Judge's Review: 92 Rating - Spruce Tip IPA by Goodwood Brewing Co.

Spruce Tip IPA by Goodwood Brewing Co. was judged as a 30A, Spice/Herb/Vegetable beer with IPA as the base style.

Off the aroma I get juicy hops, a lot of grapefruit and pine as I would expect in an American IPA. I get the spruce for sure and it's not overdone. The malt aroma is cracker-like and complements the hops nicely. The spruce aroma comes forth as it warms. The flavor is very traditional; it has a stiff bitterness that is accented by the spruce flavor. The spruce is pretty intense in the flavor and that's fine with me. The balance is solidly in the hop and bitterness camp. The same hop flavors come through in the flavor as they did in the aroma with juicy and thirst-quenching grapefruit followed by the pine, which helps the beer finish what appears on the drier side. The malt is not all that dominant and plays a solid supporting role. The appearance is quite appealing as it pours a light golden color with significant haze. The head is moderate and stands up well, even during the course of the pint. The beer is medium full-bodied and a bit more full than I like in an IPA, but it's not quite chewy. It does have a nice creamy texture and it's not so over-hopped that it has any hop astringency. All it all I enjoyed it quite a bit. Ideally the spruce could be toned down just a bit and the body thinned out a bit, but it's certainly a solid beer.