Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #5

12oz via trade. (Thanks kaggie97!) Pours a deep midnight black with a very large brown head. Nose is absolutely divine! Chocolate, vanilla, raspberry, mocha. Taste is the same with some nice balancing hops in the finish that are just perfect and complement but do not overwhelm the complex flavors of this masterpiece of a brew..I see they used Centennial, which explains it as that is my favorite flavoring/aroma hop... Body is medium full, carbonation is perfect. This is like the best chocolate raspberry cheesecake in a bottle that i have ever had. wow, this is only the second beer i have had where i can honestly say is worthy of a perfect score. .Absolutely in-fraaking-credible!! Completely flawless-world class.Thanks Kaggie, you rule!

tulip. this was verrrrrry good. Thanks to UncleJedi, this snuck into a vey high profile flight and almost, (almos) stole the show. pours a black glug with mild tan head, fruity hops on aroma, bannana, raisin, very complex aroma, every smith is enjoyable and different, yum... apple is prominant and hidden at the same time? apple front, very ight and smooth palate,fruity presence, green front on tip of tongue, very good and complex, incredibly complex, apple, roasted dry finish, and aftertaste. Kudos. underrated.

9-21-07: Bottle 1: Pours jet black into the glass with a brown head that has some lasting power. Aroma is chocolaty and sweet with some coffee notes to it. Taste is big. Lots of malty sweetness with some good bittering balance. Alcohol becomes apparent as you swallow. Good aftertaste. Letting the other bottles age. * Be Careful: This beer is a gateway beer and will coax you into a night of drinking, even if you only had planned to sip one right before bed. I can’t stress this enough. If you have something really important to do the next day, maybe let someone hide the key to your beer closet so that you cannot retrieve the 5-6 more beers you will no doubt be tempted to drink.

Bottle from fly. Thanks for your continued trading with me for Divine stuff, fly!. Pours onyx with 2-fingers of dark brown head. Aroma is dark malt, molasses, blackberries, plums, and chocoff. Tastes dark malty, with a very nice blackberry and plum presence, almost kicking this into blackberry merlot status, except that instead of the excess winey fruit, you get more dark malt and chocoffy flavors. Nice complex hefty palate, with more lovely blackberries as it warms, and an awesome hop kicker, as if this one doesn’t give you enough already. The palate falls off just a tad late, but it remains an outstanding example of this style. Indeed , I’ll get kicked for this, but this one is underrated by at least a quarter point. Fly, I need more of this pal (hint hint).

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.