St. Peter's Lemon & Ginger Spiced Ale

JWalter · Post by **JWalter** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 10:45 pm

Was quite excited at this one - I've enjoyed other St. Peter's beers I've tried, I love the bottle (Who wouldn't?), and I like the idea of Lemon & Ginger, reminds me of Marmalade!

On pouring:

Low Carbonation - Very little head - had to pour more aggressively near the end to get any head at all.
Once in the glass, very few bubbles
Probably a bit too cold when I poured it, straight out of the fridge. Letting it sit as I type.

Light orangey/yellow in color.

Aroma, much more of ginger than lemon.
Not so much of sweet gingerbread, more of the real thing, like when you get some sliced ginger in chinese food or something like that...

First sip - Mmmm... Very nice, similar to the Belhaven Fruit Beer in that it's first and foremost a nice beer but the gingery flavor comes through quite nicely, a good balance.

Light and Refreshing Taste.

Further into the pint, more of the bitterness coming through in the aftertaste, once again - a very nicely balanced brew.
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From the Label:

Lemon & Ginger Spiced Ale
A traditional English ale with a light citrus armoa and a delicate ginger taste - a unique and refreshingly different drink. Brewed with skill and patience in one of Britain's finest small breweries.

HISTORICAL NOTES
St. Peter's Brewery is located in a medieval hall in a remote and beautiful corner of Suffolk. Most of our beers begin their lives deep below the brewery with water drawn from a pure source - as it as been for over 700 years, essential for the full flavour and pure character of all St. Peter's beers.
Our beautiful flask-shaped oval bottle is a faithful copy of one produced c.1770 for Thomas Gerrard of Gibbstown, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. The original is now kept at St. Peter's Hall and is a rare example of an oval Eighteenth Century beer bottle.

4.7% Alcohol
500ml Bottle

INGREDIENTS:
Water, malt, hops, yeast, artificial flavours.

Andicus · Post by **Andicus** » Sun Jul 20, 2003 2:45 pm

Okay, so I'm not a big fan of any of the St. Peter's products that I've tried. I gave in and tried the Lemon and Ginger Spiced Ale. Immediately, I was reminded of something from my childhood: Lemon Pledge. I should have known better, because I'm not a fan of ginger for the same reason.

I guess I've officially sworn off St. Peter's products now.

Andrew

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Sun Jul 20, 2003 5:14 pm

Odd review Andicus...ginger reminds you of Lemon Pledge? Frankly, there is barely a whisper of lemon aroma and flavour in this beer as ginger predominates. I just opened a bottle, nosed it, tasted it and then immediately sprayed some Lemon Pledge on my coffee table (I'm totally serious)...man, your ofactory senses must be screwed up badly if you found even the slightest comparison between the two...hey, don't get me wrong, I don't mind criticism of my products and everyone's entitled to an opinion but they've got to make sense and your's sounds more like an built-in prejudice against anything in an oval green bottle as opposed to an honest critical assessment of a beer based upon reality....at least that's my opinion and I could be wrong!

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Sun Jul 20, 2003 5:17 pm

..of course I meant to type "olfactory"...that's what I get for trying to use big words...

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Sun Jul 20, 2003 5:20 pm

but I know that Andicus has an appreciation for fine Belgian ales so his senses aren't totally out of kilter....

Andicus · Post by **Andicus** » Sun Jul 20, 2003 10:44 pm

I think my comments may have sounded a bit more harsh than I intended. Just to be clear, it's not just the St. Peter's ginger that tastes like Lemon Pledge to me, it's any ginger that I've tried.

In retrospect, knowing I don't like ginger should have been a good clue to me to try the Summer Ale instead, but I had heard and read positive things about the L&G Spiced Ale.

BTW, this bottle is a different colour from the 'standard' St. Peter's green. Not sure what I'd call it. It's more of an amber/green.

Andrew

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 2:52 pm

Last year the bottle both changed colour and shape. As the brewery had installed a new bottling line they found that the more flattened oval green bottle was problematic so they set about changing the bottle design a bit to make the oval a bit rounder. In the process, they changed manufacturers. The original bottle was made by a company in Portugal who could only produce the "Heineken green" bottle. Their new supplier in Belgium was able to duplicate the original colour of the antique bottle which is in fact an antique green and the colour of medicine bottles in the 1700's. That's probably way more than you wanted to know about bottles.
As for L&G, I have to say that it continues to be one of the most popular beers in the St. Peter's lineup and after 4 seasonal releases in Ontario continues to sell very well...certainly not everyone's cup of tea..or beer..but many people do appreciate it. Personally, I wish it was more lemony.