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    Sunday, 15 February 2009

    It's Not All About The Lovely Bottle


    For the umpteenth time yesterday I overheard someone in the supermarket stating how lovely a St Peters bottle was as it went into their trolley.

    It's an interesting method of choosing your beer of choice, but I guess St Peters are to congratulated as the bottles are both a talking point and obviously a selling point.

    Beer purists would state that the green glass isn't conducive to the best maintenance of the drink therein with the light able to see its way in, and the green brigade would comment how heavy the bottles are. Compare them to the new Adnams bottles which are positively lightweight by comparison.

    For me though, it's all about the beer and I'm not really too convinced with much of the range. I've just opened a bottle of Amarillo, and although it's palateable enough it's a pretty poor example of a beer which uses this wonderful hop. So bearing in mind that the art of marketing seems to be something they have mastered, better efforts in brewing would now be welcome.

    11 comments:

    Curmudgeon said...

    I've never been that impressed by St Peter's beers. All the marketing in the world will only sell a bad product once.

    Anonymous said...

    I wasn't hugely impressed with the Amarillo myself, but the Traditional Porter is extremely drinkable, and I have very fond memories of their Cream Stout (with another couple of bottles in the cupboard for re-visiting any day now). So maybe they're just better at the blacker beers?

    Dubbel said...

    I was about to say that I've had a better experience with their darker stuff. Perhaps they're another Beowulf and just can't do light beers. However, I've never been to the Jerusalum Tavern and had their beers from cask so I'll reserve judgment until I eventually do.

    Thomas said...

    I have always enjoyed St Peter's range. At the time they were a very welcome addition to the poor ale selection here in Dublin.

    Anonymous said...

    I have always enjoyed their beers from the Jerusalem Tavern, bottled or from cask, but there have been a few occasions when bottles bought in the supermarket have disappointed.

    Anonymous said...

    We used to sell shed load of their beer mainly to people (mostly of the female kind sadly to say) who bought it because of the bottle. Branding works. I often find their beer too bitter, although Cream Stout and Winter Ale are quite good.

    Anonymous said...

    i had the bottled amerillo in the jerusalem tavern 2 weeks ago and loved it although imo any hoppy wheat beer is a good combination.

    Anonymous said...

    Cooked Delia Smiths Beef in Beer recipe yesterday using St Peters Cream Stout, and a richer, meatier, more delicious gravy you never tasted.

    Anonymous said...

    This echoes your sentiments
    http://www.thebeerboy.co.uk/170808.html

    Richard H.

    Anonymous said...

    It's sad that beer geeks have such antipathy toward successful marketing efforts. The fact that St Peters beers aren't, in your opinion, the best in the world is a totally separate issue. You can conflate the issues of marketing and your personal view of the recipes: it's not like they're even remotely connected.

    Anonymous said...

    I meant to say you "can't" conflate the issues