St. John Marzen
Beer Academy

St. John Marzen has enough highlights to act as a flashlight - keep a bottle handy in case of power outages. Seriously though, this sparkling pumpkin-coloured beer is replete with golden luminescence and has the polished but slightly frosted clarity of a prized amber amulet. It's very aesthetic. All it's missing is the foamy patchwork on top (one that lasts anyhow).

Researchers at Cambridge University revealed that so long as the first and last letter of a word were correct it wouldn't matter if all the others were jumbled, people could still read and understand what was written. Dno't bileeve me? Sreoiulsy, I'm not mkaing tihs up! See waht I maen? Of curose yuo can, yuo're raednig tihs rgiht now!

The human mind doesn't read every single letter individually, it processes words as a whole. This is true of how we consume beer as well - simply having a good aroma doesn't make up for an absence of flavour on the palate; conversely, a beer can taste good but it won't necessarily be enjoyable if it fails to stimulate our other senses as well.

The nice thing about St. John Marzen - indeed the style in general - is not just the wholesome, nutty flavour itself but it's consistency throughout. The beer opens up with rich and almost (but not quite) butterscotch aromas and toasty, malty melanoidins. These notes carry onto the palate where the quantity of malt is better appreciated and the quality of it becomes clear.

It doesn't take a certified cicerone to know to drink an endlessly quaffable beer like this from a really big mug. That obvious gaffe notwithstanding, Jordan St. John is a talented beer writer so it's no surprise that the offering he collaborate on turn out so well. He, and all those at Beer Academy involved in its conception, really know their stuff. Bring this back next year!