Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 11: Winning

So it snuck up on me a little bit this time, but Saint Arnold came out with their 11th installment of their Divine Reserve Series. These beers typically are from a homebrew competition winner and are brewed only one time. The beer style is always extreme and as anyone in Houston can tell you, the ish sells out in NO TIME. This time around I finally am on twitter with a hashtag setup for #DR11. I easily slip out of my office around 10:15 to hit the Randall's at Town and Country to snap up my two 6 packs. Extremely easy score. WINNING. However we were not done there. The wife and I decided to hit up Petrol Station for the beer on tap and on cask. Already dudes have been drinking this beer all day, but it is always nice for a big beer release with all the beer nerds over at Petrol Station. You gotta love Petrol, it has this patchwork quilt of clientele of beer geeks, white collar engineers, some townies, and Gothic looking roller derby women. Anyway onward to the beer. Beer Log: Two days ago State: Fired up for the DR11, already had an Real Ale Lost Gold IPA and Avery IPA as a warmup. Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 11 (on draft) This one is a dippa, or Double IPA. Reminiscent of the first DR I ever had which was an American Barley Wine. This puppy has an excellent copper color, very clear, with a light tan head. The nose has a ton of grapefruit, citrus, and pine needle thing going on. The taste is just awesome. It seems to get better the more you drink it. Lots of citrus and pine going on. It's a little cloying, but gets right back off the tongue just as fast, leaving a balanced malt-hop aftertaste. The malt is heavy caramel, not much roast or choco at all. It's very full flavored without any hint of the 9% ABV. This DIPA is graciously tipped toward the hops. So good I'm actually back on an IPA kick. I've been slamming Maibocks and Weisse beers the last month or so. Got to go all the way to the 5 out of 5 stars for this one. The drinkability is what tears it for me. So many other DIPAs fill you up or are just glorified barleywine. Nothing wrong with that, but this one drinks so well and easy, you could have a ton of it. Matter of fact, since SA said that this beer is NOT meant to be aged, I'm getting another one right now. Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 11 (Cask) So they had this son of a gun on cask at PS as well. For comparison, take everything I just posted and take it down a notch in the hoppiness and the overall strength. It seemed mellow everything out just right. On top of that the carbonation laid down quite a bit more for a much smoother more English feel to it, though the hops were still certainly American. My tastes right now are for the higher carbo of a draft beer, so I'll knock this down to a 4 star. Great overall as usual, but I'd rather have this beer via keg stand. Divine Reserve 6 Review Divine Reserve 7 Review Divine Reserve 8 Review I actually had DR2 at a Camp Beer a few months ago... SA DR2 Cloudy amber with sweet malt, caramel and plum nose. A little cold right now on the taste, but as it warms up I get a nice brown sugar and caramel flavor. This one did not have much carbonation left, but still warranted a 4 star. I actually have some DR10 in the cellar, and I need to blog it up. By the way, if you have any DR7 left, drink it now. It ages terribly. Too bad though. Moving on... Next up I have a series of blogposts about my trip to St. Louis (WINNING) and I think I still have to wrap up Indianapolis and San Francisco. Next travel will take me to Mexico and then Mobile BAMA. This summer it looks like Chicago and maybe my home town of Charlotte Carolina if I can swing it. Holla.

Petrol Station Anniversary Party: Divine Reserve 10

So it turns that one of the best beer bars in Houston celebrated it's fifth anniversary. To celebrate, Petrol Station set up a tap list of all high gravity rare beers, including some special ones that are not even for sale. I must say it was a very special event. I had to beat it out of there at about 8PM unfortunately, but it was fantastic. It's one of those things where you wish there was a hotel next door to the place. One sec.


Beer Log: Right now
State: Rather thirsty from my run this morning still

Celis Pale Bock
Copped this one over the weekend at Spec's Downtown. Clear amber color (looks like rum in my Old New Orleans Rum glass) with a lasting white head. Just sad on the taste. Pretty bitter and sour. No real malt in there. It's almost like the beer is infected. Well, I'm pouring this one out. I'll let you guess the rating.

So at Petrol I sat with a few other Houston area beer bloggers/tweeters and we had a great time. Great beer, good beer talk as well. Not to mention some cigars outside. Anyway let's start the show with a few reviews. The wife and I basically ordered a bunch of the beer in half pints as everything was VERY HIGH ABV.

Beer Log: November 13, 2010
State: Fired up for the big event, eating a Rancor burger and drinking a Dogfish Head 90 Minute as a palate cleanser.

