Alaskan Winter Ale

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

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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Adding spruce tips in the mix gives this beer an incredible citrus taste. This beer is why I travel to Alaska. In my opinion, the Winter Ale should be Alaska’s state beer.

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.

In my opinion this is a great example of a Scottish Gruit. The commercial description says English Olde Ale, but to me it is Scottish. Here is my review: AROMA - Some fruity-malt notes. Very crisp smelling; APPEARANCE - Medium amber in color. Faint head at the start that quickly fades. No real carbonation, and lacing is minimal; TASTE - The taste is that of a typical Scottish Gruit. The base flavor is malt, then the fruity bitterness of the spruce tips adds a nice roundness to the pallete; MOUTHFEEL - Mouthfeel is pleasant with roasted malty tones. No carbonation bite either; OVERALL - I really liked this brew. Beings that it is a limited release seasonally. If you see it, pick it up...dman fine brew.

Pours clear, oily orange with a large off-white head. Smells of spruce, resin, pine, and tine bits of sweetness. Taste is sweet, like caramel, spruce, and pine. Light-to-medium bodied with a smooth, wet texture and soft mouth-carbonation, Alaskan Winter Ale finishes earthy.

Wow, I really like this brew! Poured it a bit warm and I think that was a good idea as the spruce tips really come out, giving a sweet, ripe berry component. Poured with a smallish, cream-colored head that soon settled out to a few islands and a ring with a bit of lace. Color is a medium clear amber with huge amounts of bubble trails. Aroma is malt, caramel, toffee, fruit, wet grain. Flavor’s like nose, on the sweet side, but not overly; sweet and carbonic tang are in front with just enough bitter to balance it all nicely. Body and carbonation are perfect. Finish is like flavor, lingers for a while, has a slight booziness, and is so drinkable. Curious to see if it’s this good a little colder.

Poured from the bottle. I thought I rated this before, glad I checked. Last year this beer was amazing, hence the reason I bought again. The pine flavor is awesome! Palate is decent, as is aroma. Overall a favorite winter beer of mine.

Good, but not as good as the regular amber, a little heavier and a little more bitter

Spicey and bitter. This one is truly a seasonal. They add spruce tips to the recipe and you can tell. Nice color and is drinkable right after the pour.

Quite different from most 'Winter Ales' with its lighter color. The spruce tip aftertaste is what is unique about this one. Very enjoyable.

I enjoyed this seasonal while watching the sun set over Lake Tahoe. Spruce trees where not only in my view but in my beer. Spruce flavor added to this hearty winter ale, and gave it an almost Belgian "yeasty" aftertaste. Maybe I was too caught up in the view of Tahoe from the 11th floor of Harvey's Casino because I felt this beer had the flavor of a six story tall spruce. If you see this winter ale it's worth a try.