The Civil Life Brewing Company The Angel & The Sword

The Angel & The Sword

 

The Civil Life Brewing Company in St. Louis, Missouri, United States 🇺🇸

  Bitter - Ordinary / Best Bitter Regular
Score
6.78
ABV: 4.6% IBU: 32 Ticks: 12
Angel and The Sword seems like an odd name for a peace offering, but hear us out. Sometimes you just have to blend cultures. Toledo, Spain is an UNESCO World Heritage Site called “the city of three cultures” for the continuous coexistence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims since ancient times. They haven’t always gotten along, at times horrendously so, but they do their best. Iron sharpens iron, as their good books say. An area famed for sword production, our favorite monument remains Juan de Ávalos' "statue of peace" outside Alcázar fortress, representing a winged female holding up her sword to the sky. Here is a great craft beer which IS NOT IPA. A departure from true-to-style brewing, we put a little bit of everything we've learned into this uniquely inclusive expression. Biscuity and bittersweet, familiar and unfamiliar, way more going on than its light color and alcohol content would suggest. Let us raise our goblets to the sky in one accord.

ABV: 4.6%
IBU: 32
COLOUR: Clear golden amber with white foam
BJCP STYLE: Who knows? Maybe 23. Maybe 11C. It actually doesn't fit neatly into any one BJCP category. It's English Yeast, English Hops and our favorite malts from all over the world. It's a hybrid of sorts!
NOTABLE INGREDIENTS: Various malts sourced from Europe and North America; classic English Fuggles and East Kent Goldings hops; English ale yeast​.
 

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6.9
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

Draft in old town at Paradiso brown pour, fairly muted hopscand malts. Ok unspectacular. .

Tried from Draft on 20 May 2025 at 01:33



6.8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Mac's Local draught, 9/28/23. Clear medium-amber. Small, dark beige head sits at cover. Floral hops and a touch of spiciness. Fruity esters are strong, with not too much on the crystal malts. Clean. Good honey-caramel maltiness as it warms. Good mix of grainy, bready malts and softer, sweeter base malts. Plentiful fruitiness. Malty to start, drying heavily. There's an undercurrent of something lightly sharp or glue-like, probably yeast-derived, that I find in esbs quite often. That detracts slightly, but this otherwise clean and quenching. Lingering floral, spicy hops and toffee.

Tried on 28 Sep 2023 at 19:43


7.4
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

On tap at City Foundry Food Hall. Pours mahogany with a light beige head. Malt, caramel, brown bread.

Tried from Draft on 05 Jun 2023 at 03:29


6.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 5.5

Curious, like a fruitier cousin to Fat Tire, with a healthy biscuit-like base and notes of apple, grain, and a little cocoa. Not sure it all comes together.

Tried on 20 Oct 2022 at 13:37


7.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

12 ounce can from Binny's Springfield. 5/8/2021. Rating as many different states in a row as I can without repeats. Starting on 5/4: IL, CT, NY, VA, TN, IA, MN, AZ, OH, FL, NM, MI, TX, CO, CA, and now MO. Slightly hazy red. Large creamy tan head good retention. Aroma of toast, toffee,dark fruit. Taste is toast, cherry. Medium bodied crisp.

Tried from Can on 09 May 2021 at 01:50


6.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

At a bar: pours dark amber, with white head. Aroma is toffee, caramel, malts. Taste is sweet, low bitterness. Plenty matly. Good body.

Tried on 01 Jun 2019 at 07:04


6.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

On tap at the brewery. Pours a dark amber with small beige head that lasts. The aroma is toasted malt and licorice. Slick body, raisin, licorice, bready malt, dry finish, good.

Tried from Draft on 18 Aug 2018 at 03:09


6.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Sampled from the tap at GTMW 2015. Pours a near clear deep amber with a slight orange hue and a bubbly tan head that lasts throughout the beer. Aroma is very bread and biscuit forward with a sweetness underlying. Flavor has a good amount of bread and biscuit notes with a bit of sweetness in the finish.

Tried from Draft on 18 Aug 2015 at 21:36


6.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Pour is a nice dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma is a nice earthy and nutty malt. Flavor is a rich earthy malt with some nuts and even a bit of chocolate coming thru. Finish is more chewy malt but they are gone soon after the swallow. Pretty solid ESB here. Like most Civil Life beers they are not going to knock you socks off, they are just solid representations of each style.

Tried on 19 Apr 2015 at 17:14