St. Croix Cream Ale

This cream ale is from the St. Croix Brewing Company of St. Paul, Minnesota. It takes its name from the St. Croix Brewery that started in the 1860's in Stillwater, Minnesota, on the St. Croix River. It stopped brewing before the 20th century, but the name has been revived and the company operates out of St. Paul, but has plans for building in the St. Croix valley.

The beer pours a cloudy light amber in color. It has an overfoaming problem and there is a huge, ragged, fizzing head of off-white foam. There are what look like flakes of rust in the foam. Not a good start, I think this bottle may be too old. The aroma is tangy, yeasty, a touch soapy. The taste is sweet, malty, floral, honey, light fruity, some caramel with a light yeastiness. The taste is actually quite pleasant, but their bottling process was not kind to this beer. I have had it at beer fests and it was much better from their keg; it is worth trying when fresh.