ozzy70 (3090) - Omaha, Nebraska, USA - DEC 21, 2019UPDATED: DEC 21, 2019 Bottle sample at Holiday Beer Fest. Pour was amber with an off white head. Aroma of spruce, pine, nutty. Taste was sweet, malty, spruce, pine.
BlackHaddock (12580) - The County Time Forgot, Shropshire, ENGLAND - DEC 16, 2019UPDATED: DEC 16, 2019 15th Dec 2019, 355ml bottle while in California. Golden/amber body, wispy head, then nothing. Fairly sweet, spiced with something more than a spruce tips that's for sure. Struggled to enjoy this.
GregMooreNH (6520) - Bedford, New Hampshire, USA - DEC 5, 2019UPDATED: DEC 5, 2019 Pours clear amber with two finger, beige head. Aroma is candy sugar, spruce and earthy notes. Taste is candy sugar, moving to peat and spruce. Finish is candy sugar and spruce.
tmoreau (7963) - Lombard, Illinois, USA - JUN 25, 2019UPDATED: JUN 25, 2019 Shared 12 oz. bottle poured to snifters displaying a clear & bright, rosy/amber hue, with a presentable layer of soft white froth that reduced to a persistent ring, and spots & strands of lacing. The nose was pleasant, but somewhat subdued cherry and berry, light grain, and malt sweetness. Light to medium bodied, the taste was even less expressive, with slight tartness & tanginess, and modest earthy, rind, & resin astringency. The spruce tips were hardly noticeable, but then this bottle languished in cooler seclusion for about a year.
Iphonephan (10327) - JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming, USA - MAR 23, 2018From a 12 oz. bottle. Pours a clear amber with an ecru head. Aroma of toffee and spruce. Flavors are moderate sweet caramel with some berry-like notes.
sawbuck (1232) - Round Lake, Illinois, USA - JAN 12, 2018UPDATED: JAN 12, 2018 Aroma of candied fruits and some sweet caramel. Pale amber color with a thin head. Sweet syrup up front with some plum and dark fruit notes. Bitterness is mild and flat. Slightly watery. Average.
luttonm (7592) - Seattle, Washington, USA - DEC 23, 2017Bottle in Seattle. Sweet fruit and caramel muddle on nose. Quite sweet, almost cloying, body. Oily and smooth, clean fruity spruce with winter spiced caramel. Light fruity hop, low bitterness. Some nutmeg, banana ester, fizzy finish. Spruce adds lots of sweetness here, needs something to offset.
JStax (10651) - Devola/Marietta, Ohio, USA - DEC 10, 201712 ounce bottle poured into a brandy snifter. Aroma has notes of bubble gum and cotton candy. Sweet and sugary taste. Medium body and medium carbonation.
Bacchus66 (2142) - South Carolina, USA - DEC 6, 201712oz bottle, Total Wine SDL. Pours clear amber with a disappearing off-white head. Caramel, Christmas spice, piney hops (spruce tips?) Crisp carbonation and a medium body. Finish is butterscotch and piney hops.
MaltOne (592) - Wisconsin, USA - NOV 27, 2017Unusual – spruce tips? Nice winter brew. Aroma is strong sweet tropical fruit, some toasted caramel malt, a little woodsy. Color is light copper amber. Taste mirrors the aroma, sweet with a slightly drier finish. Palate is medium bodied. Overall – very aromatic; a sweet leaning amber – brown ale; only place I can identify the spruce tips is the finish. I was expecting a drier, more resiny/piney brew. The closer to room temp this gets, the more the spruce comes out.