St. Austell Tribute

...two each ~ Alun had St. Austell Tribute and Jennings Snecklifter and I had Snecklifter and Tribute. My dad tried the Camerons Strongarm and even my lager drinking mother had a half of the Tribute. I’ve already reviewed Snecklifter and Strongarm, so I will now tell you about St. Austell Tribute!

~~~THE BREWERY.

The St. Austell Brewery Company Limited started back in 1851 ~ funnily enough in St. Austell in Cornwall. It ...
...If you’re looking for a St. Austell beer you may come across HSD (a strong beer at 5% ABV), Black Prince (a very black beer at 4% ABV) and Tinners (a traditional Cornish beer at 3.7% ABV).

~~~THE BEER.

***Background***

In 1992 CAMRA (the CAMpaign for Real Ale) launched a campaign to encourage more women to drink real beer (the campaign was based around Ninkasi ~ a 4,000 year old Sumerian Goddess of Beer). ... more

We went out for lunch with my mum and dad on Tuesday to the Wellington Hotel in New Whittington (near Chesterfield). Our lunch was excellent and so was the beer. The Wellie has a choice of up to three Cask Ales and we tried two each ~ Alun had St. Austell Tribute and Jennings Snecklifter and I had Snecklifter and Tribute. My dad tried the Camerons Strongarm and even my lager drinking mother had a half of the Tribute. I’ve already reviewed Snecklifter and Strongarm, so I will now tell you about St. Austell Tribute!

~~~THE BREWERY.

The St. Austell Brewery Company Limited started back in 1851 ~ funnily enough in St. Austell in Cornwall. It was founded by Walter Hicks a farmer who mortgaged his farm to fund his new business. The Brewery is still a family owned business who now (according to the company info on their website) own 155 pubs and hotels, of which there are a mix of tenanted, leased and managed pubs. Not bad for a company started for £1,500 all those years ago.

If you’re looking for a St. Austell beer you may come across HSD (a strong beer at 5% ABV), Black Prince (a very black beer at 4% ABV) and Tinners (a traditional Cornish beer at 3.7% ABV).

~~~THE BEER.

***Background***

In 1992 CAMRA (the CAMpaign for Real Ale) launched a campaign to encourage more women to drink real beer (the campaign was based around Ninkasi ~ a 4,000 year old Sumerian Goddess of Beer). At the Great British Beer Festival (held at Olympia in London) promoted a list of beers that they hoped would appeal to lady drinkers. This list (which originally appeared on www.camra.org.uk) was:

Brains Dark - Cardiff - 3.5% alcohol by volume - dark brown mild, sweet mix of caramel and roast malt flavors.
Caledonian Golden Promise - Edinburgh - 4.5% - the first organic British beer, floral and fruity and quite hoppy.
Hop Back Summer Lightning - Salisbury - 5% - fresh and hoppy, light almost lager coloured which is quite dry.
Oakham JHB - Peterborough - 3.8% - straw coloured bitter which is floral with grapefruit and kiwi flavours, a firm favorite with most real ale drinkers.
St Austell Tribute - Cornwall - 4.2% - full bodied and malty with fresh citrus nose.
Taylor Landlord - West Yorkshire - 4.3% - well balanced and dry bitter which is spicy and hoppy.
Charles Wells Banana Bread Beer - Bedford - 5% - launched last year, quite sweet and tastes and smells of bananas.
Woodfordes Nelsons Revenge - 4.5%- Norwich - very fruity with creamy malt flavors.
Youngs Waggle Dance - London - 5% - brewed with honey.
Beartown Wheat Beer - Congleton, Cheshire - 5% - dry and bitter wheat beer
St. Austell Tribute was part of this list. Since it was first brewed it has become one of St. Austell’s most popular beers and is appearing nationwide, rather than just in its native West Country. Tribute is now classed as St. Austell’s flagship beer.

***Vital Stats***

Tribute weighs in at 4.2% ABV and is made using just one type of hops ~ Oregon hops to be precise. Spring water and malt are also used in the brewing process.

***Look, Aroma & Texture***

Tribute is a pale amber coloured beer. It clears well and looks crisp and clean with a small, loose head that rapidly dissipates. There isn’t a really strong aroma, but, what there is smells very nice. The predominant scent is a lemony hoppiness ~ it is a nice fresh citrus aroma that adds to the crispness of the beer. The texture is crisp and clean too; it is also surprisingly full-bodied for a beer of this lightness of colour. The beer has very little carbonization and is therefore more smooth and syrupy than it is “fizzy” ~ it is the taste that gives a tingle rather than the texture!

***Taste***

Tribute is a really tasty beer! It initially has a full-bodied malt taste, but this leads to a finish that is hoppy and has the same citrus tang that was evident in the aroma. The aftertaste is dry and malty and very moreish. Throughout, the lemon zesty taste clears your palate ~ Tribute is refreshing and has a lingering citrus zing.

~~~WHAT TANGE THINKS.

We had our Tribute with our lunch and it complimented our food very nicely. We all had something different and the flavours were subtle enough to not clash with the meal, but strong enough to make their presence known. The light, citrus aroma and taste make this an ideal summer beer. It is refreshing and light, but also has a body and taste that would not be amiss at any time of year.

Tribute is a good all round beer that is well made and of good quality. The strength (4.2%) puts it on the edge between a “session beer” and a stronger Premium ale. It could be very easy to drink too much of it and forget how strong it is. I found that Tribute had a well balanced mix of tastes and a lovely light freshness that was a pleasure to drink.

We paid £2.20 a pint for our Tribute at the Wellington. This was around the same price as the other beers on offer and is a similar price to what we normally pay for a beer of this strength.

I thoroughly recommend St. Austell Tribute as a beer suitable for a wide range of occasions and tastes. My husband and myself generally opt for darker beers and we loved it, my mum likes lagers and she really enjoyed the citrus flavour and my dad said it had a lovely taste (and he’s being weaned off the John Smith’s Smooth!). Between us we represented a pretty good cross section of the drinking community and Tribute faired well with us all!

Not a bad Tribute eh?

~~~BREWERY DETAILS.

St. Austell Brewery Company Limited
63 Trevarthian Road,
St. Austell
Cornwall PL25 4BY

Telephone: 01726 74444

http://www.staustellbrewery.co.uk/

***This beer review is dedicated to Fiona aka COOOEEE as a thank you for all the hard work putting together this year’s Ciao Awards***

 

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