St. George Brewing Co.
Hampton, VA
Available: VA, NC, SC, MD, DE, DC
St. George, a fourth century Roman soldier who was martyred for his beliefs, is the patron saint of both England and Germany. Since this brewery brews both ales in the English tradition and lagers in the German tradition, the brewery was named for him.
Alcohol by weight: 4.4
Color: n/a
Bitterness: 50
Gravity: 1059
Brilliant, traditional, shiny-penny pale ale copper color. Creamy crop of bubbles leave a lace on the side of the glass as they slowly dissipate. Clean fresh nose, good balance with plenty of malt and even more hops—a textbook example of this style. Serve with a spinach salad with smoky pancetta, a loaf of organic pumpernickel bread and a farmhouse blue cheese.
Beautiful copper tone with a head of dancing lace. Wonderful sweet malt aroma mingled with a balance of hop character. Not extremely hopped, but rather a balance of hops, malt and body suggesting to me that it is representative of a traditional “pre-micro-renaissance” type of IPA. This does not have northwestern USA style assertive hop character. Rather a crisp full flavored IPA where hops are a melodic theme rather than a constant crescendo. I love both. Well done and drinkably enjoyable.
With a bronze color and a tightly-beaded head, it has juicy malt, spicy hops and tart fruit on the aroma. The palate has bitter hops and bitter orange fruit, underscored by biscuity malt. The finish is finely balanced, with the hops finally dominating and leading to a dry bitterness. A fine companion for blue cheese or fondue dishes. As St George brews British-style beers, I will once again make the point that many modern IPAs are too dark: the originals used only pale malt.
Founder of Merchant du Vin and the Pike Brewing Co., Charles Finkel is a pioneer in the marketing of craft beers in America.
Author of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and a Beer Examiner at www.examiner.com, Papazian is a leading voice in beer and brewing.
Roger Protz is the author of Complete Guide to World Beer and 300 Beers to Try Before You Die. He is a respected beer authority and editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
Sat Aug 28th, 2010
Birth of a Brewery
It’s rare that a beer lover gets to watch a brewery being born. However, years ago I offered a young man a job at the magazine for no apparent reason...
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