Lemp St. Louis Lager
Lion Brewery, Inc.

Lemp St. Louis LagerLemp St. Louis Lager
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From:
Lion Brewery, Inc.
 
Pennsylvania, United States
Style:
American Lager
ABV:
Not listed
Score:
69
Avg:
2.74 | pDev: 19.71%
Reviews:
33
Ratings:
37
Status:
Active
Rated:
Sep 08, 2013
Added:
Feb 18, 2004
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  1
No description / notes.
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Rated: 2.5 by ejimhof from Pennsylvania

Sep 08, 2013
Photo of Anonymousmark
Reviewed by Anonymousmark from Missouri

3.55/5  rDev +29.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
This is a start-up beer allegedly brewed with the old St. Louis Lemp Beer dynasty recipe. I cannot say for sure why, but I like it. It drinks smooth and crisp and has a nice unusual finish. I suspect you will either love it or hate it. I have not located the beer outside the St. Louis region but when shopping for beer I will almost always pick up a six-pack or two of longnecks. I suspect part of why I enjoy Lemp is because it is not part of the world-wide beer congolmerate. In short, its worth trying. I have spent far more for beers I like far less.
Feb 04, 2013
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Reviewed by GossageBrewery from Missouri

2.9/5  rDev +5.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Poured this Pale Lager from a 12 oz bottle into a pint glass Poured a golden orange color, produced an average white head , featured poor retention and left little lacing on the glass. The aroma contained some malted grain and a wee bit of hops. Light in body, there is some sort of a mineral taste that overshadows the malted grain- Im not sure if this is the original recipe for Lemp Lager, (which was the nations first lager beer.) - That said its decent, worth a try but not something I would go back too.
Jan 27, 2013
 
Rated: 2.5 by jharris0624 from Missouri

Nov 17, 2012
 
Rated: 3 by bzach from Indiana

Oct 16, 2012
 
Rated: 3.25 by ahentz from Illinois

Apr 30, 2012
Photo of CPeterson
Reviewed by CPeterson from Minnesota

3.01/5  rDev +9.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3
A -- A copper hued burnt orange brew that pours to a two finger khaki head which setlles to a light froth, leaving fine lacing.

S -- Roasty and bready malt characteristics, some mild earthy / herbal hop aroma.

T -- Big bready malt right up front, countered by the light presence of bittering and floral hops.

M -- Mid body, low-mid carbonation, soft and easygoing.

D -- Overall, a halfway decent beer; I would happily choose something of this caliber over the typical American Light Lager but I could arguably find a better pre-pro wherever I may find myself.
Sep 13, 2011
Photo of DCon
Reviewed by DCon from Missouri

3.18/5  rDev +16.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3.5
Bought Beer from Lukas Liquor in a Mix-A-Six. (1st Beer of Night)

Appearance:Has an orange body

Smell: smells like a familiar Belgian I've had lately

Taste: Has a Metallic and dry taste.

Mouthfeel: Almost no carbonation

Drinkability: Has Metallic taste but goes down smooth and a beer I can go back to. Would only be a beer I would enjoy as a first of the night.
Nov 24, 2010
Photo of zeff80
Reviewed by zeff80 from Missouri

2.82/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
A - Poured out a clear, orange color with gold highlights. It had little to no head retention and left no lace.

S - Aroma was a little weak. Some grainy, bready aroma. No hop or floral aromas.

T - It was sweet and bready with some nice caramel flavors. A touch of bitter hops - really quite mild.

M - It was crisp, sharp and fairly smooth. A light lager that is good but lacked the dry finish I expect from a good lager.

D - This is an okay lager. Not something I'd regularly pick up or recommend to anyone.
Apr 14, 2010
Photo of ChainGangGuy
Reviewed by ChainGangGuy from Georgia

2.63/5  rDev -4%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3
Appearance: Pours a clear, orange-hued body with no more than a thin ring of white bubbles on top. Swirl - swirl - nothin'.

Smell: Sweetish, lightly bready nose with a vague estery fruit hint and touch of floral European hops.

