Coloni Ale
Declaration Brewing Company

On-draught @ Declaration:

C+ / ABOVE AVERAGE

an interesting beer here, with spruce tips and molasses, a cool combination of ingredients, and a very pungent and flavorful beer, but one that is certainly not for everyone, as the spruce is quite intense and the beer is really sweet overall. i think they would have done well to ferment it a little drier, both the grain sugar and the molasses are a lot in here, even though its lower in alcohol, pretty light in color, and crystal clear, the is a lot of leftover sugar here. there is a perfume element to the spruce that makes it kind of polarizing i think, natural enough, but it doesnt quite have the context it needs here. i think some dry spicy rye or some mellowing oak or something is needed to relax it a bit and bring it together, although i dont dislike it at all, i just probably cant drink very many of these before it gets to be too much. there isnt much balance here, but i do like the spruce and molasses together, and think its one of their more refined and polished of the interesting beers they make in here, i just dont think the recipe should be done evolving. i love spruce beer, and this is an interesting one to say the least. give it a shot if thats your thing too!

L: Hazy muddy red brown color, with a creamy tan head and no lacing.

S:. Strong notes of molasses and lots of spruce, a little bit of smoke.

T: Strong notes of spruce and molasses, a lot of smoke and molasses.

F: Medium body and low carbonation.

O: Very interesting colonial ale.