Whisky Beer
St. Peter's Brewery Co Ltd

500ml brown glass bottle.
L: Clear, brass colour with a thin head that reduces quickly to a smear with a line of lacing. Beautiful colour.
S: Peaty and smoky. Like a rauchbier.
T: Initially getting pale malt, almost floral, but then the whisky quickly comes in hard. Although an English whisky from Norfolk, the flavour profile is firmly Islay whisky - lots of peat and smoke and a subtle sweetness.
F: Medium body with a clean, light mouthfeel and a dry-ish finish.
O: An EPA with all the characteristics of a Smoked Beer. I was sceptical at first, approaching it as a weirdly flavoured pale ale, but once I started to think of it more as a rauchbier it grew on me. It looks like a golden ale but it’s most definitely not a golden ale.

Bottle 0.5L.
Clear, deep golden body with an average, frothy, white head, mostly diminishing with fair lacing.
Moderate malty (roasted) aroma with evident smokey character.
Light-to-moderate sweet flavour with light-to-moderate bitterness in the finish.
Light-to-medium body with watery-to-oily texture; soft carbonation.

 

500 ml dark green oval bottle, as St. Peter’s The Saints Whisky Beer, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 4.8%. Deep golden colour, low white head. Strong aroma of peat smoke / peated whisky. Medium dry flavour, strong notes of peat smoke / peated whisky and ashes. Too peaty for my taste - if they wanted to add English single malt whisky to the beer (which indeed they did), they should have reduced the amount of peat smoked malts. "Superb balance"? Not at all! The flavour is pretty close to licking an ashtray.

 

 

L: Clear amber color, two finger d, ok lacing, good carbonation.

S: Hops, malts.

T: Bitter, malty, very smokey.

F: Light bodied, easily drinkable.

O: Very smokey, bitter, if you are looking for something like that.

 

 

smells like nothing but tastes really good

 

 

 

 

A - mostly clear golden orange, one finger of head dissipated quickly to random islands with some random sticky lacing
S - BIG peaty and smoky aroma dominates everything, although there is something about it that is kind of an artificial 'liquid smoke' quality
T - funky peat and smoke but like the nose an artificial chemical smoke aspect sneaks through, and it finishes with an ashy taste
M - light and a little watery, finishes with a smoky dryness
O - not really any 'whiskey' per say to speak of but plenty of charred barrel flavour, strange brew....

 

Bright amber color, very clean. One finger of foam.
In the smell a sharp peated notes, that hides all the rest. It is a good peated note, yes, but maybe a bit too strong, it left almost no place for anything else (a bit of malt, no traces of hop).
It is a pleasant beer, after all, yes, but after a while, a bit too monotone.

 

Whiskey takes its colour from the inside of the barrel; this beer likely gained its honeyed-amber tone from the inclusion of crystal malts. Clear though not exactly brilliant, the beer's complexion appears slightly tarnished. Its lack of carbonation doesn't ameliorate the weak first impression. Frankly, the bottle is more interesting than the beer.

The nose focuses purely on peat - any whiskey reviewer who struggles to tell the difference between 'peat' and 'smoke' elements will find this a most useful resource. While it does offer a trace of smoke, it is predominantly earthy and damp smelling. There are also more abstract hints of burning leaves, cigar and wood. Largely, however, the burning plastic/smoked gouda nuances have nothing to wrap themselves around.

One thing becomes wholly apparent by the taste: the beer is pleasant but one-dimensional. As a lover of peaty single malts, I find it entirely agreeable. As a beer drinker who quickly bores of pedestrian, under-malted ales, this offering is really of very little interest to me. I love the peat but can find it elsewhere (notably a bottle of Talisker or Lagavulin); this is otherwise too thin to keep my attention.

Far lighter on the palate than a real scotch, it tastes more like peat-y spring water. There is little-to-no malt or hop flavour to support the added sensations of woodsmoke and bacon fat. I'll repeat myself: they have nothing to wrap themselves around. The resemblance to St Peters Golden Ale (minus the peat) is difficult to overlook, implying that this beer (gimmick aside) is every bit as plain and trite as that offering.

The Saints is an excellent way to wean someone onto scotch. With only one real feature (peatiness), however, it is hardly the long storyteller that a good single malt is. But it does offer at least a superficial taste of what distinguishes many of the finest whiskeys, albeit without any of the complexity, elegance or alcohol burn. St. Peter's is hit and miss and this offering could fall on either side depending on your tastes.