Siletz Spruce Ale

Brewed by Siletz Brewing and Public House
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Siletz, Oregon USA

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

Siletz Brewery is very close to where I live. I have tried many of their styles and have really been disappointed with most of them. Then came this little beauty in the Scottish Gruit style. The brew has a real minty taste from the infusion of Spruce tips. This brew is one not to be missed. Try it...take a challenge.

I live about 23 miles from this Brewery in Oregon. I have visited there to see the Brewery. This type of brew, with the spruce tips added is becoming a fad out in Oregon and I am unsure if that trend is elsewhere. Adding the spruce tips gives this brew somewhat of a very bright flavor that is very fruity and dare I say it... minty. This is certainly a "Strange Brew" that shouldn’t be overlooked. If you see it...try it and you will be suprised and impressed.

Date: 10/11/1996
Source: Brewfest, Newport, OR

amber, whispy head, sweet spicy aroma, very sprucy flavor from the sitka tree lasting well past the aftertaste, spicy, slightly fruity, different, not a session beer, but quite tasty

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Score: **4
-------- /> The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.

This draft brew from the Oregon Brewers festival poured a small sized head of frothy large sized clear colored bubbles that were quickly diminishing and left behind a and a fair lacing. The aroma was floral candy and woody. The strange mouth feel was weakly tingly at the start and at the finish. The strange flavor contained notes of spruce piney hops and wood. Not one that I would likely buy again. Very different indeed!

Sampled on draught at the brewpub in Siletz, Oregon during the ABA 07 Beer Tour. Pours a cloudy coppery amber brew with a fast dissolving off-white head that leaves behind a few bubble with no lacing or ring. Aroma of fruity citrus peel, sweet caramel malt, and most of all, spruce pine. Taste is lightly carbonated, a little gritty with a fruity caramel malt flavor and well balanced with grapefruit/citrus tartness. Finish is a little metalic with a grapefruit and clove aftertaste.

Bomber. Malty aroma, backed by some fresh fruit or spruce or ? Perhaps a hint of that Siletz sour. Dark, approaching opaque, brown color. No real head, but some pinpoints that might be lace. Moving the snifter leaves lacey tatters. Almost medium bodied. Evergreen is all through this (spruce? It’s not pine or cedar). Hints of sour, but that evergreen keeps coming back. Different, and refreshing. In the end that sour is definitely present, so I presume it’s something in the yeast Siletz prefers. Suggests a bit of Bret, and it seems to be in most of their ales. Hard to tell whether the finish has bitter, sour, evergreen or some combination.

Pours murky brown-orange with a small beige head. Aromas of malt (orange or tangerine candy) and medicinal spruce. Low carbonation, and a malty backbone that’s a mixture of fruit-juicy sweet and grainy and bisuity. Piled high on top of this is a sickening amount of spruce flavor that gives negative conotation to the word medicinal. No bitterness to speak of and a long sprucy aftertaste. I often support the "less is more" when it comes to number of ingredients, but could we please reign in the spruce? I have had some very good beers in this style and this is not one of them primarily because it’s basically two solid flavors that don’t mesh well. Blegh.

(Bottle) Pours a lightly hazy amber body with a small off-white head. Aroma of spruce and citrus. Flavor of spruce, juicy grapefruit, toasted malt, and some floral hops with a finish that reminds me of a soda fountain drink with the syrup running dry (more carbonation than it should have). Very interesting beer, but could not finish a full bottle on my own.