Introducing Virgin Islands Pale Ale

When I went to St. John earlier this year, probably the biggest (and coolest) surprise about the island was to discover that it has its own craft brewery! The island is home to only about four thousand continuous residents, plus a substantial tourist draw and (I think) a few hundred mainlanders/expats (not sure of the proper nomenclature), many of whom work there seasonally.

The brewery is called St. John’s Brewers. Most of the bars and restaurants offer their Virgin Island Pale Ale, which seemed to be the only craft beer available on the island. The brewers, Cheech and Kevin, were hosting a party at Rhumb Lines one of the nights we were there, so I got to talking to them about what they did. At that point I had been drinking VIPA pretty much noon to night, so I was already a big fan.

What the brewers look like after I’ve had a few

Basically, they are friends who moved to the Virgin Islands from Vermont for a season, and did some homebrewing while on the island. They realized there was a huge demand for craft beer there, even just among the expats who were working there and at the places they worked. So they contracted their VIPA for production and bottling to Shipyard Brewing in Maine, and also opened their own brewpub, “The Tap Room” with a very small production brewery, just big enough to brew for on-site sale, special events, and the St. John market for draft beer. (I think there are only two places in St. John with draft systems).

Talking with Cheech and Kevin, and visiting the Tap Room, it was clear they are the kind of folks we like to work with. The kind of guys who close their bar on a Sunday to go play kickball across the street (apparently, Kevin was focused on avenging the fact that he had been picked last the previous game, despite having played intercollegiate soccer at University of Vermont). And I loved the beer as being a very light, refreshing and interesting (infused with mango!) session beer. I really wanted to bring their beer back to North Park.

Now, a cool thing about all this is that, while St. John feels like another country, it’s all part of the US of A, so it’s a lot easier to distribute, even to the West Coast.. And, in fact, St. John’s Brewers had started working with BevMo to get the goods into stores in California. So over the last couple months we’ve been able to get a few cases ourselves, too. I think the only places it’s available outside of the islands are some BevMos in California and some Northeast States. And, now, the Linkery.

This beer comes in 12 ounce bottles, is light bodied and perfect on a hot San Diego day. It’s got a wallop of a mango nose from the added fruit extract, which in flavor is surprisingly balanced out by the notable hop character. It may not be something for every beer purist — I think the Padre is afraid I’ll make him drink another one — but it’s both interesting and delicious. We haven’t really told anybody about it yet but we blew through a six-pack or two, just among ourselves.

To highlight the beer this week, Rey is putting together a Carribean style fish dish, of grilled local fish with plantains, quinoa, and pineapple mango salsa. If the good weather continues it’ll be just like we’re living on a tropical island.

Coda: right before we left, we took an awesome sail on Captain Carter’s 47′ sloop over to Jost Van Dyke, an British Virgin Island with a population of a few hundred people Where we stopped at Foxy’s and had a pint of their house brewed beer. Which was fantastic! However, that’s a whole ‘nother country — probably a lot harder to import.

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