Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #6

(bottle ( 12ozl ). shared at October 2009 WaterlooWeekend. Cloudy deep orange, smallish frothy off-white head. Nice floral, alcohol, sweet caramel malt aroma. Taste is more floral, and I get jasmine - building alcohol and bitterness, seems more a double ipa to me. Average body, alcoholic and bitter mouthfeel, light carbonation - very nice, very bitter.

Bottle. graciously shared by coyotehunter. Pours a medium brown with a small head and lots of crud floating around in it... suspended particles and clumps suspended in the liquid and in the surface film. Aromas are a thing of beauty... first thing to notice is a sharp bit that is boozy, a bit of dark fruit and red wine or port, brown sugar, a little bit of chocolate or something similar and a bit of a chalky smell. Flavor is bold and boozy. Brown sugar, brandy and port are my first thoughts. There’s quite a bit of carbonation across the palate, which seems a little odd for the style and then there is the alcoholic warmth and flavor in the finish. It’s warmth is nice, but the flavor in the aftertaste is a little astringent. Still, this is mighty fine stuff.

Bottle shared with Kevin and KAggie97. Pours clear tawny with an average, frothy light brown head, somewhat diminishing with fair lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, caramel, toffee), heavy hop (flowers, perfume, pine, resin), average yeast (dough, earth) with notes of heavy alcohol, plum, date, apple, and maple syrup. Full bodied, alcoholic texture, lively carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, moderate sweetness, heavy acidity and bitterness.

12 oz thanks to Thickfreakness!! Wow! Big nose of pine resin, caramel malt, dark fruit and alcohol. Pours a thick oily brownish orange with a moderate tan head. Flavor is downright warming...hot alcohol burn with notes of pine, caramel, some raisin, and brown sugary goodness with the lightest note of chocolate. Leaves the lips a little sticky which to me signifies pure goodness.Rather warm on the way down...outstanding.

12 oz bottle courtesy of an extra from lb4lb. Thanks, Deniz. Pours a murky rusty pour, very dark amber with brown notes, a good tannish head that cakes and laces pretty well. Aromas are very fruity, throwing good estery fruits along with apples and pears, some candy sugar and spicy yeast, but very malt forward with caramel, fruits, and some vanilla making up the nose and a decent hopping load. Initial is Medium bodied, warming malt body is smoother than the aromas, with good fruity malts of apple, pear, a faint banana, and caramel in good amounts, vanilla, faint brown sugar. Very smooth, almost creamy, as a decent hopping comes into the backend, floral and a bit citrusy, with decent bitterness, and the malt sticks to the palate. A more subtle barley wine, or perhaps ahed well. Hides it’s 10% better than most any brew I’ve had at this strength. Pretty good, and that coming from a disliker of Barley Wines for the most part.

Split with Cavie. This is what I would imagine the Mephistopheles (and the like) would be like if they were more flavorful and less of a punch. It’s complex and amazing.

Thanks to fly! Nearly no head over opaque dull-brown beer. Rich hopscake nose with US hops: grapey, resiny, lytchee; estery. Very hoppy in taste; bitterness is nearly excessive, turning to metallic or chlorehexidin notes, on the verge of caricatural. Fruity esters in the background, but slaughtered by the bitter overload. Warming up, mellowing out, getting sweeter, with retronasal flavours of (candle)wax and pineapple. Quite low in carbonation, very slick, well-bodied; alcohol quite traceable. As said: excessive bitterness, crude & not balanced. Whatever happened here - this is not what I expect from St. Arnold?

Jewel like reddish amber color with a foamy beige head. Aroma of melted caramel, hops and alcohol. Smooth beer with lots of citrus and resiny hops. Caramel, brown sugar, home made bread, with some plum, raisen and rum cake. The alcohol is noticable but not distracting. The finish is dominated by a long, bitter hop burn, fueled by alcohol. Nice big Barley Wine.