Anyone familiar with St. Peter's?

BWRIGHT · 03-31-2008, 09:01 PM

I've had many, many different types of beer and still this one sticks out for some reason. (St. Peter's English Ale) that is. I think it's the hops they use. I've not brewed enough to be able to distinguish what kind of hop it is. It says something about them being organic on the label, but I doubt that has anything to do with it. Does anyone know what kind of hops they use, and does anyone know of a similar recipe or clone?

Danek · 03-31-2008, 10:10 PM

Yeah, I'm a big fan of St Peters. I'm not sure which beer you're referring to though - it sounds like they call their beer something different when they export it. Maybe have a look at their website at http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk to see if that helps?

BWRIGHT · 03-31-2008, 11:54 PM

Yeah, I checked out the website. No help at all. Being in England, it may be called something else. Here in the states it say St. Peter's English Ale right on the front of the bottle. It's definitely the same beer because I can see pictures on the website. I just can't make out the words. Same bottle shape and label though. If you could find any info. I would appreciate it.

Danek · 04-01-2008, 12:38 AM

Hmm. According to http://www.tobp.com/review/beer.asp?t=692 , the beer is a rebranded version of St Peter's Organic Ale. The website claims it has a "full citrus hop aftertaste". I wonder what that would be? There aren't many varieties of organic hops in the UK, but I assume it'd be way too expensive for them to import organic Cascades from the US.

Aha! According to http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk/artman/publish/article_21.shtml , "Organic Ale has a 4.5% ABV and is made from light malted barley from Norfolk and organic Hallertau hops from New Zealand". I guess the base barley would be something organic like Chariot or Plumage Archer, both of which could be subbed for with Maris Otter. Not sure if there are any other grains in there, though I know they use crystal in some of their other English bitters. The yeast is their own strain.

The above seems to be the most common description for the beer as I've seen it on a few sites. But the description at http://www.buyorganics.co.uk/organic/103-St-Peters-Organic-Ale(376).aspx suggests they use Target hops. It may be that they use both, or this last link might be wrong.

BWRIGHT · 04-01-2008, 12:54 AM

That's interesting. I would tend to believe the St. Peter's website, but I don't know. Are you familiar with either of these? I haven't used either of these. It says that they use Halleratu from New Zealand, then at the bottom it says all their ales are made with British hops? Either way, thanks for the info.

Danek · 04-01-2008, 10:34 AM

Yeah, I'd believe the St Peter's website - I think the buyorganics website has probably cut-and-pasted the wrong description. I know St Peter's use English hops for most of their beers, but getting organic hops is pretty tricky over here, as there are fewer and fewer hop fields left. I imagine it's cheaper for them to import their hops from New Zealand than to try growing Hallertau organically themselves (especially as I'm not sure whether Hallertau would grow well in our climate anyway).

Having looked at the Wiki, it sounds like the New Zealand Hallertauer is the hop they use, as it matches up with the tasting notes for the beer: "a clean dual-purpose lager hop with a floral and lime zest character".

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/New_Zealand_Hallertauer

So I'd guess they use pale malt, maybe some crystal, and a single variety of hop to make this.

BWRIGHT · 04-04-2008, 12:36 PM

I just heard back from someone at St. Peter's. She says they use Hallertan hops. Also, the English Ale here in the states is the Organic Ale over there. I'm guessing hallertan is the same as Hallertan, but I'm a bit confused at this point.