Saint Arnold Brewing Co. Winter Stout

Howdy all,

Quick question, what common tie exists between NHL super-star Gordie Howe and Texas craft beer?

Ready for the answer?

The Houston Aeros signed Howe in ’73, allowing him to fulfill a dream of playing hockey with his two sons, and this April, Houston’s own Saint Arnold Brewery will be hosting the 10th annual get together for enthusiasts of craft beer and Aeros’ hockey that will include a pregame meet up at the brewery, group seating for an Aeros’ game, and post game wind down at a local pub (click here for details.)

While I don’t have an opportunity to join the people of Houston for this event, something that I am truly disappointed about, I do have the opportunity to join them in the enjoyment of the quality beer produced by St. Arnold. This afternoon I have decided to crack open a few bottles of this brewery’s Winter Stout.

Pouring the beer, which is a “tweaked” result of a home brew competition promoted by the brewery in the late 90s, the stout is a dark brown, almost, but not quite black, body, while a slight ruby color can be seen in the edges of the pint glass. Atop the body of the beverage, the head is a nice, light tan hue. As strongly as the head forms with a semi-aggressive pour, it is a tad disappointing to see it die down quickly to less than the width of a dime.  

Putting my olfactory glands to work, I experience the aromas of bread, the malty sweetness of candy sugars and caramel, balanced by coffee and roasted aromas. 

Taking my first sip, the wet, medium bodied beverage rushes the palate with a mélange of honey, candy and caramel flavors. On the back of the palate roasted coffee flavor and bitterness, displaying light floral and woody accents, rounds out the malt bomb on the front end.

The best way to describe this beer would be as a unique interpretation on the style, from an equally unique brewery. This is a wicked little wrister that goes top shelf.

Cheers to Texas craft beer, and to Texas Hockey. 

Spring Bock by Saint Arnold Brewing

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick’s Day, a day that a lot of Americans will use as an excuse to drink adjunct lagers that have been dyed green (just like they do in Ireland?) If you must celebrate a holiday that properly celebrates merriment and the consumption of alcohol, please follow the German tradition. Don’t add fake color to beer, brew beer specific to the holiday, and make it last a couple of weeks.

If I had to celebrate a saint, make it Saint Arnold, the patron saint of brewers, and namesake to Houston’s own craft brewery. Today, in my favorite saint's celebration,  I have decided to crack open a couple of bottles of Saint Arnold’s Spring Bock.

As the beer decants from a bottle with a label adorned with Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes, flowers that mark the coming of spring in the Texas landscape, the beverage exhibits a pretty, amber hue with amazing clarity. A slight off-white head forms with the width of a dime as the CO2 action from the pour dies down.

With a bready, malt forward nose, intertwined with the aroma of light, floral hops, I take an aggressive first gulp.  My palate is rewarded with a wet, full bodied, full flavored, malt experience.  With its nice, rounded, caramel body, there is a very subtle floral backend that is just enough to keep the sweetness from being cloying, keeping the beverage very drinkable throughout the three bottles I enjoyed this afternoon.

In Texas, you can’t really drink and talk about a bock style beer without mentioning the 300-pound armadillo in the room, Shiner Bock. 

Since I was of drinking age, my older brother always lamented on how Shiner was not as good as it was after they became part of the Gambrinus Company. (A quick side note, Gambrinus is referenced as the name of an “unofficial” saint of beer and beer brewing while Saint Arnold is the patron saint of Hop Pickers and Belgian brewers.)

           

My brother, who gets my respect as a malt head, tells me this is what Shiner “used to be like,” and will do just about anything short of papalcide (the murder of the Pope) to get his lips on this beer.

While I lean more towards being hop obsessed, I can see how this well-balanced, refreshing bock can generate excitement in its fans.

