Evergreen Blaze
Long Trail Brewing Co.

I kind of assumed going into this that it would be my favorite of the Blaze variants featured in Long Trail's new "Blaze Box" and, in all honesty, I was ready to be disappointed. This, however, is top-of-the-line and competes quite well with the beer I initially assumed it was a ripoff of, Peak Organic's Evergreen IPA. Who would've thought?

Pours a super dense medium golden amber color with a very retentive head of bone-white foam. Lace seems intense as it slowly dissipates. Pretty full looking beer. As with the others, this looks nice and the extra head definitely doesn't harm the proceedings.

Nose is unique compared to the others, with a huge element of blue spruce, pine and slight juniper herbals coming out. Slight citrus and botanical elements here, giving off a nuanced and complex scent that I'm very happy with. This will probably be the most polarizing entry into the Blaze Box, but it's also my favorite due to the risks that it takes. It's surprisingly dissimilar to Peak's Evergreen in the nose, too, with some notes that remind me of Earl Grey tea for whatever reason. Where Peak's beer is pine-y and resinous as hell, this actually has some more subtle notes that I appreciate. I get some lemon verbena and lemon peel here alongside the bready malt and botanical/juniper. Nice stuff, this.

Flavor is, as expected, quite excellent. It's completely different than expected though, with much more striking lemongrass and gin-like herbal notes combining with the sappy blue spruce elements. Again, less bitter and resinous and more nuanced and unique. I'm loving this one but can definitely see how it isn't for everyone. Though it's pine-y and resiny, it has some elements that are not IPA-typical such as the slight spice and botanicals that poke out here and there. Honestly, this feels like far-and-away the best out of this mix-pack but maybe I'm just weird.

Feel seems a bit lighter and easier than the others, but perhaps that's all just illusory and due to the adjunct ingredients. Whatever is going on here is interesting, because it almost feels nothing like the base beer, whereas Grapefruit and Citra Blaze both felt redolent of Green Blaze. Not sure about you, but I think Evergreen is the best variant of GB that Long Trail has put out. Wish this were more available, isolated from the mix-pack it has been confined within... but, alas, sometimes life is unfair. Very much recommended!

 

 

 

Spruce was way too much for me.