Founders IPA
Amber with a white head. Great balanced hop and malt aroma. Taste is nice and very drinkable. I get a lot of grass and wood for the hops. I actually find this very refreshing as a very hop forward beer. I could tell many were not too thrilled with this one, but hey, I like it. I've been backing off my love of the balanced IPA for a hop forward pale ale or even something like an extra pale ale. 4 Stars. Hold up...

Beer Log: Right Now
State: Still thirsty as hell but now I have this sour Celis bock taste in my mouth

The Duke of Winship by Middle Ages
Got this from one of the boys maybe a year ago. Great malty and somewhat lemony nose on top of the huge head. And the head is on top of a cloudy deep brown color. The first thing that strikes me is the high carbonation on the mouthfeel. The beer has a nice light porter quality (roast, malt). I get some cinnamon as well in there. The beer finishes very dry with a light light bitterness. The body is thin as per style. Otherwise I'm getting a touch of metallic and water in there which takes it down to a low 3 stars.

So back to the Petrol

Dragon's Milk by New Holland
I've heard so much about this beer. Especially in places like The Brewing Network. Deep brown color with bourbon/plastic nose. Very strong malt almost imperial like. Lightly hopped with an excellent kind of chocolate and cream flavor throughout the experience. High 4 Stars.

Southern Star Abiding Dude
I learned that this beer was made with of course Southern Star and Ben's coffee beans (owner of Petrol Station). How cool is that? Brown and cloudy, smells strongly of maple syrup and oak and coffee. The taste is of strong bitter coffee (not usually my thing). This one got a little watery on the back of the palate. But very good for it's purpose and seem to get stronger as it warmed up. 3 Stars.

Hop Mouth by Arcadia
I don't even know how these dudes even GOT this beer here. The rub about Texas beer laws is that you cannot sell beer in a bar that is not available to the public, unless of course the beer only comes on draft. So when you are out at a great beer bar, you can basically assume that whatever you are drinking you can run to the Specs Downtown or on Jones Road and pick it up. But these beers I have not seen anywhere. Moving on. Hop Mouth has an amber color and creamy white head. Cascadey nose. Very creamy and smooth, like an English pale ale with American hops. High 3 Stars.

Divine Reserve 10 by Saint Arnold
AT LONG LAST!!!!!!!!! I was in San Francisco when this beer came out and if not for the man @Davewantbeer, I would not have this beer with me at all. But I have three bottles in my beer fridge, and I figured what the hell, I'm drinking this one everywhere I can get it. Dark amber color with excellent malt and sugar sweetness. Smooth and very delicious with the strong caramel and malt flavors. Low hops and very very clean. And I did not find it too cloying. I gotta give it to them again. 5 Stars. Absolutely divine. And that comes after a sh1t-ton of other beers.

Real Ale Mysterium Velum
This one is from our good friends at Real Ale. I understand this is the great Devil's backbone (one of my favorite Tripels) aged in Merlot barrels. Now if they managed to age this in Pinot Noir barrels I probably would still be at the bar drinking it. I get this beer and the first thoughts I get are "oh hell yeah". Great banana, clover with light character that yes cut through the DR10 English Barleywine. I can see the wine flavor in there with a pinch of sourness that I first attribute to Chardonnay. As it warms and I get the palate cleansed, I can see the Merlot. Dry finish, soft character with a little tannins going on. 4 Stars.

Southern Tier Creme Brulee
Very nice nose. This beer is like a stout with Creme brulee. I get the cream, the vanilla, and the burnt sugar thing. I don't know how in the hell they pulled that off but the flavor comes out very well, especially in the aftertaste. Very creative. 4 Stars.

Stone 10.10.10
Ah the Vertical Epic beer that never made it to Texas due to some mixup in the labelling. It's a tripel (going so out of order) and it has a great tripel nose and great tripel taste. Similar to the stuff I've had from Ommegang and Allagash. You all know the tripel characteristics by now, so when I tell you these guys have nailed it better than any Belgian Tripel I've had from Belgium, you know it's is the bomb. I actually have a bottle we brought back from San Francisco, so on 12.12.12 I'll be cracking open at least one bottle. 5 Stars.

Back on the Wagon, No Divine Reserve

Well, I'm back on the Weight Watchers wagon. For the 3 of you that have been reading this blog from Day 1, I started WW as a solidarity thing for the wife, who was trying to lose the poundage. After a few months I went from 245 pounds to 201 lbs of black man. A good year and some change later, I kinda stopped WW and just eyeballed it, which kept me around 206. For the last few months, I just let it rip, drinking all kinds of beer, eating lunch at Five Guys and Lupes, piling up the Apple Cobbler at lunch and the eggs and hash browns for breakfast. So now I'm sitting at 214 lbs butt-naked in the morning.

