Sankt Galen’s 2019 Valentine’s beer is a Banana Chocolate Stout 7% Deep black with a thick long lasting rusty tan head of foam. The aroma has a sort of cinnamonspice to it with overripe banana in the finish as well as chocolate and lactose. Full bodied and smooth with a dark bitter chocolate/cacao paste flavors, some acrid roast character that makes me think there’s a hefty dose of black patent malt in here which is good as it’ll offset the sweetness of the lactose. Paired with the banana you got a vegetal character like I was licking the banana peel and the roast character disappeared but it didn’t settle well in my stomach so that pairing failed. The chocolate brought out the dark bitterness, it was a better match but still didn’t quite work. It’s a decent beer but you don’t get much banana in the taste. I was expecting it to be sickly sweet due to the lactose and banana so I was pleasantly surprised it was quite well balanced.

Sankt Gallen Grape Chocolate Stout 8.5% Deep black with a foamy beige head. On opening, my first thought on smelling this was holy shit that’s a lot of grape! Think big purple grape jelly in the aroma anc if you try hard enough you can pierce through to the underlying chocolate malts. The taste is grape, grape jelly and more grape then chocolate spread with some roasty nutty chocolate. I’m thinking mix this with a very peanut flavored beer to get a PB&J. Maybe I’ll buy another to sit on in the hopes I can try that in the future. Alright but the grape is a little too full on for me, I think I preferred the Echigo though this is the more interesting/unique beer.

Bottle with KBL. Huge coffee nose, grains, light chocolate and grape juice. Black with a tan head that drops quickly. Flavor is coffee, chocolate, light vanilla. Finish is quite dry. Body is a bit thin. Ok.

Tap at Komachi. Bright golden color. Hazy. Nose is orange, tropical fruit, citrus, wheat biscuits. Rich and fruity, decently done hazy IPA.

Sankt Gallen x Uchuu Space Hazy 7% (right) Slightly opaque matte straw gold doesn’t really  scream hazy. The aroma is pure juicy goodness with prickly pear and guava notes. Fairly smooth bodied with a bit of a bite. Definitely one of the better Sankt Galen beers.

Bit malty feels quite strong. Alright

Sankt Gallen Unkono Blend Kuro Coffee Ale 6.5% Deep brown verging on black with a fizzy tan head. Great coffee aroma and flavor. Full bodied, sweet coffee flavor with mild fruity and nutty flavors. Sweet but according to the label no lactose in it. The body could feel a bit fuller but this is quite good and definitely a winner in this series.

Gotta start cracking open my chocolate beers as Valentine’s Day fast approaches. The special 2021 variant from Sankt Gallen is: Sankt Gallen Le Lectier Pear Chocolate Stout 7% I didn’t think the ABV would be so high but this inky black brew has a decent tan head. The aroma starts off roasty chocolate goodness then in comes sweet pear notes. Fairly full bodied and the flavor of pear is quite full on sweet pear interlaced with roasty cocoa. Kind of weird but it does what it set out to do, mission accomplished. I wish I’d found some pear sweets to pair this with...

Bottle from Takashimaya. Roasty nose, cafe ua lait, dark chocolate, light pear-like fruitiness, berries. Black with a tall tan head. Pear is more evident in the flavor, dark milk chocolate, sweet milk coffee. Interesting gentle fruit sweetness does eventually cloy a bit but it finished dry and roasty.

Sankt Gallen Gasho New Year Wheat Ale 2021 with Yuzu 5% Crystal clear gold with a HUGE Yuzu aroma. Medium bodied with a dry finish and very raspy carbonic bite. The taste is Yuzu and dry wheat cakes. Pretty good.