Shorts Imperial Spruce India Pilsner

Brewed by Shorts Brewing Co.
Style: Strong Pale Lager/Imperial Pils
Bellaire, Michigan USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Footed Pilsner, Lager glass, Stein

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This 750ml has been siting around and I thought why not open it for Liz, dalekliz a big fan of shorts. Also shared with my girlfriend. This bottle came via trade with the big man himself thickfreakness. Pours deep orange with a 2 finger tan head. Nose is sweet and hoppy with a touch of spruceyness. Taste is sweet, hoppy, with a huge punch of spruce, wow thats damn intense. Tons of piney spruce with a lot of flavor and complexity. I like this, its different and thats what Shorts does!

UPDATED: AUG 23, 2010 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.

UPDATED: DEC 9, 2009 750ml graciously shared by Tom aka CaptainCougar. Thanks man! This is really a memorable beer. Highly aromatic, like a Christmas tree doused in a sticky IIPA. Piny spruce madness. The alcohol is quite well hidden. The taste is all hop, spruce, and the associated flavors that come with that territory. Excellent beer.

bottle 477/886 at dak’s on 9/5/10 hazy. burnt orange with a foamy off white head. it leaves clingy foam around like mad. sweet piney smell... spruce, eucalyptus, molasses, juniper, sweet malt and some dank qualities. the palate is sweet upfront but dries out on the finish with the help of spice and pine notes. other than the notes from the aroma there is an odd flavor in the far back of cardamom... odd. full bodied and a bit taxing to finish. 7/4/6/2.5

On tap at the Brickhouse BBQ Beer Spot Great Taste pre-party. Hazy banana yellow with a thin off-white head. Aroma of spruce, pale malt, mild grassy and noble hops. Taste is of heavy spruce with a large noble hoppy presence plus sweet malt and a long bitter spruce finish. Probably one of the best pilseners I’ve ever had.

UPDATED: JUN 24, 2010 Bottle courtesy of general_gau and someone at dark lord day. Big spruce/pine nose with some cotton candy and citrus. The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately bitter with lots of cotton candy, honey, massive amounts of resinous pine, some citrus. Medium/full body with moderate carbonation.

bottle (didn’t quite jot down the # on this one). had at an evening w/ pantanap 3....this one was a real eye opener....poured a golden orange brown with a thin wispy white head...the nose was intense. pure spruce literally launched from the glass. if yo ulove the smell of xmas trees, you’ll certainly enjoy this....flavor-wise, the spruce played a huge role here as well. big on the spruce and pine with a litlle sweet honey malt that peeked through but was overshadowed by the spruce.....points for originality but i couldn’t have more that a few ounces of this stuff.

750mL bottle, courtesy of General_Gao. Thanks, Colin! Pours a hazy, deep honey-golden color; off-white head with solid, medium bubbled lacing. Intense, juicy spruce notes and piney hop presence; unlike some spruce-influenced beers, this is soft, generous, and smells like an oily pine forest; great nose. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: pine notes, spruce, like an intense evergreen forest; the carbonation is well-integrated; chewy breadiness and malt notes (bread, toastiness); excellent, tasty stuff. Lengthy finish, showing pine, spruce, and viscous almost-Simcoe hoppiness.

From a 750mL Bottle. Thanks for sharing Sean! Aroma is ridiculous. Strong blast of heavy passion fruit, crazy tangerine and lively pine cones. Rich, fresh, and ridiculously strong. Arresting. Terrific milky soap atop a glass of clear golden orange glow. Really far out flavor. Totally unique. Concentrated Christmas tree like you would never believe. The beer’s flavor profile is entirely dominated by the strongest blast of Spruce ever. High Alpha hops get buried. The moderately sweet pale malt brings up the back and keeps the knock-you-over spruce character a little bit in line, but then spruce and alcohol combine for a raging blast of conifer coalescence. Floral and full of trees. Earthy through the back, mingled with bold spice. Candied all sorts of things. There’s so much going on and there’s so much flavor that it’s hard to parse everything out, especially when it’s so strong and overflowing, to the point that it hurts to drink it. Looses palate points for being hard to return to. But, every time your nose goes to the glass, or you put that beer on your tongue, it’s just as fresh, new and alive as the last time. This beer would succeed were it a "single" version. A nice 5-6% pilsner, with half the spruce character, a little less sugar, and more noticeable hops. Regardless, this is a great experience.

(Bottle) Pours hazy golden. The aroma holds woodsy and almost perfume smelling spruce up front with undertones of citric and light floral hops, sweet toasted malt alongside a peachy, tropical fruitiness. The flavour is medium sweet and medium bitter with notes of fresh spruce up front. Citric hops, fruits, perfume and sweet malt. The mouthfeel is clean and peppery numbing from the spruce. Medium bodied.