St. Archer

One sip and you're in the. . . danger zone!

 

clicking through their website just leaves me confused. i can't tell if they're trying to start a skate shop, a menswear blog, or a brewery. they mention having "world-class brewers" on their team, but under the 'our crew' section they only list skaters, surfers, and an outdoorsman (or whatever). their bottles look cool, though.

 

Their two brewers are Ray Astamendi (Mission Brewing) and Kim Lutz (Maui Brewing)

 

Local Habit will have the Kolsch and Pale on tap on Tuesday. Ray and Kim are both great brewers; I think they’re going to brew some really nice beers and (hopefully) will be completely disconnected from the marketing angle.

 

These guys hold a lot of promise. The Pale was a little too sweet for an SD pale ale but still had a ton of juicy hop flavor, and the kolsch was kind of one-dimensional but I could very easily see it as a stepping stone for Stella drinkers. I haven't seen the MSRP prices for 6-packs, but if they can meet or break SN then they're set.

 

Is the tasting room open yet?

 

haven't tried them yet...seen 'em at Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido.

 

I had a bottle of their pale ale last night. The hops were typical piney citrus and I thought the hop profile could have been more pronounced, but then again I had it from the bottle and who knows what the bottle has been through. I thought the malt profile was totally in line for a pale ale and it finished crisp and on the drier side for me (which I like). It was also filtered,
I remember that. All in all, I would buy it again!

I do agree that their website is confusing as hell. It seems the focus is on surfing and the action sports community, with a side note of "oh yeah, we also brew beer if you want to try some." I don't know, like someone else said here on the board, I think their goal is to become the new "red bull" beer of the 21+ action sports community.

 

I had the Pale Ale on draft at Eclipse for the Aporkalypse dinner, was proper west coast style.

 

I found their Pale to be decent. I think there's some good potential here, even if their marketing may not be exactly what I, or most BAs, are looking for. If they can brew some great beer, then I will just pretend the marketing gimmicks don't exist.

 

Re: the confusion about beer vs brand. SA was started by an "extreme" sports marketing/talent agent. He got a lot of prominent athletes to invest. It seems to be a lifestyle marketing play. I live in SD; I surf, skate and snowboard, but this feels much more like a business model than a passion for brewing. The fact that the whole brand was created before they hired the brewers sent up a red flag for me. If the beer is good, and they start canning it, I think they could do okay.

This interview offers some insight:

http://www.westcoastersd.com/2012/09/14/meet-saint-archer-brewery/

 

Extreme beers bro. How good is it? Its EXTREME! Makes my nipples hard just thinking how good it'll be.

 

Waiting for the X Games / Mountain Dew collaboration beer

 

Why wait? Brew your own!

 

A Kolsch using an authentic yeast strain. A Pale and IPA using tasty sounding hop bills. From what it appears on their website it looks like they will be bottling in 12oz bottles. They'll be in a 4 or 6 pack, right???

Why are we not supposed to be excited about this brewery again?

 

Something about extreme sports, because that is inconsistent with the BA community. Or something.
I have neither seen nor tried their beer, so I can't offer any insight.

 

It's out in bombers, and six pack bottles. Be excited. Give it a try.