One of the older craft breweries in the country is dated to 1986, and is located in Juneau, Alaska, known for a series of classic beers that have become a staple—Alaskan Brewing. Its flagship Alaskan Amber was based on a Klondike Gold Rush-era recipe and Smoked Porter is an annual favorite. No surprise that the brewery offers up its take on a winter beer, brewed with spruce tips: Winter Ale.

Winter Ale has been on hiatus the past several years and returns this year, in cans for the first time.

It’s 6.4% ABV with 22 IBUs, and the brewery says, “Brewed with local Alaskan spruce tips, this brew delights with a smooth ester-y sweetness and winter-thawing warmth.” It’s brewed in the style of an English old ale, and flavored with the literal taste of Alaska. The brewery talks about its source of spruce in the blog post I linked to above:

It’s the Winter Ale’s use of locally-sourced Southeast Alaskan spruce tips which make it unlike any other beers. Spruce tips are a bright green new growth at the end of a branch. The trees hunker down for winter, then in the spring they send out this tender new growth that yields a light citrus flavor when boiled.

Alaskan Brewing’s spruce tips come from the small town of Gustavus – just outside of Glacier Bay National Park. Blessed with an abundance of spruce trees and a vibrant community, the entire town of Gustavus takes to the forests to trim the sweet conifer needles from the branches once a year.

The use of spruce tips dates back over 10,000 years as a traditional food source for Alaska’s first peoples. Our spruce grows on the ancestral homeland of the Huna Tlingit, which we respectfully acknowledge.

It’s a winter favorite and just the thing to embrace the season.

Find Alaskan Winter Ale on:

• Alaskan Brewing Beer Finder
• Untappd
• BeerAdvocate
• Facebook

Image credit: Alaskan’s website