So I'm back on the wagon, and even training for the New Orleans Half Marathon. Hopes to run a full 'thon in October, probably domestic.

But here's what really sucks, I ONCE AGAIN HAVE NO DIVINE RESERVE THE DAY IT CAME OUT. This time, I was actually eating lunch on the road in between my engineering offices, and stole a quick trip to Specs at 529 and Barker-Cypress at about noon. They had nothing though they admitted they would have it some day. I ran up to HEB at B-C and 290 with no luck. I down some Quiznos and beat it back to Specs, no luck again. Got to get to work so I just chalked it up. The wife went to that same specs and said they had the beer at about 3:15PM, and then sold out in 15 minutes.

WHAT KIND OF ISH IS THAT? How is it that working people are able to beat-ass over to Specs JUST WHEN THE BEER COMES OFF THE TRUCK! I later learn that it's just good ol' twitter. I think twitter is just a conspiracy by law enforcement to know our whereabouts at all times, but I may have to pay attention to it for the next DR. You know what, screw that. I make enough money, I'm going for STRAIGHT BRIBERY next time. Maybe the wife will come through again. Who knows.

New Rule: No Beer While Swine Fluing???

So I'm at the office today like any good Engineer and my friend shoots me an email about the difference in the symptoms between having the Swine Flu (or the flu) and having a Cold.





What's bad is that I had da Swine the SAME DAY Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #9 came out this past September. And all of two weeks before I was supposed to go to Europe for Oktoberfest.

While I was working at the office that day, I was doing just fine in our morning meeting. At 8AM I went to the rest and thought my SOUL just left my body. Kinda like if you have a stomach virus one day, and the next day your body is just plain out of nutrients. Then the coughing comes, and I keep coughing and coughing. All of 30 minutes later my heart is pounding through the roof and I started FREEZING. I ask the boss to leave and he agrees looking at me like I'm about to keel over. I barely drag ass to the car, get in, and TURN THE HEAT ALL THE WAY UP. That helps. Remember, it's a good 85 degrees outside at the time. Somehow I manage enough energy to make it to the Specs and HEB to look for Divine Reserve. Finding none, I make it home, chug some Dayquil, and lay on the couch and sweat it out.


What's bad is that Dayquil set me straight on the symptoms, and I even made it to this Happy Hour that I called for the FAMU game. I don't drink any beer and everyone thinks I must be an impostor.


After a night of Nyquil and a morning of Dayquil, I try a beer that next night. The coughing was UNREAL. My body reacted like beer was made of Affleck spooge. Pure rejection. I don't know if it was the carbonation, the alcohol, the hops, the evil, I could not handle ANY beer. My SPINE was in a lot of pain.

So like a real man, after two days Quil-ing my ass off, I'm still a little out of sorts, but doing well enough to hit the Texans game. At the tailgate I start drinking for my Tailgating Beer series, and again the coughs hit me and hit me hard again. I had NOTHING to stop it. No Halls, no dayquil. I could catch my breath enough to pray. I just kept coughing.


Reading the symptoms of Swine Flu in that email, I now know I certainly had the ish. And for a couple days, it kicked my ass. Luckily the wife and baby did not get sick, and I healed up in time to where I could consume many litres of beer at Amsterdam and Oktoberfest with no affect other than nearly ruining my marriage.



But here's the rub, BEER WORKS GREAT WITH A COLD! Catching a cold sucks, but it actually has some pluses.

First I can take my favorite medicine, Nyquil. Taking it with some alcoholic beverage is even better. Rum works great, beer is just fine, and you want to talk about SLEEP! When the Lord said "Let there be sleep", that's what he was talking about. Not to mention that I have an excuse to sleep in the guest bedroom. Every married man and even guys with girlfriends will admit, Sunday night through Thursday night, sleeping alone is Great! You can make all the noise you want, and sprawl out. Oh it's real.

But here's a new rule. If you go from being just fine to weak as hell, coughing with no mucus, suddenly freezing cold, your heart is about to burst out of your chest, and then a monster fever, just lay off the beer for a good 5 days.


If you have things like a runny nose and soar throat, make your way to the beer cellar baby. IT'S BOSS TIME!

