Alaskan Brewing Co. Spruce IPA
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What the brewers say
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What our panel thought
Aroma: “There are raspberry and strawberry esters from the spruce tips. But this is very clean and rich, with citrus and grass.”
Flavor: “Huge berry character that integrates well with a clean IPA base beer. The hops character is fairly restrained, but the bitterness plays well off of the sweetness from the berry esters. There’s lots of spruce, like rubbing a Christmas tree. The finish is fairly bitter and lingers. It’s a bit like putting an entire roll of Life Savers candy in your mouth at once—all of them. The touch of candy sweetness is unexpected, but the bracing pine tree bitterness keeps it from cloying.”
Overall: “A well-made IPA that showcases the jekyll and hyde nature of spruce tips while allowing the base beer to demonstrate the quality of the brewing process. A very fun beer with an endlessly fascinating ingredient.”
