Beer Feature: Spruce Tip Blonde Ale

Michael Healy, Owner

The renowned Spruce Tip Blonde Ale is practically synonymous with Skagway Brewing Company itself. Our version of this historic beer style isn't just our most popular pour; back-of-napkin calculations suggest it's the best-selling beer in all of Skagway.

Owner Mike Healy says, "This is our flagship ale, the beer that built Skagway Brewing Company. It's a bright, crisp take on a historic regional specialty — easy to sip, and a good match for pretty much anything on our menu."

Spruce tips have long been used for their vitamin C content in scurvy-preventing tea recipes practiced by First Nations and other northern peoples. Western seafarers frequently shipped along spruce beers for the same reason, and here in Skagway the style grew in popularity during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Usually around 4.9% ABV and lightly hopped, this ale’s blonde recipe really lets the character of our local water shine. Unlike some more piney or even almost gin-like spruce ales, our Spruce Tip Blonde uses local Sitka spruce tips that are harvested very young in late springtime. You get light citrus flavor and a delicate, haunting sweetness, without Christmas-tree aromatics. Try it with our Alaskan Golden King Crab Legs or our famous Alaskan Halibut Fish & Chips, which are beer-battered with Spruce Tip Blonde.