Winter Ale
Alaskan Brewing Co.

The semi-sweet spruce tips are an interesting alternative to hops.

Look: 3.75 l 5.0
Pours clear with an SRM of about 12

Smell: 3.75 l 5.0
Something sharp and a little piney. Smells quite a bit like a Bock. The can says spruce; okay I'll buy it.

Taste: 3.75 l 5.00
Taste a little bit like Ripe red Apple Not cider per se but just like the aroma of a ripe red apple.

Mouth feel: 3.75 l 5.00
It feels crisp and so I'm going with the apple analogy, and it is a little bit bitter ---just bitter enough.

Overall: 3.75 l 5.00
not particularly heavy in body, not particularly heavy in alcohol. It's a winter beer could say medium body.
There's a lot of variety available in the lower 48 states in the USA, but if I'm in Alaska In the winter ---yeah I'm drinking this. Back up the truck, (or better yet) hitch up the trailer up to the snowmobile ---we're getting ourselves some beer!

 

Clear tea-colored brew with long-lasting foam in the Sam Adams Lager glass. Nice aroma of the spruce, which is different than pine and quite perfumey. Pleasing mouth-filling body with loads of creamy carbonation. Fairly sweet but not sugary and the spruce adds more spicy and resiny flavors. Overall this is one of my favorite holiday brews. Not overly spiced or overly sweet, and not overly strong for that matter. A winning winter quaff. From the 12 oz can purchased in southern Calif. "Best by 02/19/26." If you say so.

My wife picked this up from the local beer store because we are entering the holiday season. From a twelve ounce aluminum can, this one is a crystal clear amber color with an off-white head. The aroma is incredible...it has a unique smell...spice and spruce, malt and a honey-like note, some hops underneath. The taste is sweet up front, with a solid spice-like, or rather tea-like bitterness. The spruce adds an incredible flavor and wonderful quality. Full in flavor, medium body, engaging, and incredibly interesting.

 

 

 

RB transfer

Thin copper pour. Slightly woody hint to a gentle and sweet malt nose. Medium sweet. Creamy on the tongue, finishing with spice &bspruce? Hops? alcohol? A nice, subtle, version of a winter warmer.|10/9/2012

 

This beer pours an amber/orange with an off-white head. Aroma is definitely spruce and malt with some floral. Taste is mild spruce and malt. Not normally a fan of tree beers but this one has aged and is really smooth and tasty. BOD 10-10-2023.

Cooper colored with a fingernail of khaki on top. It quickly only covers half of the top. Excellent clarity. The aroma is of light malt and spruce tips. I’m tasting bready malt and spruce. The mouth is dry and somewhat alcoholic.

 

 

This might be a me issue, but this ale is very flavorless.

Needs to double or triple the spruce tips. I am open to trying future releases. This was the 2024 limited.

12oz can pours a light orange-brown color with a substantial, fizzy head of light sand-colored foam that retreats to a thick ring and an island in the center. Smells of rich, bready malts, caramel, and dark fruits. Very rich, layered malt flavor with substantial notes of bread, spice, grains, fruit, and herbs. Full-bodied with a moderate caramelly sweetness, moderate herbal-grassy bitterness, notable alcohol heat and flavor, a bitter herbal aftertaste, and a fizzy carbonation mouthfeel with the notable high alcohol feel as well.

This was a tasty and interesting beer; I believe the first I've had in the style. Would have again.

A - A clear, bright orange body, short white head, fading to a minimal cap and no lacing to speak.

S - The nose is primarily honey, grass and a bit of minty pine, presumably from the tips.

T - Open is full of honey sweetness, banana bread mingles with herbal notes and grassiness through the middle, and a subtle savory pine hit and dry hop bitterness in the finish.

M - Fairly slight weight, soft carbonation, clean finish.

O - A nice old ale that is easily drinkable, pleasant, and tasty.

Pours crystal clear light copper with a thick white head that leaves generous lacing. Aroma is rich caramel malt, spruce, and a hint of European noble hops. Flavor follows the nose, sweet up front with just enough bitterness from the spruce and hops to balance things out. Feel is light bodied and lightly carbonated. A bit more carbonation would improve this IMO. Overall, a very fine beer. Will seek out again.