Alaskan Winter Ale

Brewed by Alaskan Brewing Co
Style: Old Ale
Juneau, Alaska USA

Serve in English pint, Snifter

This brew pours a hazy, amber color with a medium thin light beige head that diminishes steadily, but leaves rows of lacing. Aroma of pine, hops and sweet malt. Medium-bodied with a piney/spruce character, along with fresh fruit, hops and malt flavors. Touches of spice are present too. The finish is hoppy and malty with a fruit and spice aftertaste. Decent overall. They were looking for something different, I think they found it.

Bottle poured into pint glass. My friend left a few of these here on Christmas Eve, so I just opened one. An amber pour with small head that faded quickly. Taste is amber like as well, a bit of malt and tea. Nothing big and nothing unique, easy to drink but not a style that I would reach for.

Bottle. Light amber and gold in appearance with lots of pillowy white head. The aroma is a mixture of barley, honey and grass. The taste is mostly cereal malt, honey and floral hops with a little bit of alcohol at the end. The spruce tips add an interesting menthol-like flavor. The mouthfeel is smooth and buttery with moderate carbonation and a sweet, grainy finish. The overall flavor is somewhere between a Golden/Blonde Ale and a Lager. This would be a good beer to pair with a spicy meal.

Pours out a clear amberish orange with an ivory head that doesn’t last too long or leave much lace. Smelled of toffee, pine cone, and sweet fruity aromas. Initially hits pretty malty, with a touch of wheat, with some pretty sturdy pine hop notes, without being resinous. Tingly yet comfortable mouthfeel. The finish was pretty doughy and creamy, the way unleavened bread dough tastes. A solid beer, but nothing worth writing home about.

Ok, for a winter ale, the bottle says it all. There is a hint of pine needle taste in the beer. this little kicker made this dark amber looking beer so much better. Yet to get it on tap but will at end of month when I fly to Juneau again.

A: The pour is a clear golden orange color with a thin ring of white head. S: Very sweet on the nose with some fruit notes like berries and apricot. Some definite spruce and "green" aromas. Also a bit of a floral note. T: Like the nose, lots of sweetness to this beer. Almost cloyingly sweet fruit as well as some definite corn syrup flavors. Lots of spruce and a mild pine flavor, but not bitter. M: The body is medium with a low to moderate carbonation. It’s got that sort of grainy finish that a lot of spruce tip beers have. D: Way too sweet and to be honest, that’s just about all this beer has going on.

Not very much aroma, hints of malt and spruce. Very nice dark, brassy amber color. Soft and smooth, with a pleasing, moderately thick body and moderate sweetness. Notes of pear, moderately roasted malts, fruity hops and refreshing spruce. A good ale with character, though I wish it were more assertive.

Pours amber with off-white head and foamy lacing. Complex notes of wheat and floral. Balanced taste with a bit of a sour tang.