Alaskan Winter - Alaskan brewing Co

Second out in the final of the beer basket is Alaskan Winter. An English style Old Ale spiced with spruce tips. I am very excited to try this beer too since I haven't had spruce tip in a drink since I was in the military and made tea out in the forest of spruce tips during the survival week. I hope this will taste somewhat better.

APPEARANCE: (2) The color surprised me since I thought that this was going to be a very dark syrupy looking beer. Instead a bronze colored beer pours into the glass. The foam settles almost immediately.

AROMA: (3) A twirl of the testing glass to smell the aromas builds up the foam more than at pouring. There is a distinct sweet malt aroma but I cannot tell that I smell spruce yet.

TASTE: (5) The taste is surprisingly dry for being an Old Ale and here the spruce flavors really hits me hard. This is truly like chewing on spruce tips and I really love that taste and it is such a surprise in a beer. The spruce gives this beer a really refreshing and interesting aroma. It is almost like a new type of hops.

EXTRA: (5) Full points for something as unusual as brewing beer with spruce tips.



Alaskan Brewings website

Beer style: English Old Ale (brewed with spruce tips)
Serving temperature: 10-12 C
Alcohol: 6.4%

Food Pairings: This is a winter warmer but I can see this beer paired with stews and chili or almost any kind of spicy meaty food.

I really liked this beer. Not only because of it's uniqueness but also because how surprisingly well the spicy spruce go with the malt and hops of this beer. I also like it because it is an Old Ale that is not overly sweet or extreme in alcohol.

APPEARANCE: 3 x 5 = 15
AROMA: 4 x 10 = 40
TASTE: 5 x 10 = 50
EXTRA: 5 x 1 = 5

Total: 110/130