Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #6

Aroma: 3 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 4

A friend from Tejas gifted me a few of these in a mixed six a while back. First one didn't go down so well back then & I slept on this one for maybe a little too long. We'll see.

Rare Vos glass. Body looks like cloudy iced tea. Sticky, frazzled head. Mmm... Chunks! It fits right alongside the snowglobe on my desk.
Smell is sticky & stollen-like. Faint, leafy/twiggy herbage. Malt balls & some macerated raisin acidity.
Taste is quite thick, meaty even. Rindy, lingering bitterness. Slightly charred, crusty bread sweetness. Bittergreen herbs. ...And just when I think we might have something here, oxidation hits right at the end.
Alcohol is all there, every bit. Chewy, sticky, gunky.

Vitamin enriched!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Bottled@The Chriso Gaylord Tasting. Amber colour, small white head. Aroma is caramel, some fruits, toffee, mild alcohol as well as some raisins. Flavour is fruity and floral hops along with some sweet alcoholic notes and some notes of spices and toffee. A bit on the sweeter side, but otherwise quite nice.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

well after a year of the original release and drinking this on tap a bunch and countless bottles, time finally to put in my review.. . Pours a dark lightly murky tawny brown .. . head is fantastic, lacing holds up well too .. . sappy tar, hard nosed molasses, pine, dried cherry skin, and wood plank used to stir an oil can Aromas .. . now i know what a tv dinner feels like .. . abv is done pretty well, as it has aged it has mellowed nicely .. . was wonderful o its release, aging perfectly so far, where will it end up... . son of a bitch! ...

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Amazing. Simply...just...wow. Amazing. Fantastic beer from top to bottom. Enormous flavor, perfect mouthfeel, enticing aroma. Classic example of a GREAT American Barleywine.

The beer pours out a cloudy color of melted caramel candies, with an off-white fluffy head with a bunch of large bubbles. The head created was nice and thick and stayed the entire time I drank this beauty. The aroma was major hoppage. Fantastic citrusy aroma, tons of resin, alcohol, sweet malts, bready and a bit of the vine...reminded me of the smell of a brewhouse. Flavor was just a flat out assault of hops. Tons of juicy bitter hops, slightly oxidized, sweet malts, caramels, with a slightly hot finish. Harsh on the tongue and loved every minute of it. Thick and chewy up front with a smooth, last finish. Damned near perfect.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottle courtesy of Bu11zeye: Poured a deep amber/copper color ale with a good size off-white head with great retention and some good lacing. Aroma of green grassy hops is dominating with some distinctive notes of sweet malt. Taste is also a mix between some dominating green grassy hops with some distinctive notes of sweet barley malt. Great carbonation with full body and no apparent alcohol. I get what they are trying to do here but I don’t like my barley wine to be dominated by C-hops.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

A blast of sharply herbal / pine notes greets my nose as soon as I pop the cap from this beer. A solid pour produces a three-finger thick, amber tinged, tan colored head. As the head slowly subsides, sticky layers of lace are left on the sides of my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is a light cherry-tinged, full amber color that shows a hazy, deeply red stained, gold color when held up to the light. The aroma is just thick with hop aromatics; candied grapefruit zest, candied pine needles, herbal hemp oil (especially towards the finish, though at times it can be the dominant all-around aroma), washed out orange juice, tangelo and lychee. Buried under all the hop character is a rich malt backbone that has deeply caramelized notes, substantial toasted grain notes and a nice biscuit-like aroma. I really like the expressive, punchy hop character that this beer has; it just about knocks your socks off and then dry humps your taste buds. Incredibly aggressive aromatics, even harsh (especially if you are not a hop-head), this is for the hop lover who is a bit masochistic.

The aggressive hop notes are continued in the flavor; sharply bitter, massive herbal notes, substantial tongue puckering pine and a backdrop of dank hemp oil. Underneath the scathing hop character are softer, yet still substantial hop notes of Curacao orange zest, lychee, tangelo, and caramelized tangelo. This has a big body to it that is necessary to stand up to the hop character; viscous, chewy and thick though at times it is not noticed because of the huge hop notes. Along with the body is a substantial, yet purely supporting malt character that provides flavors of toffee, caramelized malt sugars, toasty-biscuit-malt and dusty bread crust flavors. At times, especially as it warms up, this has a striking hop-fruitiness to it that competes quite deftly with the sharper hop notes; the finish is still aggressively, somewhat astringently, herbal leaning and bitter though.

This beer is scathingly hoppy, while it leans a bit more towards the harsh, astringent side of the hop spectrum than I would usually prefer, there is something here that just "scratches that itch". Quite enjoyable, even if it is a bit like self flagellation; I would even hazard a guess that on certain day this would be too much / too harsh for me, today though it is quite good and about the best I have had from this brewery.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

Amazing beer. Saint Arnold never lets you down with a release of Divine Reserve. Awesome American Barleywine with a ton of hops. This is like a hybrid beer that is one of the most amazing things that I have had. First couple of sips are very similar to an IPA but you have a great barleywine aftertaste. Pours a dark rusty color with little but very fine sediment. There is a little head that has medium thickness but lingers for awhile and laces the glass. ABV is well concealed. Very enjoyable beer. Very hard for me to get.