Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #5

Formerly brewed at Saint Arnold Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Houston, Texas USA

Very dark beer with a big creamy light brown head. The nose had chocolate, roasted grains, and something that reminded me of the inside of a pumpkin. Burnt toast, roasted grains, molasses, baker’s chocolate, tar, charcoal and lots of hop bitterness that finishes with grass. Nice stout.

(bottle thanks tytoanderso) Pours black with a dark tan head. Strong aroma of roasted malt with some coffee. Taste is strong roasted malt with some cocoa and coffee, and a finish of what I can only describe as toasted marshmallow. Not too bad, but I felt it was a little thin (although this was after drinking a Darkness)

Thanks to Tytoanderso. I enjoyed this quite a bit. A thick black beer. Low carbonation. The aroma has lots of roasted malt and considerable hops for the style, a well hopped beer. Very nice flavor, some coffee and chocolate, abundant roasted malt. So much roast that there is a light smoke flavor in addition to sweet port.

[Bottle, thanks tytoanderso!] Pours black with a dark tan head. Aroma is (as tytoanderso said) charred malt and somewhat sweet, with some definite molasses in there. Taste is dominated by the charred malt with some light chocolate and maybe a little vanilla. Quite thick, long finish--although it is mostly the charred taste. Had this about ten minutes after having Surly Darkness, which probably did not help its score.

Bottle via trade with lb4lb. Aroma of heavily roasted, almost charred malt. A hint of smoke. Roasted marshmallow. Molasses and cocoa with a hint of bittering hops to round out the boatloads of malt. Pours oily black with a nice creamy khaki head. Excellent head retention and lacing. Flavor has a lot of burned malt with some vanilla and cocoa. There’s some dry, dark chocolate there as well. Some grassy, dry hops round out the flavor leading to a rightly bitter finish. Medium to full bodied. Fairly rich and creamy. Missing something that I can’t quite put my finger on. Can’t wait to see how this develops in the bottle over the next year or so.

I had the good fortune to visit the Gingerman in Austin, where I saw this unfamiliar beer on the board. I gave it a try (served in a 10oz butcher glass) and was tremendously pleased with it. It appeared a be a bit viscous in my glass with a very dark brown head which reminded me of chocolate milk frothiness. One whiff told me this was going to be a beer with a ton of roastiness. Flavor was great; extremely roasty with a ton of "burned pizza crust" flavor balanced with some accompanying notes of coffee and a few sweeter chocolate notes. There are a ton of beers with a lot of chocolate malt, but this one offers that flavor with a lot of very nice accompanying flavors. Mouthfeel was a bit thick and left a dry feeling in my mouth. Delicious, and very highly recommended.

Black with a dark mocha head. Aroma is mollases, lightly smokey, dark chocolate, cocoa powder. Taste is a nice cocoa, with light coffee, some hoppiness showing in the background, nice roastiness. Quality stuff.

12oz bottle acquired in trade with bu11zeye (thanks!). Poured a dark black color with an averaged sized brown head. Aromas of roasted nuts, dark fruits, citrus, chocolate and coffee. Tastes of chocolate, coffee, roast, and caramel. Light alcohol in the finish.