Taste: Upfront is a sweetish, stale bready (bordering on grainy) taste. Touch of fruit. Faintly floral, lightly spicy hops, though the bitterness is a bit lacking, leaving you with a semi-dry finish and some bleak flavors lingering into the aftertaste. You're lifeless and a tad unclean, Lemp.

Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium carbonation.

Drinkability: Though it paired well with the Johnny Cash song "Ring of Fire", it's not one to stand on its own really. Sadly, Lemp is one to skip. I dare say it'd even come up short when compared to some of the macro lagers.
May 30, 2009
Photo of Cresant
Reviewed by Cresant from Kentucky

2.53/5  rDev -7.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Poured this 12 oz. brown bottle into a pils glass. No date. The murky body was a dull golden brown. The head was bright white and persistent.

Smell was slightly vegetal. No hints of hops.

Taste was sweet vegetables, carrots or corn. There was some tart counterbalancing. Fruity, more like an ale than a lager.

Mouthfeel was smooth with a medium body.
Apr 07, 2009
Photo of skeetermoses
Reviewed by skeetermoses from Oklahoma

2.48/5  rDev -9.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
I always wanted to try this beer, I finally got a sample pack of beer with this one in it. I am not impressed with this beer at all. It is not the worst by any means but I think I was correct in not picking up this beer for the longest time. I don't think I will be trying this one again.
Dec 07, 2008
Photo of colts9016
Reviewed by colts9016 from Idaho

2.92/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3
A dark golden yellow pour that is slightly clouded. The head quickly disappears.
Citrus, wheat and a hint of malt gives it a pleasant aroma.
The taste of this beer is unbalanced. The first sip give way to a malt but the finish has a hint of citrus. There is no body to the beer. It is mediocre attempt at a beer.
Dec 06, 2008
Photo of MTNboy
Reviewed by MTNboy from Germany

2.88/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
I felt that this was a very good interpretation of the English style. It strongly resembled a lot of the common British name brand ales. It brown body with great creamy tan head and lace. The aroma was very roasty and malty The taste was about the same just a little more bitter than the smell with minimal wood and nut tones. The mouthfeel is creamy and full.
Nov 21, 2008
Photo of BeerIsland
Reviewed by BeerIsland from Pennsylvania

3.6/5  rDev +31.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Well, I was in Wilkes-Barre over the weekend and stopped in to see Lenny at Wyoming Valley Beverage. They purport to have a good selection of imports and micros and I needed a little supplementation in the cellar. I went up and down the aisles until I stopped in front of a massive pile of Lemp cases. I recognized the name and for those not familiar, St. Louis is emblazoned on the case. I flipped it over and around looking for other clues but there were none. At less than $12.00 a case, I figured it was worth a shot. Lenny said he didn't know where it was from but it had just arrived the day before. After paying up front, I ripped the case open a bit and pulled out a bottle. It should have been obvious to me but I finally found the statement it was brewed and bottled for Lemp by the Lion.

Well, this is a slightly different kettle of fish than Lionshead. There's a nice malt nose, decent looking head, and reasonably rich amber color. Flavorwise, I would say way less corn, better balance, ample hops, and decently smooth. I kinda like this beer, despite all the more knowledgeable comments below. Sure, the head doesn't stick around too long but the lacing is real. I think the carbonation is adequate and I'm hoping the freshness has something to do with this. It does have a lingering finish that's pleasant and is overall drinkable. Consider the price! I think this is a real beer at a great value.
Aug 10, 2008
Photo of Pegasus
Reviewed by Pegasus from Texas

2.12/5  rDev -22.6%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5
Appearance: Clear and deep reddish-golden color, with a massive, coarse white head, which retains rather well. Thin, scattered lacing adorns the glass walls. Little carbonation is evident.

Aroma: Rather pronounced aroma of musty, wet grain, with some yeast notes.

Taste: Opens with a wet grain note, rather like a non-alcoholic beer with the addition of harsh medicinal bitterness. The bitterness intensifies as the taste progresses, and lingers on well past the end of the taste. There is also a state bread note late in the taste. As another reviewer astutely noted, even when consumed cold, Lemp has a taste profile similar to over-warm lager.

