St. Paul Special

Formerly brewed at Brouwerij Sterkens
Style: Belgian Ale
Meer, Belgium

Bottle. Nice big head with good duration. Color is dark amber. Aroma is sweet, malty and fruity. Taste is malt and fruits as well. Good belgian - even with its relatively low amount of alcohol.

Dark amber coloured, with some reddish tints. Small off white head. Rather sweet aroma, malty with some light yeasty and fruity touches. Full body, malty taste. The finish is full, sweet-malty, with some caramel in it, ending rather bitter. Nice one.

It’s comforting to have a mediocre Belgian ale every so often to assauge the jealousy that wells up every time I taste a Rochefort or a De Dolle. The St Paul range seems to be particularly moderate, which is presumably why it’s reached us in Australia. Can’t say I’m surprised that it has been retired. This looked fine in the glass: a bright ruddy brown with a fat mat of souffle-like foam, showing great head retention and lacing nicely. However, the aroma was phenolic, quite piercing and nose-prickling. A mix of nail varnish, dark raisiny dried fruit, toffee and faint chocolate pudding. Not especially inviting - implied a rather thin unintegrated brew. This began well in the mouth with some chewy toffee malt and a nice English nuttiness. The mouthfeel was initially quite creamy and filling but thinned in the swallow. There was some allspice in the mid-palate before a surprisingly spiritous finish for a 5.5% abv ale. (The crude taste of alcohol seems to be a feature of the St Paul range.) Overall, it was a fairly sweet concoction, quite drinkable but like the rest of the range, inferior to the best of the Belgians. (33cl bottle, IBS Perth, bb Dec 2007)

Cloudy orange with an off white head. Malty sweet aroma with a dry spicyness. Sweet fruity flavor with a light bitter finish.

33 cl bottle. Yeast in bottom. Cloudy amber colour with a nice beige head. Aroma of dried fruit and hints of tobacco. Complex flavour. Ends up with a nice sweetness and have a long finish.

33cl bottel Color - Cloudy Amber Head - withe Aroma - Fruit, Tobaco Flavor - Fruit, Tobaco Nothing special

Easy drinking beer, like the Belgian equivalent of a Strong Mild. My sample was a little tainted by an oxidised ring under the cap, but with the underlying taste and smell of rust I persevered to give a fair trial. Poured into a chalice around 10°C, a short oily looking lather of of tannish foam sat atop a deep, ruby brown body. Head managed to last for the length, but left minimal lace. Quite subtle in aroma with only a little ’woody tree-bark’ note and rum & raisin pudding coming through. Similarly woody in the mouth and predominantly malty with only a light note of fruity esters like plums and berries towards the back. Finish was tainted by the rust flavour so I couldn’t tell passed the tonsils. Thin in body which I found with all the St Paul beers, and reasonably smooth, I suppose it wouldn’t be half bad in bulk. Hopefully if they’re still brewing I can try it again. (33cL, BBE 12/07, Int’l Beer Shop, W. Leederville)

Bottle. Amber colour with a medium tan head. Sweet caramel malty, fruity aroma and a sweet fruity taste. Medium body and a sweet finish.