Experimental Beer Blue Spruce Ale

This was an experiment of mine that turned out quite well. I hit my projected gravities, and the taste is spot on. The pine flavor began as a coarse sappy flavor, but even after a week, it has mellowed to a smooth pine flavor. It's an odd mixture of flavors: there's bitterness, but not like a hop-bitterness. The only way to know is to brew it! I was pleased with it.


MALT/FERMENTABLES

6 lbs. extra light DME
1 lb. flaked wheat
1 lb 2-row

HOPS and OTHER

1 oz. cascade @ 60 min.
3 oz. blue spruce trimmings @ 20 min.
1 oz. cascade @ 5 min

This just took 3rd place (tied for 2nd and went to mini-bos) in a competition over in Fredricksburg, VA. 36/50

I forgot to identify the base beer.

That's awesome. I just picked a bunch of spruce tips off our tree in the back yard. I was hoping to use them in a beer and this gives me some idea of how to use them.

Lots of recipes I read (both online and in Brew Your Own Magazine) said that anything more than 2 oz. in a batch would be too much...but I think the 3 oz. at 20min. was perfect. If I brewed it again, I'd stick with the same recipe.

It had a very nice sappy flavor for the first couple weeks, and then mellowed into a smoother pine flavor. I plan on making this again with some fresh-growth. I'm told it adds citrus notes.

If you make this (or a version of it), let me know how it turns out!

What yeast strain did you use for this?

I used some basic S-05, but it might be interesting to try a british strand. The S-05 turned out so nice, I don't think I'd switch it up, but to each their own!