Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #9 - Saint Arnold Brewing Company

DrDoitchbig

Michigan

3.98/5  rDev +1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appearance: Poured a fairly deep, dark black with some prominent brown edging. The pour was fairly aggressive, but still only yielded about one finger's worth of tan head that dissipated into a very thin collar. Not even a speck of lacing on this one.

Smell: This is certainly not your typical Imperial Stout. The nose is filled with a unique spiciness. Nutmeg, cinnamon and pumpkin immediately come to mind. There are also hints of gingerbread and not surprisingly some roasted malts.

Taste: All of the off the wall spice is present from the smell. It all comes together to form a flavor that is ridiculously reminiscent of pumpkin pie. Beneath that some usual stout suspects show themselves. Tinges of roasted malts and dark chocolate are present and accounted for. The alcohol is fairly well masked by all the spices floating around, but it's still here, far in the background.

Mouthfeel: The body is definitely full with carbonation levels that are higher than usual, especially with this high of an alcohol content. Fairly smooth and creamy, but it's not the pinnacle of the style.

Drinkability: With such a high alcohol content I expected this to me more of a sipper than it is. The bizarre flavor combination here is not going to be for everyone. I'm not sure I could have more than one in a session. But overall I found it to be interesting and enjoyable.

I think Saint Arnold definitely succeeded in creating a Pumpkin Imperial Stout. Sometimes these strange creations can be pretty awful, but thankfully this one was not.

Serving type: bottle

03-09-2010 07:51:01 | More by DrDoitchbig

HeadyTheElder

Louisiana

4.75/5  rDev +20.6%

05-19-2013 15:43:25 | More by HeadyTheElder

SmellsofMahagony

Texas

3.5/5  rDev -11.2%

05-15-2013 02:16:12 | More by SmellsofMahagony

ThreeFishes

Florida

3.75/5  rDev -4.8%

05-12-2013 22:16:24 | More by ThreeFishes

lowgear

California

4.25/5  rDev +7.9%

05-05-2013 01:00:30 | More by lowgear

CDCNAM

Louisiana

5/5  rDev +26.9%

04-17-2013 03:03:31 | More by CDCNAM

bulldogg915

Wyoming

4.75/5  rDev +20.6%

04-03-2013 16:13:52 | More by bulldogg915

orangesol

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev -4.8%

03-14-2013 00:50:47 | More by orangesol

MisterGrizz

Texas

4.25/5  rDev +7.9%

02-13-2013 17:35:11 | More by MisterGrizz

jlindros

Massachusetts

4.21/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Thanks to TexasStout for this one. I have a big vertical lined up to have someday, but for now I have extras of this one so might as well crack one, now that it's a few years old.

Ug screw cap, minus points! Although it did give me a little message, "hops and kisses" so I can't stay mad at it. And they did date it, 11/12/09, drinking as it warms a little from cellar temp so should be above 50deg as Saint Arnold requested.

Pours a smaller but dark colored fizzy almost 1/2 finger head that fades fairly quickly, typical for this high abv and interesting for a 3+ year old beer, no lacing of course, a thick looking syrupy beer with nice legs on the glass, and all but pitch black color, and light yeast floaties.

Nose is... strange actually... it has fruity aromas, straight up banana, and some starchy tropical fruits specifically a few I've had in Brazil but I don't know the name, light herbs and spices but the root beer like style herbs or sassafras, and tons of sweet style baking spices, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. Finally in there is some dark malts, a faint black malt darkness, more Belgian style carafa and other Belgo like stout aromas, nutty earthy root like, with a little tingly booze, and a light velvety chocolate aroma with cacao nibs.

Taste is just as unique, there are some dark malts, molasses, faint black malts and Belgian like malts again, etc. Then tons of chocolate, cocoa nibs right out, creamy velvety expensive Belgian chocolate flavors. Then into the spices again, plenty of them but not holiday spices. Again the sassafras like and sweet baking spices are a-plenty, nutmeg, faint cinnamon that even gets a little spicy, cardamom, maybe faint allspice, etc. With them is the brown sugar, molasses, very faint figs and nuts, etc, and a very light fruity flavor with those figs, but luckily no banana. The spices and herbs really take over the main flavor, but the velvety smooth chocolate and cocoa flavors are nice too. Booze cuts in slightly, but is muted for the most part as it gets overtaken by the malts, but does get slightly tingly and eventually gets hot. Finish is drier but a little sticky syrupy, long lingering velvety chocolate, little caramel and cocoa, as well as the baking spices, and surprisingly the booze fades out fairly quick.

Mouth is med to fuller bodied, smooth and velvety chocolate feel, lighter but decent carb, a bit of warming tingly booze.

Overall pretty good, not sure if the 3 years helped if it was too much on the spices before, or the booze, or the dark malts etc, but this is quite nice. A good velvety chocolate, baking spices galore, etc, quite a nice beer, glad I have a couple more.