Santos Black Kolsch by Saint Arnold Brewery

Well, the Super Bowl is underway, but I couldn’t tell you anything about the game. While countless millions have huddled around televisions, I have been doing taxes and planning with my wife an excursion to Austin later in the month with part of our expected tax returns. Of course I also found time to fit in time to write two posts for this blog, and upload them earlier this morning, and even play a few games of hockey on my PS3.

To continue my day of semi-productive leisure I have worked in a moment to pop a top or two while my wife prepares dinner, specifically the Texas emblazed caps off of bottles of Saint Arnold Brewery’s Santo, a beer that is described by the brewery as a dark kolsch, which, to quote their website, “technically doesn’t exist as a style, but this is as close as [they] can come to describing it.”

Being a hue that I would call a true dark umber, this beer is one of the darkest, yet somewhat still marginally translucent, beer I’ve had.  Although it starts with a semi aggressive decant, and a head about the thickness of half a finger’s form, the drinker is left with about a dime’s width in a few moments of pouring.

Taking a whiff off the head, a yeast aroma is most prominent, mixed with hints of malt and caramel.

The first brush of beverage across the palate offers the drinker a medium light bodied caramel flavor with a warm nuttiness. Bitterness is almost nonexistent, making the drink a little monotone on the back of dark malt. Combining the flavor with a moderate alcohol content at 4.7% and dry finish, this beer is good for session drinking, or enjoying in the warm Texas Springs and Summers.

Not the most complex or unique beer, but definitely worth the try.

Prost!

Four Fantastic Things #5: Four wonderful Texas beers (2011)

Hello,

I hope that 2011 was a good year for everyone. For myself, it brought a lot of changes, including some for the better, and others not so much.

In celebration of change, and of my home state, I felt it would be interesting to look back at the new and unique beers that my relocation offered over the past year, and list some of my favorite Lone Star brews (which ironically does not include any beer from Lone Star Brewery).

For those unfamiliar with this series of posts, this is not a “best of,” but just a list of recommended consumables, and is not arranged in a particular order relative to my opinion of quality.

#1 Sailing Santa by Saint Arnold’s Brewery (Houston, TX)

This seasonal bomber from the “first Texas craft brewer” is probably a bit difficult, if not all together impossible, to obtain as I write this review in early February. Combining their also delicious Elisa IPA with their regular Christmas seasonal offering, St. Arnold has created a wonderful example of a complex hoppy beer without overpowering the beverage with hop bitterness.

I thought that I had previously reviewed this beer formally, but it appears I was mistaken. Perhaps, with a little luck, I will be able to get another bomber as 2012 comes to a close.

#2 (512) India Pale Ale (Austin, TX)

This was one of the first beers, upon my return to Texas, to really get me excited about the Texas Craft and Micro beer scene. First sampled at the Ft. Worth Gingerman, the beer is a wonder mélange of citrus hops with a nice, warm malt backend. Exhibiting a strong grapefruit body, it was love at first sip, and depressing to know I can’t find this in bottles as of yet.

#3 Pecker Wrecker by Rahr and Sons Brewery (Ft Worth, TX)

Although I feel that Rahr and Sons’ normal production line, while still quality beer, is not the most impressive to come out of the state, their big beers have been nothing but absolutely wonderful. Usually I bemoan spending 9 bucks on 22 ounces of beer, however Rahr’s offerings have always been worth the extra cost, and are examples of what joy and wonder can be created with excellent know how and quality ingredients.  Pecker Wrecker, an imperial pilsner, has been my favorite of these commitments to fine brewing.

You can read the full review of this hop forward beer here. 

#4 Real Ale Brewing Company’s Coffee Porter (Blanco, TX)

Diverging from the hop-forward beers of the previous three recommendations in this list, Real Ale Brewing Company’s collaborative effort with Katz Coffee Roasters produces a wonderfully complex and full bodied explosion of chocolate malts, coffee, and slight floral hop flavors on the palate.

This is another beer which, while I loved the hell out of it like the above-mentioned Sailing Santa, was consumed during a time that I was neck deep in a wading pool of my own self-doubt and loathing. Expect to see this beer reviewed in greater depth later in 2012. 