Next Divine Reserve coming out soon

Seems like Saint Arnold has decided to put out another Divine Reserve beer some time this November or December. It will be an Imperial Stout Pumpkin Ale. I've had my share of Pumpkin Ales with mixed reviews. But never an Imperial Stout. Looking forward to Divine Reserve getting back to its 5 Star status with this Imperial Stout. Hopefully I'll be onshore to pick it up.

So if you here looking for some good beering this winter, we'll have some great choices in the city.

Divine Reserve Number 8

Finally ready to taste this one.





State: Slight cough still from my swine flu.


Beer Log: Right now





Nose is a great chocolate, malt, and spiciness. I detect a nice fruitiness as well. Fantastic. Color is orangish with a nice smooth steady white head. Wow. Lots of chocolate and sherry flavors. Just a big dog gone beer. There is a lot of fruitiness in the afteretaste to boot. Great Scot that's a malty chocolate. I get some alcohol in there as well as it warms up, and its converting more to a raisiny flavor. Kinda like raisinettes. And for the first time in my beering career, I can comfortably say I'm getting a nice Band-aid flavor on the back of the tongue and the aftertaste. I always kinda wondered if those dudes on Craft Beer radio and the Brewing Network were honestly tasting band-aid, well, I see it now. Give me a 4 star when it's colder, a 3 star when it's warm. This beer has so much going on with it that I look forward to trying it again in 6-12 months with some aging. These flavors got to mesh a little more for me, especially as that smoke and band-aid comes out hard as it warms. Still a Divine Experience...






***Update. the wife says they actually put Peat in this beer, much like that Brew Dog I had a couple weeks ago. I think I'll have file peat in the same category as sour beers. It's not that I don't like them, I just don't have the taste for them at all and it would thus automatically get a lower rating. I was the same way about hoppy beers and now I'm a hophead, so who's to say one day I won't crave a band-aid bacon smoke flavor of peat or the baby diaper and stinky feet flavor of sour beers.

WE GOT DIVINE RESERVE.

Just like last time, I did NOT get Divine Reserve the day it came out.

Yesterday (DR Day):
I get a WICKED fever and coughing bout at the job yesterday (honestly I did), and I asked the bossman to work from home and he granted my request. On the way back home I do stop off and lay in the car with the heat on HIGH (85 deg outside at the time) while I wait for my favorite Specs liquor store to open. They open and they have no DR. I drag myself up to the HEB at Barker-Cypress and they don't have it.

I am half dead at this point, so I go home, get under the blanket, and sweat about 5 lbs out of my system. Somehow I was Dayquiled up enough to keep my engagement that night to see the FAMU and Georgia Tech games at Buffalo Wild wings. I did kinda set it up and kept the ice water going to keep the old temperature down as FAMU and GT won their games.

Today:
My wife had the day off today and she decided to run by the same HEB. Lo and behold they got their shipment a day late and she picked up two six packs. She called me while I was in a meeting. I am SO proud of her! Name me a man who has a better wife than my Isos? I was stuck in a ditch, my tires spinnin, and Isos came with a truck and saved me.

Right now I am still kinda sick, and am popping Halls like Ecstasy pills. I tried to cure myself with some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and that just made my cough worse, had to pour it out. The Halls seems to be keeping me under control as I was coughing to the point where my spine hurt. Could be the Swine, but I kicked it last year so whatever. The wife is hanging out with her friends and her new boyfriend watching the new Tyler Perry movie. She deserves it. We'll actually try DR first tomorrow night at the Saint Arnold beer tasting at the Alamo Drafthouse so the review is coming soon.

If you are keeping score at home, I owe you all a slew of reviews from my trip to Toronto. My beer notebook is at a friend's house, so hopefully I'll get it back Sunday. Also, we are still on track to go to Amsterdam and Oktoberfest (Munich) later on this month. I swear to Saint Arnold himself, I DON'T CARE IF I HAVE TO TAKE AN IV ON THE PLANE, I'm going on this trip baby. Holla.

Saint Arnold Divine Reserve Out TOMORROW

RUN DON'T WALK. This beer will sell out within 4 hours in the entire city.

(explicit lyrics)

St. Arnold Divine Reserve 7

Funny story.

So St. Arnold has their divine reserve #7 coming out in late September. I was supposed to be offshore, and I forgot about it as my wife is probably too busy to be at the liquor store at 10AM on a workday. They delayed the release to September 30 when Hurricane Ike made its way to Houston, when I would be back on dry land.