Mouth feel: Smooth and fairly full, soft and pleasant, with just a hint of carbonation.

Drinkability/notes: While Lemp is purported to be a craft-brewed beer, it does not compare well to commonly-available macro lagers. I really wanted to like this beer, with its 19th century-style label and the sobriquet of "America's First Lager Beer". But alas, Lemp did not live up to its promise, or to my modest expectations.

Presentation: Packaged in a twelve-ounce brown glass long neck bottle with a twist-off crown, served in a standard pint tap glass.
Jun 28, 2008
Photo of hwwty4
Reviewed by hwwty4 from Missouri

2.42/5  rDev -11.7%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5
Poured a 12oz bottle into my Chimay chalice. Poured a highly carbonated orangey-brown, with a big white head that disappeared into nothingness. There is absolutely no head retention at all. Aroma is odd. It almost smells like the water out of a minnow bucket. Not nearly as fishy, but that earthy smell is in there. This beer also has a slightly yeasty aroma with a sharp sourness from the malts. The taste isn't much better. This beer is oddly yeasty, which makes up the majority of the taste profile. There is also a slight sour twang to it. Mouthfeel is surprisingly dry. This beer isn't nearly as crisp as I thought it was going to be. I definitely will not be seeking this one out again.
Apr 01, 2008
Photo of JDV
Reviewed by JDV from Texas

1.58/5  rDev -42.3%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5
Very clear light amber. Slight sour maltiness and a bit of yeast in the smell. Taste is earthy malt, dry, sweaty yeast. Sweet, yet drying... Not a very clean or pleasant finish. Bad even by pale lager standards, I thought. Stay away from this beer!!!
Mar 15, 2008
Photo of BuckeyeNation
Reviewed by BuckeyeNation from Iowa

2.46/5  rDev -10.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2
Bright tangerine with minimal visible carbonation. The toasted bagel colored cap was about a bagel thick after the pour and doesn't look too shabby. In the end, a respectable amount of lace sticks to the glass.

The aroma is sour and musty and ale yeast fruity. Most all-malt lagers smell like grain with a handful of German hops. It isn't bad, it's just unexpected and isn't consistent with the style (note: since changed to American pale lager). Warming ushers in a hint of nastiness.

The flavor is pretty much a carbon copy of the nose, which means that it isn't any good either. Lemp St. Louis still strikes me as an estery ale, with all manner of strange flavors competing for attention. Clean it is not.

Let's see... lightly toasted sour grain mixed with old peach skins and soaked in mineral water. It isn't nearly that bad, but I'm struggling to come with words that capture the flavor profile accurately. It's both sweet (early) and bitter (late), though neither one dominates at any point along the way. Yep, this is an strange one.

Lemp isn't quite limp, but it's damn close. That's what happens when a light body is coupled with too few bubbles. A better mouthfeel would be nice, but it wouldn't change the scores on either side of it.

Lion Brewery's Lemp St. Louis Standard Lager Beer is supposed to be a recreation of the first lager brewed in America, by Adam Lemp, in St. Louis, in 1840. The brand was brought back to life by a group of investors in 2004. This is either a lousy recreation of the original or the original died for good reason. Some things are best left on the scrapheap of history.
Mar 01, 2008
Photo of ch473
Reviewed by ch473 from Missouri

3.34/5  rDev +21.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
Poured very cold from bottle. Pretty beer, nice deep golden orange with smooth carbonation and light tan foam that sticks to the glass. Very nice appearance.

Grassy, grainy smell. Sweetness.

Strange taste. Tastes old, musty-like. A little fruitiness near the end. Hard to describe. Corn and sour apples and musk, some almond/nutty in there too. Tastes like it came out of one of the Lemp's caves... Interesting.

Feels watery, very light carbonation.

Great with my dinner of pierogies and sausage. With the great bottle design and the fascinating history of the Lemps, it's hard not to like this beer. Overall a good beer, a little odd. Like the family who made it I guess.
Jan 17, 2008
Lemp St. Louis Lager from Lion Brewery, Inc.
Beer rating: 69 out of 100 with 37 ratings