 jcr (835), Jasper, Indiana, USA
Jul 10, 2008
750 ml. Brewed on 4-30-07. What an interesting beer — especially if you like a big spruce flavor. Beautiful orange pour with big, frothy head. Huge, delicious aroma of juicy grapefruit, fresh-squeezed orange juice, spruce, pine, resin. Hints of caramel and sweet honey. The flavor is moderately sweet and moderately to heavily bitter. The finish remains bitter and dry. The flavor has the strong taste of spruce, like chewing on needles. In fact, the spruce overwhelms the other nice qualities of the beer. Medium body and velvet texture. If the spruce had been dialed down a couple of notches, allowing the nice malt backbone to share the stage, I would think this right up there with Dreadnaught. But the spruce is just too overpowering. Nonetheless, kudos to the brewery for one heck of a a fun beer to drink.
nuplastikk (428), Maryland, USA
Sep 1, 2008 750ml graciously shared by Tom aka CaptainCougar. Thanks man! This is really a memorable beer. Highly aromatic, like a Christmas tree doused in the a stick 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.
Grovlam (3087), Copenhagen, Denmark
Sep 1, 2008 Bottle. [Drikkeriget Grand Shorts Imperial Series tasting, thanks to Jeppe for another great session] Another very unique beer and my first spruce beer. What became clear was the use of the word “pine” in regards to hoppy aroma is all misleading. This was how pine, pinewood, pine needle etc smells like. Average creamy off-white head that mostly diminished. Spare display of lacework. Cloudy golden yellow color. Aroma of true pine tree – pinewood, also some sweet pine like notes. Grassy, citrus and floral notes could also be picked up. Over the palate came bitter pine that wasn’t to pleasant. The aroma was fantastic, but I did not enjoy drinking this one. Full bodied with a soft carbonation. Heavy bitter harsh flavor with some counter sweetness. Earthy and piney lingering bitter finish.
arjoseph (555), Chicago, Illinois, USA
Aug 22, 2008 GABF 2007. OK. I don’t know what’s going on here. This shiz is dope. Maybe it’s not as good in bottles as it was on tap. Maybe there’s a new batch that’s not as good as the first. Maybe it falls off A LOT when not sampled fresh. Maybe there’s something in the air in North Carolina that spoils it. Anyway, y’all betta recognize the Shorts Spruce. Toasted malts, spruce, and an underlay of grapefruit on the nose. If an aroma can have a texture, this would be "buttery." Honestly, this smells and (especially) tastes like pure spruce needle essence, surrounded by soft cracker malts (like an awesome lovechild of saltines and graham crackers). Hops and spruce in the finish 4-ev-R. Carbonation is perfect, biting at first and then gentle sussurations of sea foam. Bam. Yeah: bam.
lassem (110), Copenhagen, Denmark
Aug 10, 2008 Dr dre made this song called gin and juice... could have been this beer he was thinking of.
Pours a piss-yellow moisty body med a clear white head. The taste is bitter, and parfumed like an overparfumed sweating southeuropean body. I taste christmas spieces, alot of spruces and alcohol with a parfumed and bitter finish - and strong. The palate is thick and full-bodied...
This is the beer-version of the parfume: Davidoff Cool Water
emacgee (1055), Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Aug 1, 2008 Pours a hazy gold with a creamy white head. The nose was hoppy, very piney, smelled exactly like Spruce. Very interesting and on a certain level enjoyable nose. The flavor is a major dive, extremely astringent and mouth puckering hop presence. Very unappealing. Very astringent and bitter mouthfeel.
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