Serving type: bottle

02-10-2013 03:24:25 | More by jlindros

t0rin0

California

4/5  rDev +1.5%

12-27-2012 01:34:03 | More by t0rin0

FosterJM

California

4.1/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

1575th Review on BA
Bottle to Snifter
12oz

Thanks to Lowgear for the IP trade to finally review this one.

App- A nice looking stout. Was more of a brown color with speckles of black. A good rich and deep center. A small 1/2 finger of off tan bubbles that faded quickly and left a little bit of a pond layer. A couple bubbles on edges with a couple dots of cling.

Smell- Really after 3 years this still smells like a fall day of baking in the kitchen. Has a rich pumpkin and spice note on the nose. Bakers chocolate with a little bit of a earthy bitter note to it as well.

Taste- The taste is just a bit flat due to age I think. Its still a very flavorful stout with a good bit of layers behind it but turning a bit grainular vs. silky smooth. The malts in this create the smoothness but the spice and pumpkin are a little off. Still balanced and doesnt overpower but nutmeg does come into play heavily.

Mouth- A fairly silky and smooth stout like I mentioned in the taste. A lighter medium and a fairly medium carbonation. The residual nutmeg is a bit heavy but the pumpkin and chocolate flavors balance nicely. A bit grainy but still good.

Drink- It was hard to track one of these down, but glad I did. Its october now, so drinking pumpkin beers is fine by me. This was good and flavorful. A very good night cap.

Serving type: bottle

10-19-2012 15:58:24 | More by FosterJM

Prestonlegal

4/5  rDev +1.5%

09-28-2012 21:01:13 | More by Prestonlegal

melissajtai

Texas

4/5  rDev +1.5%

09-23-2012 21:52:29 | More by melissajtai

whoneeds8

Texas

4.75/5  rDev +20.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

"I Barley Made It"

Poured into a New Belgium glass black with a one finger tan head that disappated quickly. No lacing. The smell has a strong scent of pumpkin. The taste is awesome. It's like a chocolate pumpkin pie. There is a strong alcohol presence, which is expected. But considering the time of year, it warms you up nicely. With the combination of pumpkin and alchol warmth, this is the perfect winter beer. Too bad it won't be back next year.

Re-Reviewed 9/12/2012

Poured into tulip glass black as oil, but carbonation almost gone. The scent is still strong of spices and pumpkin. The taste has mellowed quite a bit. The chocolate pumpkin pie I described before definatly is not the case anymore. The pumpkin is still there, and the spices are still there, but the malts that once gave this a chocolate flavor are definatly not as strong. The alcohol burn is also lower which makes the mouthfeel a little better, and the lower carbonation hasn't affected the mouthfeel at all.

Overall, she's aging well.

Serving type: bottle

09-13-2012 00:10:00 | More by whoneeds8

klipper

Michigan

4/5  rDev +1.5%

08-05-2012 01:13:18 | More by klipper

TXhomebrewer

Texas

4.25/5  rDev +7.9%

08-03-2012 06:30:04 | More by TXhomebrewer

GreatBloomer

Texas

3.75/5  rDev -4.8%

07-16-2012 18:59:24 | More by GreatBloomer

bfizzy

Texas

4.5/5  rDev +14.2%

05-31-2012 20:02:53 | More by bfizzy

sinstaineddemon

Connecticut

3.5/5  rDev -11.2%

05-23-2012 03:17:44 | More by sinstaineddemon

bauermj

Illinois

4.5/5  rDev +14.2%

04-25-2012 19:01:16 | More by bauermj

Icehalo

Arizona

4.5/5  rDev +14.2%

04-22-2012 23:35:15 | More by Icehalo

canders0927

Texas

2.5/5  rDev -36.5%

03-20-2012 23:25:26 | More by canders0927

TasteTester

Ohio

3.5/5  rDev -11.2%

03-03-2012 01:04:36 | More by TasteTester

raveskdr

District of Columbia

4.03/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Into my brand spankin' new Hill Farmstead tulip.

A - Dark black, sans any viscousness. Medium brown head that fades very quickly, most likely due to age. Glad it actually had carbonation.

S - First smell is a nutmeggy, biscuity malt with some faint chocolate as well.

T - Taste follows suit. Starts with some graham cracker biscuit. More chocolate in the taste than in the nose. Real nice. Slight vanilla and cinnamon in there.

M - Nice and velvet mouthfeel, slight alcohol burn on the back end.

O - A real nice beer. A lot in similarity to Pumking, actually. Glad they are remaking this beer, and I'm damn glad that I got to try the original. Shame on me for not remembering who gave me this as an extra.

Serving type: bottle

03-01-2012 02:51:24 | More by raveskdr