Brewery: St. Peters Brewery
Country: England
Size: 50cl
ABV: 5.5%
Price: 37kr
Systembolaget: 89220
St. Peters is a classic craft brewery in Suffolk, England that has been in operation since 1996. St. Peters have their own bore hole below the brewery and for this beer they have used Suffolk malt and traditional First Gold hops. Most people in Sweden probably best know this brewery for their cream stout which has been a staple of Systembolaget for as long as I can remember. As this is a classical English IPA, I was expecting a much milder bitterness that emphasizes floral and herbal notes. Coupled with a strong malt showing, this sets this style apart from the American tropical hop bomb IPA that are everywhere today. After trying this, this was pretty much exactly how I expected.
This was light bronze colour and fairly low carbonation. Even so, a fluffy yet thin white head formed and held for a rather long time. There were lovely toffee and digestive aromas with a subtle perfume underline. Upon tasting, a plethora of notes came through such as bread, sap, fudge and a grain sweetness backed up by a hint of citrus. It really was pleasant to drink with so many different characters to be noted from each gulp. One small downside was that the body was quite thin and you could feel that in the mouth after each sip. The aftertaste was more of the dark bread coupled with the growing warmth of the herbal bitterness that never feels unbalanced.
In a world of mango-pineapple-grapefruit milkshake DIPA, it was lovely to drink something a bit more traditional. I would be really interested to try this on draught just to see if there is any big difference between the cask and bottle version of this beer. Until then, I could easily sink a few of these in one night. Although it’s quite rare to see it in Sweden, if the opportunity arises you should give it your attention.