I am done with exams and school in general! Well, until the end of this month… but still, I’ll take a reason to celebrate with good company, beer, and nachos!
I love St. Augustine’s for their awesome beer selection and cheap paddles! For those who don’t know what their beer paddle is, keep on reading. St Aug’s is my go-to pub when I want some good beer. They offer over 60 beer taps, so you have a pretty huge selection, from IPAs, lagers, stouts, and pale ales, and more. Even if you don’t like beer, their food menu is pretty delicious as well.
I was pretty surprised at how busy St. Aug’s was on a weekday night. We had to move to a bigger table since more people ended up joining us, but thankfully, there was a table of nice customers who switched their seats so that we could combine two tables.
Their beer menu changes daily, even hourly. I almost always order the paddle when I come here, because I am so indecisive. The paddle consists of 4 tap beers of your choice. It is around $9 for four 4oz beer samples. I decided to split the paddle today with the boyfriend. The following beers are seen from left to right!
Steveston hefeweizen- This had some wheat, banana and cereal flavour in it. I liked how it was full-bodied and had some citrus aromas to it!
What the huck- I chose this one because it claimed to have a berry flavour (huckleberry-hah get it?) and aroma to it. Indeed, it did! The brewery added berry juice after filtration, which gives it its colour and sweetness. However, it wasn’t sweet enough to taste just solely of berry juice of course! I liked the sweet, slightly tart but smooth finish to it.
Old boy classic ale- Had a darker and roastier smell to it than the previous two. It was creamy, and had flavour hints of coffee and caramel. If you’re into dark and heavy flavours, this one is a good choice. I loved it!
Smooth criminal- Smooth criminal was very dark, malty, and creamy. There was notes of chocolate and coffee in this one. It was definitely very “smooth” like their name says. Out of all four, I enjoyed this one the most because it was so smooth and dark. I was craving an oatmeal stout for so long and this one really fulfilled my cravings.
We always order nachos to share when we come here because it’s such a large portion for $16. I was a bit disappointed with their nachos because there wasn’t that much cheese with it.
There was a lot of sour cream and I wish they had more cheese instead. It would also be nice to have a different variety of nacho chips. I have definitely had better nachos before, but these are alright. Tomatoes and onions on the top were pretty fresh, as were the peppers.
I was really hungry, and ordered their salami pizza ($9)! I was surprised at how big the dish was. This dish tasted a lot better than the nachos, and I fell in love! There was a generous portion of meat and jalapeno peppers.
It also wasn’t oily, and had a thin crust so it didn’t make me feel greasy afterwards. This pizza is also very spicy due to the amount of jalapenos based inside, so consider yourself warned!
Two of my friends ordered their classic burger ($15), which came with a choice of regular fries, yam fries, or salad.
My friend ordered the tea saison beer, which I was curious to try since it had rooibos tea in it?! I had mixed feelings and decided to give it a taste. I was oddly surprised at how well the flavours went together. The tea saison was more fruity,with notes of mangoes, apple, and papaya.
My other friend ordered the vaporizer. I didn’t try it, but the menu described it as “dry and hoppy”.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of everyone else’s beer/drinks but I hope you enjoyed the ones I managed to captured!
Overall, St. Augstine’s offers a great selection of beer and I would definitely recommend this place if you like beer. Nachos are average, but their pizza and burgers are a lot better.
It is always busy here, which I take as a good sign. Service is either a hit or miss. We’ve had times where we had great service, but we’ve also had rude and sporadic service. I guess it just depends on who is working that day, but their service has seen both ends of the spectrum.
-Carmen