purple grape note. It isn't particularly hoppy, and certainly not piney. I'm not sure I would even guess this to be a pale ale/IPA if nosing blind.

Palate: Wow. I have had several beers brewed with pine, but this is the first one I've ever been able to taste it in. You get that malted wheat character first, and then like a freight train, this floral, resinous, almost camphoraceous pine sap character comes in full force. Almost like eucalyptus. A touch like ginger ale. The spruce tips lend a very gin-like element to it. Juniper. Sandalwood. Lots of pine sap. Into the finish, there is some resinous bitterness, which is also quite pine-like. The wheat becomes evident once more, and everything finishes ultra clean and crisp.

Mouthfeel/Body: The beer is light to medium bodied, and incredibly crisp. Effervescence is quite lively, and really brightens the beer up. There's so stickiness, dirtiness, or roughness to the beer. It's incredibly clean and enjoyable to drink.

Overall: This is one of maybe half a dozen beers I've had who advertise brewing with some type of evergreen. Up until now, I've necer been able to spot the addition in any of those beers. Pine is easily my favourite aroma, so the concept is particularly attractive to me. This is quite nice, because it really showcases that yes, you can use pine tips with beer, and yes, it does taste incredible. The base beer itself isn't particularly exciting, and there's no real hop character to it, but perhaps a simple, neutral beer is necessary to really show off the spruce tips. Either way, this is great, and it's absolutely worth trying if you're on the fence, and especially if you're really into pine. I think Banded did a great job with this one.

 

 

September 2018

First spruce beer, really interesting - perfect fall seasonal ale. Wouldn’t want regularly but a nice annual quaffer