Spring Fever
Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Company, Snoqualmie
Style: Belgian-style Spiced Ale
Stats: 6.0 percent ABV, 32 IBU, 1.065 OG
Available: February through April; 22-ounce bottles
My thoughts: Look outside. There’s fresh buds on the tree, sunshine late into the evening and birds chirping. Spring has arrived a little early this year and thank God.
All of this makes it a lot easier to stomach the annual all-too-early spring seasonals. I saw a spring beer on the shelf in January.
So, last week I grabbed Snoqualmie’s Spring Fever. This is Spring Fever 2.0 as Snoqualmie changed their Belgian-style Grand Cru to a Belgian-style Spiced Ale. Sounds like semantics.
According to the folks at Snoqualmie, head brewer Rande Reed used less malts in this year’s version, allowing the coriander to come forward a bit more.
It poured a beautiful deep amber with a thick, creamy head. I’ve always enjoyed Spring Fever, and I didn’t taste much of a difference. It was a bit lighter and the aroma was definitely still fruity and full of coriander. The same hallmarks I remember from the previous Spring Fever — spicy finish, nice malt structure and slight hop bitterness — were still present.
One final thing: I really love Snoqualmie’s re-branding. The logos are colorful and are accompanied by beautiful drawings by Josh Tuininga. The Spring Fever has a reddish-orange color scheme and a picture of a robin. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t grab my attention.
From the brewery: “Orange hues, rich malt flavors, spicy coriander overtones and fruity, tropical aromas make this one beautiful beer for fans of Belgian styles. Spring Fever is crafted from the finest Two-Row, Munich, Carastan and Belgian Aromatic malts, Columbus and Czech Saaz hops, spiced with coriander and fermented with authentic Belgian ale yeast.”
— Aaron Swaney
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