Brewery: Harpoon Brewery
ABV: 7%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 3/15/12
This is beer #39 in the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series. That could mean that by the time you've read this, there won't be any left. It's also a tricky one to find, which makes things even tougher.
Vermont Spruce Tip Ale is a deep amber colored beer. It poured with very little head, and that little bit faded very quickly. It also didn't leave much lacing behind. The aroma here isn't nearly as piney as I was expecting it to be based on the name of the beer. It was more of a malty aroma, with some caramel and breadiness.
This beer is not nearly sprucey enough to live up to its title. It's much more of a malty beer, with very little in the hop or spruce category of flavors. There are also some spice flavors in there, but I can't really pick out which ones they are specifically. The beer has only a hint of carbonation, and no bitter flavors. It finishes with a light sweetness, and a mild aftertaste of malt.
Final thought - Vermont Spruce Tip Ale is a nice, easy drinking beer with a very smooth mouthfeel. However, it doesn't taste piney or sprucey or really like any kind of evergreen, and that was the main reason I was interested in it. If piney hops are enjoyable, then straight-up pine should be enjoyable as well. Well, in theory at least. In the end, this is a pretty good beer that just doesn't match up to its name.
-Jon
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