Spruce Juice
August Schell Brewing Company

i wanted a little more from this one. i mean, i love their base berliner, in the cypress wood, its unique and more funky than most in its field and always drinks light and interesting, but the spruce element is weird to me here. its not faint or hard t pic up at all, thats not the issue, its plenty prominent, especially in the nose, but it tastes strange to me, sort of not all the way natural despite the fact that it is, almost candied, maybe some of the pine sap is making it seem that way, im not sure, but its a strange complexion to the spruce, not that bright new almost menthol sort of herbaceousness, i taste spruce, but it doesnt quite seem alive to me here. the sourness is great, but it is counteracted a bit by the sweetness here, less raw and earthy and wheaty than some of the other expressions of this base beer. i like it a lot, dont get me wrong, but i wish the spruce was more true to what i think i know about the tree. still, this berliner series of theirs is one of the most exciting in beer, i look so forward to these and cant wait to see what they pull of with it next!