Tonight I bottled the O Tannenbock Spruce ale. It is here where I appreciate brewing in 1-gallon batches, as I only had to sterilize 5 22-oz bottles. Clean-up was a breeze as well.
I never took a hydrometer reading, so I don't have a sense for the ABV. The overall flavor was quite sweet, perhaps due to the 3 oz of maple syrup used to prime the bottles. The spruce flavor was not apparent. If it's not great, I won't be wasting a large batch!!
Tasting the unfinished beer also made me ponder what Simcoe hops are. Apparently it is a relatively new (2000) American hop, from the Yakima Chief Ranches of Sunnyside WA. It has a very distinct aroma of citrus, grapefruit and pine and is likely a good complement to the spruce bough. It is mostly used as an aroma hop, but due to its low"alpha" acid cohumulone makes this a good bittering hop. Noble hops tend to have low cohumulone acids.
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