Beer Review: Odell Brewing Company St. Lupulin

Brewery: Odell Brewing Company
Beer: St. Lupulin
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 6.5%
Character: Dry hopped Extra Pale Ale
Ratings at time of Review: BA: 92 | RB: 95
Metal Connection: SENTENCED – Fields of Blood, Harvester of Hate

Odell Brewing Company from Colorado at one time was not available here in TX, so when my good friend Halie would visit San Antonio, she brought me back a few packs of beers from this brewery. The beers I had received from her were amazing, and when i found out that Odell would be hitting the shelves here in San Antonio, I was more than pleased by this. This is the first review of an Odell Brewing Company beer to grace BeerMetalDude.com, and it will not be the last.

St. Lupulin, a mystical legend around the brewhouse at Odell Brewing Company. His story is that he is the harvester of endless rows of hops, tending to the beloved resin within the hops, lupulin. This beer is a seasonal summer released beer. I know I am a little late getting this review to you, as I did drink this beer back in June, but it was so good, that I had to still put it up for you to read. Trust me, you will see this beer next summer and remember this review and run out ad buy it. I know I will be getting this beer again.

For this session I used a logo pint glass by Twisted X Brewing Company. St. Lupulin poured a clear orange/golden color with a thick foamy white head. One look at this beer in my glass and instantly I thought this was going to be a creamy beer. What a surprise on the mouthfeel on this one! There was excellent head retention, and globs of foamy lacing left down the glass.

This is a dry hopped Extra Pale Ale, so I got exactly what I was expecting in the nose…hops! The usual suspects were all lined up here. Aroma of fruity, citrus, earthy, and floral hops. Traces of orange and lemon zest, pineapple, mango, wet grass, pine, floral greenery, and a nice earthy profile. Hints of honey, light toasted malts and grains, with a backbone of fresh baked biscuits. I could smell this beer for hours, but i would rather drink it!

The taste was exceptional, and followed the nose, so there were no surprises. Fresh hops right up front. Same characters hit the palate, orange & lemon zest, pineapple, mango, wet grass, pine, floral greenery, and some earthy hops. There is a nice mixture of a honey-like flavor, along with lightly toasted grains & malts, and a fresh baked biscuit presence.

The body is a medium thickness, and has a very crisp, almost peppery mouthfeel. As I mentioned earlier, the appearance made this beer out to be creamy in the mouthfeel, but that was not the case at all. Good carbonation, as well.

Overall, I was highly impressed by this beer that is called a Pale Ale, but with so much hop characteristics in this one, it might as well be a true IPA. As this beer is released in Summer time, it is an awesome beer to enjoy while outside here in our beloved Texas Heat Wave, or anywhere for that matter. Just remember this review and the name of St. Lupulin next summer, and do yourself a favor and purchase this beer.

Metal Connection: Seeing as St. Lupulin is the harvester of hops that are in endless rows in the fields, I found a very fitting song for the Metal Connection here. Here is a song called “Fields of Blood, Harvester of Hate” by the Finnish band, Sentenced. This is a song taken from their 1993 sophomore full length album, North from Here. During this era of the band, they played a progressive style Death Metal which would quickly change to a more Melodic Death Metal style on the band’s next album, Amok in 1995. They played a more radio friendly type of Melodic Gothic Metal, even removing the harsher Black/Death Metal type vocals once they got a new vocalist in 1996. Later in their career, they went as far as becoming a leader in the Gothic Doom Rock/Metal genre before disbanding in 2005. The band’s first two albums, Shadows of the Past and North from Here are Underground Metal classics among the elder Metal fans like myself.