Christmas Ale from St Arnold Brewing Co.

Well guys, with just 10 days left in the holiday season, I find myself with most of my Christmas presents purchased, several reviews still pending editing before uploading (my editor is a college professor, and is too busy correcting her students grammatical errors to address those of her husband), and a few beers to chill, consume, and review.

For the second winter/Christmas beer of the season for Intoxico to review, I have the Christmas Ale from Houston’s St Arnold Brewing Co.

The beer poured out a rich, deep, and true umber hue, with a good amount of floating sediment in the brew. I am not sure if there was an issue with the capping of this bottle, but the head formation was very minimal, in contrast to the healthy head that I recall from a bottle enjoyed earlier in the week.

An aroma of pine hops was foremost on the nose, with just a slight malt backend.

As suggested by the nose, a wonderful depth of hop bitterness was on the front of the palate, exhibiting pine notes accented with a lemon zest essence. Rounding out this medium bodied beer was a malt backend that carried some slight brown sugar flavor, cutting the hop forward bitterness.

All in all, this was a decent, well-produced ale that I will always keep an eye out for on the shelves when the holidays start to invade daily life. 

St Arnold Brewing Co Elissa IPA

Well, another day is in the can, and another beer is needed to wash away the fatigue of a day spent in toil.

As my mother prepares one of my favorite meals, chicken fried steak, I have decided to pop the cap of another Texas brewed beer, Elissa IPA from our friends at the Saint Arnold Brewery, located in the parking lot known as Houston, TX.

The cap, while a twist off, wins at a feat of strength, and I must either give the beer up to the ages, or pull out a bottle opener to get at its contents. Once freed from its container, the beer displays its burnt-orange body, and slightly off-white head that dissipates without much fight.

Intermingled with the smell of hot grease from the kitchen, the nose is nice and hoppy, with a subtle floral presence.

The light mouth feel of the beer carries a less pronounced bitterness than the nose lead me to believe, but is still floral on the front end of this medium-bodied ale. On the backend, a nice honey like maltiness develops, as well as an orange essence that adds a delightful finish to the beer.

Overall this is a nice IPA that offers more to the malt-centric than to hop heads, bringing a strong and rich sweetness to a style of beer currently being pushed to the extremes of palatability in bitterness by other brewers. This beer is easy for me to suggest to the hop weary macro beer drinker.

Prost!

Summer Pils By Saint Arnold Brewing Company

I really dislike two things above most others, those things being drama and waiting, and right now I am knee deep in both. While the drama is not so conductive to producing content for this blog, having a lot of time means I have more time to drink beer, smoke cigars, and ingest more food and fiction than is probably healthy.

I’ll avoid specifics, but today has been a day of watching the phone and multiple email accounts. With 5 o’clock bearing down on this Friday, I have resolved to stop checking my phone for missed calls, and checking my inbox for signs of life every five minutes. To facilitate this decision I have decided to twist off the red cap of another Summer Pils, from Saint Arnold Brewing Company in Houston, TX.

As the beer meets the pint glass a lot of active carbonation is witnessed. As the volume of the crystal clear, straw colored beverage increases a frothy, stark white head begins to form.  When the pour is completed the body of the pilsner is full of tiny bubbles that would give Don Ho a reason to sing. While the head attains a good two fingers, the froth’s staying power is short lived and diminishes to about the width of a couple nickels.

The aroma is malt forward with the smells of bread and grain with a slight hop backend slightly more reminiscent of lemon than other common citrus odors.  

Flavors of grain carry across the tongue as the beer is consumed, with a nice generic citrus and grassy backend that leaves the palate wet and clean. This medium to light bodied pilsner, while ultimately very drinkable, does leave a very slight acrid aftertaste that I could do without, but this beer is a wonderful way to pass time as the sun and the end to the work week bares down on innocent Texans.

Prost!