 BuckNaked (1204), Tempe, Arizona, USA
| 2.8 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 6/10 | 2/5 | 5/10 | 3/5 | 12/20 |
Nov 7, 2006 12oz bottle: Pours to a mostly clear, very slightly hazy, medium amber colored body with a small, light tan colored head that quickly fades to nothing. The aroma is sweet, showing caramel, sweet medium malts, candy, light allspice, and a mild spruce/pine scent. The taste is sweet, almost seems under-attenuated to me it’s so sweet, with some earthy malts, bitter spruce, gets just a hint of grassyness to it but it quickly turns quite bitter and shows more tree sap than grass, caramelized sugar, finishes with some bitter pine sap. Light-medium bodied, medium carbonated. I’m not really sure why this one is classified as a barley wine, it’s really just an amber ale that happens to be spiced with spruce tips. So it goes.
skoisirius (584), Seattle, Washington, USA
| 3.3 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 6/10 | 3/5 | 6/10 | 4/5 | 14/20 |
Nov 1, 2006 12 oz bottle into a Snifter glass. Pours a rich and hazy almost see through copper amber color with a very thin head that dissappears quickly. The aroma has a candied sugar malt sense while also bring an Earthy sense with the spruce. The flavor has a very sweet and candy like malt in the beginning, while swiftly moving into a tiny bitter hop note covered in spruce. A hint of yeast is tossed in there, ending with a fizzle on the back top of the throat. Not much taste lingers. Fairly thin bodied, not really complex. The spruce comes out a lot more as it warms, so I recommend letting it sit a bit before drinking.
bhensonb (4339), Woodland, California, USA
| 3.4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 5/10 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 4/5 | 14/20 |
Oct 20, 2006 Aroma of candy malt with evergreen - I can’t tell spruce from cedar. It’s not pine. Actually I probably could tell spruce from cedar - this is not cedar. So it’s spruce. Q.E.D. Clear copper color with a light tan head that runs away fast. A smooth sweetish malt start, that morphs into a candy impact, finishing with a bitter evergreen that is not hop. Not all that bitter, but the mouth tingles. Makes me think a bit of turpentine. Moderate mouthfeel. Not a super dry finish, but it almost seems that way. Wish there was a spruce in the neighborhood to check against. Not the standard bitter loved by Western Hopheads. Good for the season.
TheBeerLover (1019), DC Metro Area, USA
| 4.4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 5/5 | 19/20 |
Oct 19, 2006 12 oz bottle. Pours to a light amber to copper color, with a soapy white head that fades, and a moderate to soft carbonation. The nose on this beer is very pleasing with aromas of caramel, and spicy hints of pine and spruce. The palate is soft with good flavors of toffee, biscuit, and caramel. This beer finishes with more good malt flavors up front, then ends with a piney/spruce finish that slightly lingers. The spruce tips in this beer makes for a very interesting and flavoful beer. You really get pleasing spruce flavor in the nose and finish. This is a nice, easy drinking, winter ale. A nice after work or dinner brew, and a good beer to sip and savor with a good book or a movie.
beerczar69 (39), Pennsylvania, USA
| 3.2 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 3/5 | 8/10 | 3/5 | 10/20 |
Oct 10, 2006 Qiute a nice tasting beer.Pours clear and the spruce tip adds a nice taste.The best winter ale i have had.Nice after taste and worth a try.
madcow75 (425), Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, USA
| 2.9 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 5/10 | 3/5 | 5/10 | 3/5 | 13/20 |
Oct 10, 2006 Bottle. Pours copper with a thin white head that eventually disappears. Sweet caramel aroma with some spice in the background. Mostly malty taste, caramel, toffee and some spice(pine,spruce). Medium body. Easy to drink.
smcd (366), USA
| 3 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 6/10 | 3/5 | 6/10 | 3/5 | 12/20 |
Oct 7, 2006 (10/2006. 12oz Bottle.) Sweet, spicy aromas with, of course, a note of light spruciness there in the background. Pours clear. Light amber. Medium white head that disappears to a thin film relatively quickly. Rich, sweet tastes nicely balanced by the spruce tips with a slightly spicy, candi note. Finishes slightly bitter. Medium-full bodied and lightly carbonated.
bitbucket (2034), Kirkland, Washington, USA
| 3.3 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 6/10 | 3/5 | 7/10 | 3/5 | 14/20 |
Oct 4, 2006 Bottled. Pours a clear light amber with a fading white head. The aroma is lightly spicy with pine (or apparently spruce) and toffee behind it. Medium to light body with a slightly watery texture and medium carbonation. The taste is growing on me as this beer warms up. The same spruce/spice toffee notes appear along with a bit of wood, leading to spruced bitter finish. But a Barley Wine with 6.4% alcohol? I grant you that it’s made with barley, but who are we kidding here? Why not just claim it’s an English Strong like the rest of winter warmers?
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