Shorts Imperial Spruce India Pilsner

Brewed by Shorts Brewing Co.
Style: European Strong Lager
Bellaire, Michigan USA

Pours a hazy, glowing orange-amber color with a massive, everlasting head of snow white foam. Dense, patchy rings of lacing circle the glass, coating it almost entirely. The nose gives off an avalanche of spruce and evergreen notes, resiny in its intense hoppiness, sharp with fresh notes of spearmint and peppermint. Te underlying malt base shows toffee and bready, creamy pils character, balancing out the intense hops quite nicely. The flavor again hits hard up front with huge, sprucy-mint and fresh earth. It gets to be a bit intense at times, almost like drinking an insanely fresh herbal tea that is bursting with spruce. The sweet, bready, dry toffee malts try their best to balance things out, but this one is as hoppy as any lager I’ve ever come across. Big bodied and moderately carbonated, there’s just a hint of a syrupy texture and a slight alcohol burn on the finish. Very interesting brew. I don’t know that I’d ever want more than a glass of this in one sitting, but it is a very cool, over-the-top brew nonetheless.

(bottled@pikkulintu) hazy yellowamber colour with small head. on nose spruce and mouth too. nomnomnom

Bottled@Konttori, Tampere. Hazy orange colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is lots of juniper, conifer woods and some sap. Flavour is lots of conifer wood, sap, resin and some slight grassyness as well. Really fresh, and kinda strange in many ways. I o like it, but not really sure I would drink that many bottles of it after eachother...

Bottle shared by thickfreakness. Thanks Charles! Another crazy beer from Shorts. Pours golden to orange with a white head. Smell is menthol eucalyptus, mint, and piney hops. Taste is hoppy, very dry, and menthol eucalyptus cough drop like. Really dry and interesting. Very big, bright intense flavor. Enjoyable in sample settings, I think.

(Bottle, 0.75 l, at Pikkulintu, Helsinki, on 2009-04-04 -- shared with sayravai and isos, thanks!) Hazy amber. Medium sized white head. Young spruce needles and fruitiness in aroma. Medium bodied and dry palate with medium carbonation. Young spruce needles, bitterness, frutiness, lots and lots of hops and citricness in taste. Young spruce needles and bitterness in aftertaste. Impressive beer, although 0.75 l would be too much for one person alone.

(Bottled, 0.75l) Very hazy golden-amber with a smallish, lasting head. Very strong pine-sprucey aroma with some grassy-floral hops. Extremely pine-spruce-resiny flavor with alpha acids from the hops adding to the mixture. Medium body, crisp and fresh, lowish carbonation. Alcohol fully hidden. This really is a hophead’s dream! Not for everyday consumption, but as an occasional treat, this is quite exceptional. At first, I was hesitant to give this a high score, but really, this is something never seen before...

Courtesy GoT. Hazy orange with a white head. HUGE spruce in this beer. IPA meets strong lager. Floral, spicy, resinous, leafy. A little underattenuated, drinks like 10%, but doesn’t taste like it. Full body, balanced carbonation, a little syrupy, dry on the finish. Would love to see some lower abv examples of this style.

750 ml bottle - courtesy of a kind soul at the HOTD Dock Sale; wow, this day officially put Short’s on my brewing map; this was the third stellar beer in a row; pours hazy gold with faint white head; aromas of line needles, bubble gum, oak’ plenty of hops and bitterness, but this ends up a very sweet beer; similar soft texture as the others; very well done with the addition of spruce needles; almost to the point of being overpowering, but not quite; sappy, dry finish; delightful