Saint Arnold Brewing Releases Santo
HOUSTON, October 20, 2011 – Saint Arnold Brewing Company (www.saintarnold.com), the oldest craft brewery in Texas, today released its newest year-round beer, Santo. Originally planned for September, the release of Santo was delayed after the initial batch was tasted and the brewers felt there was something missing. After modifying the mash temperature and replacing the wheat malt with Munich malt, the brewers believe they have created the light, refreshing yet dark and flavorful beer they were after.
It is the second major new brew to be introduced by Saint Arnold in October, following closely on the heels of Saint Arnold Pumpkinator, which was released on October 13th.
“When we set out to create Santo, the idea was to create the beer we always wished we would get when we ordered a dark Mexican lager to go with our enchiladas,” said Saint Arnold
Founder/Brewer Brock Wagner. “While we were a little embarrassed about announcing that we decided to dump our first batch, we are happy with the decision, especially given the beer that we are ready to release now. Our brewing team has been thoroughly enjoying this new version. We haven’t waited for the release date to tap some for ourselves.”
Santo is a black Kölsch. It is light in body and dark in color. Despite Santo’s dark appearance, the beer maintains other characteristics of a true Kölsch. Saint Arnold uses the same special Kölsch yeast – an ale yeast that ferments at almost lager temperatures – that is used in Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Beer. This contributes to Santo being light bodied and floral even though it has a distinctive dark malt flavor.
Santo is brewed using pale two-row and pils malted barley, a dash of Munich malt and an addition of black malt. Saint Arnold uses Hallertau Hersbrucker hops, added to the brew kettle in four separate cycles to create a delicate flavor and aroma. It has an original gravity of 1.045 (11.4° Plato), bitterness of 17 IBU and alcohol content (by volume) of 4.6 percent.
Santo will be available on tap and in 12-ounce bottles sold in six-packs and cases throughout Texas starting today.
Santo is the sixth year-round beer from Saint Arnold. It joins Saint Arnold Amber Ale, Saint Arnold Brown Ale, Saint Arnold Elissa IPA, Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Beer and Saint Arnold Weedwacker in the regular lineup.
Editors: A high resolution image of Santo packaging is available for download at http://dpkpr.com/photos/9/1024x771/.
About Saint Arnold Brewing Company
Saint Arnold Brewing's ten brews are made and sold by the company’s staff of 37 dedicated employees. The brewery was listed by USA Today as one of the “10 great places to see what’s brewing in beer,” and Smart Meetings magazine named it among the “Top 5 breweries to host an event.” Saint Arnold is located at 2000 Lyons Avenue and its brewery tour and tasting is offered every weekday at 3:00 P.M. and Saturdays starting at 11 A.M. For more information on Saint Arnold's five year-round and five seasonal beers as well as root beer, log on to www.saintarnold.com.