Garrison Spruce Beer

Brewed by Garrison Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Halifax, Canada

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

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Copper-burgundy body with a decent head. Aroma is definitely spruce, meat, smoke, beef jerky. Like I’m in a potlach camp or something. Flavour is soft lager and caramel with a huge heap of spruce on the finish. Amazingly balanced and unique. This could have turned out as a disaster, but instead is an amazing and interesting beer. Heavy for sure, but great sipping.

A fantastic brew. Spruce in beer sounds like it could be heavenly or gaggy. Decidedly the first. Molasses is strong in this one, almost as strong as the spruce, which let me tell you IS there, this isn’t one of those typical ales which carry a light aroma of whatever’s on the label. I love the boldness of what they’ve done here.

bottle. Deep ruby colour, slightly off-white head. Lots of spruce in the aroma, molasses and malts. Taste is bold; the spruce features prominently, mostly sweet caramel malt. Unique beer, enjoyable once to try, not sure I’d want it on a regular basis.

[4304-20120223] Bottle. Strange woody spiced pine notes in the aroma. Clear, ruby red body with a medium-lasting foamy off-white head. Sweet syrupy tree bark malt flavour is hop heavy but in an unusual way. Medium body is a little bitter. Strange balance, unique brew. (7/3/7/3/13) 3.3
(c/o tuqueboy)

Bottle 500 ml
Aroma: smoky hints on woody dry feel , aromatic with fresh cut sap. Berry sweet notes.
Appearance: amber-garnet look with lighter top. Fine beige off white. No lace.
Body , Flavour , Palate and Final Notes: intense bold woody dry , smoky character with bitter sap elements. This is as much in your face as you might imagine. Reminds me of forests of Sulmierzyce. Unique... phenolic woody funk.

Spruce beer, hay ?! I like spruce beer, the pop drink, but this is the first time I try this alcohol version. From the LCBO. Pours a clean dark copper colour with a nice red shine through. Beige head that is frothy, lasting long and creating lots of webbing. At first pour, the smell is on the molasses side with hints of coffee and chocolate. Then, after breathing a bit, the aromas change to notes of caramel, bananas and the spruce way in the back. Quite interesting nose overall. Roasted malt taste remind me of burnt wood, with some dark fruits but that are nicely different with a beautiful dryness to it. All well-balanced with the hop, spruce, cherry-like flavour and bananas. Almost like a cough medicine (that is fortunately good). A very, very interesting brew, that is nice to have one - from time to time.

500 mL bottle. Probably been on the shelf a couple of months. Cola brown with a ring of head. Smells like molasses and Dr. Pepper. Nothing too spruce-y. Prunes and dates in the flavour, with almost a candy note from the spruce. Pretty interesting.

0.5l bottle from the LCBO. Served in a pint glass. Appearance: Dark brown, frothy beige head that dissipates quickly. Lots of carbonation. Looks like a coca-cola. Aroma: String notes of caramel, chocolate, molasses, spruce, pine. Very floral. Palate: Full bodied, creamy, medium carbonation. Beautiful finish. Slightly dry but a very nice lingering sensation. Taste: Starts very sweet, then finishes with a slightly bitter flavour, which exposes the spruce. Wow. Very nice beer. Kind of feels like drinking a christmas tree, but in an awesome way.

500ml. bottle, 2011 batch 1 (Dec), from Garrison shop. Poured a dark amber (almost garnet) with a thin head. Oddly enough, an overpowering woodsy aroma. Molasses, piney taste with a hint of maple. A little too sweet and heavy for a session beer, but a good single beer to cure what ails you on a wintry evening.

Bottle. Dark amber coloured ale. No head. Bread in the aroma with molasses, fig, candy sugar, grass and pine needles. Medium bodied. Syrupy mouthfeel. Molasses up front in the flavour with nuts and toasted malts and fresh fig. Pine / spruce flavour is more subtle than I anticipated. Tastes a bit like Christmas baking. Finish is long and malty with dark fruit flavours.

500mL bottle from LCBO. Served at cellar temperature. Pours super-dark brown, and clear. Aroma is sweet and "evergreeny", with some molasses. Taste is quite interesting, different, and good. Dark chocolate, dark fruit, and molasses flavours are complimented by a distinct "spruce" taste. Quite sweet up front, with a lingering bitter after-taste. This is significantly better than my first home-made spruce beer, and I will definitely try to model the next version after this.