Saint Arnold Elicits Confession From a Bitter Man -- Film at 11
Written: Jun 26 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nicely balanced pale ale with an aggressive hop signature
Cons: Now how did that pint glass get empty so fast?
The Bottom Line: Nice robust everyday drinking ale. Lots of hops help make me a bitter man...
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| mrkstvns's Full Review: Amber Ale |
It's funny how some beers just seem to cry out to be served in a particular type of glass -- or even one specific glass. If you're like me and collect beer glasses from different breweries and beer festivals, you probably enjoy trying to figure out which kinds of glasses bring out the best in different beers.
Pilsners cry out for tall tapered crystal pilsner glasses. Belgian ales cry out for brandy snifters that let the complex aromatics gather at the mouth when you swirl the glass. I can't imagine a better glass for a maibock than a hefty German mug. For me, the perfect glass for St. Arnold's Amber Ale is a classic unadorned British-style pint glass, and that's what I'm using right now as I sample this fine elixir.
St. Arnold Amber Ale is a cleanly brewed beer with an assertive hop character, balanced by a sweet, firm malt base.
When I first poured the beer in my glass, I smelled hops -- lots of hops. It wasn't the strongly citric nose that I get in a lot of American style pale ales, it was a little more subdued with an earthy, peppery character.
American pale and amber ales aren't delicate little mamby-pamby sipping beers. No sirree. I drink pale ales in hearty draughts ("gulp" just doesn't sound like quite the right word...)
There's quite a lot of clean, sweet malt flavor to this beer with a strong caramel edge to it, but far and away the biggest flavor of this beer is hops, and lots of it. The hop flavor just kind of jumps right up there, dancing across my tongue with some sharp peppery character to it. The hop character is quite complex though, with hints of the citric or grapefruit flavor that you find from classic American hop varieties -- but just a hint because the peppery and earthy characters are far more assertive. Boy, I'd hate to have to try to guess what hops went into this beer -- if I were a betting man, I'd say there are multiple additions of several different varieties. Pure conjecture though. No matter how the brewers do it, the result is wonderful...I'll drink to that!
Whoa! That hop character really hangs in there well. I get a glorious bitter aftertaste that just hangs on my tongue. It almost seems to tingle a little, like teeny bubbles bursting with fresh hop flavors.
If I were matching this beer up with foods, I'd pair it with something hearty and robust, like a barbecued brisket slathered in my favorite sweet chili barbecue sauce (sorry, that's one secret I won't reveal!)
Style Notes:
St. Arnold's Amber Ale is an American-style pale ale. I know that some beer writers consider amber ale to be its own style. I don't. But even if I did, I think I'd call this beer a "pale ale" and not really an "amber ale," regardless of what the label says. Color is the big reason why.
The glass of beer that I've got in my hand right now is most certainly not "amber". It's golden with some orange hues. I'd put the color at about 9 to perhaps 10 on the SRM scale. Close to amber, I'll admit, but really more pale.
The one factor that seems to argue against St.Arnold's being called a "pale ale" rather than "amber" is that there is more caramel sweetness in this beer than I find in classic pale ales like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
American-style pale ales are known as aggressively hoppy beers, especially if you consider beers like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as the benchmark by which to judge all other American pale ales. The beers are normal gravity (12 Plato) beers with about 5 percent alcohol. St. Arnold's isn't quite up to that level, but it's by no means a hops welterweight.
Sample Conditions:
These notes are based on a six-pack I purchased at one of Houston's larger liquor stores (Specs). This is the brewery's flagship beer and it is produced year-round. The brewery uses brown bottles. The bottles look to be in good condition -- no dust on the bottles and no stickiness on the carrier. Besides, this is a beer that I've had so often that it would have been obvious if I'd gotten a bad bottle. I didn't.
Brewery Notes:
Saint Arnold is a microbrewery located in an industrial park a few miles west of downtown Houston. They brew mostly ales, and have been in business for about seven years. The beers are sold throughout Texas. The brewery welcomes visitors for an entertaining tour (with free beer, of course) Saturdays at 1pm. More information about the brewery and its beers is available on their web site: www.saintarnold.com.
Overall Impression:
St. Arnold's Amber Ale is a fine brew, and one that deserves to carry the brewery's banner into the marketplace. It's a refreshing beer that feels somewhat dry and substantially bitter. But then, we all know that bitter is better....
Buy you one?
Recommended:
Yes
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