Revamp at the local brewery

Drinking a Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin as I write this post. A damn smooth oatmeal stout.

The St. Francis Brewery is just over a mile away from my house. I have watched the beers mature since their opening years ago. While still not the greatest, they have gotten better. I think their problem has been consistency. One batch doesn't take like the previous. Some seem watery, others just harsh. But when they nail it, they are quite enjoyable.

A good example is their hefe weizen. When it is on it sweet and has a great clove banana thing going on. I can drink that all night. Hell, I did.

Yesterday they had their Mug Club members in house for a special announcement. They have been working on bottling the beer. Sixers of their amber, titled Wrath, are now available. Thankfully their amber is pretty good so it should sell.


Beyond the bottling announcement they mentioned how they were changing the names of the beer. The  names used to be tied in to the community. Named after streets, lake, etc., they were now moving off to the Seven Deadly Sins. Their is Wrath, Envy, Lust, and Pride. Their will be a quarterly Gluttony feature beer.

Maybe the best news to come out of the meeting was how they would be doing some more experimentation and creating new beers. Proof was a beer in their Pride series, a bourbon barrel aged doppelbock. I think they do the doppel very well at St. Francis. Aging in the bourbon barrel gave it a slight boozey nose. It didn't carry through with strong alcohol on the tongue, which was good. It was mellow with a hint of vanilla. Very good for their debut.

The problem was the price point. They were selling the beer at $15.99 for a bomber (750ml). That is above well know brews such as Three Floyds Dark Lord. For a brewery that is barely being consistent on some of their batches, they have priced this beer way too high.

I look forward to seeing what else they'll put out in the future. Hopefully they will brew some beers that will make me want to carry a growler in every time.