St. James English Ale
Paw Paw Brewing Company

I am often puzzled by the characteristic known as "drinkability"--it strikes me as bizarre that one should drink anything that is less than drinkable. But this is certainly drinkable. The hops are almost unnoticeable. There is a bit of a toasted taste, but certainly not overpowering. It slides down the throat easily.

My bottle looks different than the one in the picture and actually describes it as Mild Amber Ale. The label is awesome, including a Santiago cross and a little pilgrim, an homage to the tradition of making a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James. An easy recommendation to anyone who likes beer at all.

Pours hazy orange. Foamy, short, off-white had that last shortly with light lacing.

Smells malt, earthy, grassy and toasted malts.

Taste is light bready malt, toasted malt, earthy and grassy. Finishes semi dry with an earthy and grainy linger. Medium body and creamy medium carbonation.

 

Thanks Mike, this was poured into an English pint glass. The appearance was a burnt orange to copper color with a thin film of a little white head. Sly messy lace. The aroma had some earthy to grassy hops up front with a gentle biscuit to caramel/toffee malt base. Just a touch of floral hops slightly in the backbone. The flavor was malty dry with some of the earthiness riding in to spike the finish slightly spicy as I didn’t mind this. The feel was between light and medium bodied with a low carbonation about it. ABV felt as projected. Overall, pretty good as a mild ale, probably with some fish n’ chips if I ever have it again.

 

 

Not an exciting beer but very drinkable.

 

Not bad. A bit thinner on flavor than I was hoping for.

$ 1.79/12 oz ($ 0.149/oz) at The Lager Mill, Frankenmuth, MI
Undated bottle at 42 degrees into imperial pint glass, allowed to warm to 50 degrees
Aroma a little diacetyl
Head small (<2 cm, aggressive pour), off white, creamy, slowly diminishing to
Lacing poor – few scattered small islands of tiny bubbles
Body medium yellow, clear, slight effervescence
Flavor of caramel malt, some diacetyl, slight sweetness; no hops, no alcohol
Palate light to medium, creamy, soft carbonation

Appearance 3.5, Aroma 3.5, Flavor 4, Palate 4, Overall 3.75

 

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a goblet glass.

L - Medium brown color with orange highlights; slightly hazy. Off-white head is thin and persists only as a thin ring on the glass and low lacing.

S - The bready malt is nice but is reminiscent of an American Brown Ale more than English, due to a Munich malt character that seems out of place. Very low yeast fruitiness is only in the background. Hops only as a very faint earthiness.

T - Light bready malt with a minor smoky note. Very low earthy, herbal hops. Dryish finish.

F - Light to medium body. Very low, English-style carbonation. Very low hops bitterness. No alcohol presence.

O - This is a pleasant beer, but not overly authentic as an English Brown, which is how it is classified on BA. It has almost no yeast fruitiness, no English hops character, and an out of place Munich malt note. However, as an unspecified, generic session ale it is well-made and nice to drink. Some reviewers reviewed it as a mild ale, and I would consider it a better mild than brown ale.

 

 

I picked up a bottle of Paw Paw's Saint James English Ale a couple weeks ago for $1.69 at The Lager Mill. I'm working my way through the newly released Paw Paw lineup and I thought it was time to give this one a try, so lets see how it goes. No visible bottling date. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a imperial pint glass.

A- The label looks nice, it's got a clean look to it, but I don't find it to be too eye catching. It poured a muddy brown orange color that takes on more of an orange hue when held to the light with a fingers worth of light tan head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it didn't really leave any lacing behind. This is a nice looking beer, but I wish the color and lacing were better.

S- The aroma starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with a light amount of fruity English Ale yeast being the first to show up and it imparts a light fruity and cider like flavor. Up next comes the malts which dominate the aroma and they impart some biscuit, toasted malt, caramel malt and light sweet malt aromas with a light nutty aroma towards the end. This beer has a pretty nice aroma and it's what I would expect from the style.

T- The taste seems to be very similar to the aroma and it starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with the English Ale yeast still being the first to show up, but it's even lighter than it was in the aroma and it's followed by a light doughy flavors. Up next comes the malts which impart the same aspects that it did in the aroma with the biscuit and toasted malts seeming to stick out on the most. On the finish there's no bitterness with a light nutty flavor that goes into the aftertaste along with some big biscuit and toasted malt flavors showing up. This is a pretty nice tasting beer and it's what I would expect from an English Ale.

M- Smooth, a little clean, crisp, on the slightly lighter side of being medium bodied with a medium amount of carbonation. The mouthfeel is good and it works well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a pretty nice beer, BA has it classified as an English Brown Ale, but to me it's pretty much a text book English Mild Ale and I think that's what style it should be under. This beer has nice drinkability, I could drink a few of these, especially in the fall when the weather starts to cool off. What I like the most about this beer is how true to style it is and the mouthfeel, to me those were the highlights of this beer. What I like the least about this beer is the appearance, it could use a little work. I would buy this beer again when in the mood for an English Mild Ale and I would recommend it to people who like the style and if you like a light malty beer then it's worth a try. All in all I liked this beer, it tasted good and it had everything that I look for in a nice English Mild Ale. It's up there as one of the better Paw Paw beers I've had and it's above average for the style. Nice job guys, this was a nice beer.