Brewery Visit – Ancient City Downtown @AncientBrewing

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve pubished an article. Sorry, life has just gotten in the way. I hope to have more articles coming out soon for your quarantine reading pleasure, plus there’s also the Florida Beer Podcast, up now basically everywhere good podcasts can be downloaded!

Concerning the Podcast, it is with a heavy heart but I must tell you that I had to scrap the audio from a recent interview that I did with Greg Huddle, president and co-founder of Ancient City Brewing in St. Augustine. It’s a shame, because the interview was so good and it was great to speak to somebody who is, in essence, the biggest name in craft beer in St. Johns County.

I’ve been a big fan of everything that’s going on in St. Augustine, and I’ve really enjoyed watching it grow from one brewpub to four very good breweries. Ancient City is by far the biggest, and you can find their six packs in pretty much every Publix in the county. If you’ve been to their downtown Taproom, you can kind of understand why the audio didn’t work. The location is fantastic and provides a welcome respite during a long day of sightseeing, but the acoustics are not necessarily the best.

I do need to get back there for some special recording I want to do with Greg and his team at their production facility and taproom along Interstate 95. Even though the audio didn’t work this time, we were able to try a couple brews. Being a huge fan of lagers, I chose Saint Lagerstine (Bavarian Lager, 5.6% ABV, 25 IBU).

It’s a classic Bavarian lager, a nice hop, skip, and a jump away from a solid Vienna Lager. It’s smooth and easy to drink, with a nice balanced sweetness and maybe a light touch of Noble Hops. Consistently refreshing and wonderfully well-rounded.

My wife went for the Winter Warmer (Winter Warmer, 6.4% ABV, 13 IBU), which was interesting, since most of the warmers I’ve seen come out with an ABV in double-digits and a viscosity closely resembling motor oil. This wasn’t that, and in terms of body and heft it was actually closer to the Bavarian lager I was enjoying than something much thicker. It felt like a Vienna lager or maybe a slightly retooled version of their Matanzas Red Ale (which I will talk about in an upcoming review since I am working my way through a wonderful six pack of that beer), with delicious cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices.

It gave a wonderful seasonal flavor without being excessively heavy. Since it was cool, but not terribly cold, that day, having something a little bit lighter was greatly appreciated.

It’s wonderful having the taproom downtown, but I’m excited to get back to the production brewery to chat with the rest of the team. Keep an eye out for that happening. In the meantime, it looks like I’ve got a road trip north to head back to Publix for a little restocking.

Dave
@floridabeerblog
floridabeerblog@gmail.com

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