September 30 comes and goes and I totally forget about it, as I had to take the baby to the doctor and a couple other errands. It was her wellbaby visit with all the vaccines, so I was hoping we could make it out without too much crying. She was crying when the nurse was listening to her heartbeat. Poor girl.

October 1st comes and my wife calls me up in the middle of the day, saying that I need to find Divine Reserve. I get all fired up, call up some Specs and HEB. Specs had run out within an hour, and the Wine/Beer guy at HEB was not answering the phone. I had a couple errands, and around 3:30, I went to a neat little bar (that used to be a brewpub) that had Divine Reserve #6 (a 5 Star beer). They don't have it. I order a Pyramid Apricot Ale, and quickly derate it from a 4 star to a 3 star, as the drinkability was pretty bad. The gent at the bar said that they didn't make hardly any kegs of DR7, and I won't find it on draft anywhere. I could find DR6 at a couple local pubs months after it had come out (sad). I chat up the guys about beer, my homebrew, and about Obama, and move on home.

I have HEB's number in my phone (the one about 10 miles north of where I was). I call and get the Wine/Beer guy as I am driving home. He says he has DR7 for sale, I tell him I'm on the way and hang up. You want to talk about DRIVING. I had 1o miles of city driving to the upper northwest Houston metro area, and cops were EVERYWHERE. I'm going 55-60 in a 45 zone. I am yelling at people in front of me, "GET OUT THE WAY B!TCH". Visions of tasers dance in my head, but I found my Drowning Pool CD to fire me up and let it ride.

I finally make it HEB, which seemed to take 5 hours. I walk with purpose through the parking lot, breeze past the cheese and bread areas, and make it to Wine/Beer. Plenty of good stuff, but the St Arnolds section had no DR7. The wine/beer guy is not there, and I find someone who looks like a manager. We both look around, and there is nothing there. He says he'll get with the manufacturer tomorrow to get the beer there. I thank him, but apparently he is not aware of the power of St Arnolds Divine Reserve. It is an underground Holiday in Houston, TX when a DR comes out. Normally it sells out within an hour. People are a stone's throw away from performing sexual favors for a 6 pack.

One last sweep through the wine section, and I see it, 4 SIX PACKS OF DIVINE RESERVE #7. Oh hell yeah. No fancy display, no anything. Just four six packs sitting next to a couple bottles of Pinot. I start to pick up 3 of the 6 packs. I figure that there is bound to be some poor sap out there in the same boat I am, and he could be on the way to find a 6 pack. I consider that a community service. I should get a tax break. As I pick up the three 6 packs, an older sistah asks me, "are you old enough to buying that beer". WOMAN, I AIN'T TRYING TO HEAR THAT! I didn't say that, but I thought it. She quickly said she was joking, and I smiled, and made a B-line for the register.

Finally, I OWN a Divine Reserve beer. A beer that (without some pictures of the brewer in a hot tub with the governor's wife while snorting an eightball of coke off her bosom) St. Arn will never brew again. The DR #6 was one of the best beer I'd ever had. And now, St. Arn has delivered once again...

Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve #7
A Weizenbock. The only time I had one of those was in Austin, and it was not up to snuff. Just plain boring. St Arn did a homebrew competition in Weizenbocks, and let the winner brew one batch of the stuff and sell it. Cost me 15 bucks a 6 pack. They could have charged 30.

Pours thick, dark brown color, very cloudy in a weizen glass. Good brown head on it that is very strong. It smells of strong roasted malt, chocolate, and coffee grounds. I think there was some element of wheat beer smells (banana, estery), but it is simply overpowered by the bock smells. Taste, oh yeah, strong malt, very thick, with a slight hop on the aftertaste. VERY VERY drinkable, low carbonation, tailor made for guys like me. Excellent mouthfeel, which comes from the wheat, but not very bready. It just fills up your mouth completely and very smooth (nullus). Definetly not a session beer, though there are no traces of alcohol. To further characterize that malt, I would say it is almost maple syrupy, maybe a little fruity. But this beer as excellent balance. This is a beer that I think helps define why we do what we do. I am sitting here watching this boring debate, and all of an hour after drinking it down, I am craving it big time. But smartly I only chilled 2 of them (one for the wife). We will cellar some of it, and break it out on special occasions. 5 Stars, all day long.

Spezial and Divine

Well it's good to be home, and it looks like we have two new beers for your arse. We bought a Six Pack of Shiner Spezial Leicht and at long last we drove 25 miles one way for St Arnold's Divine Reserve #6.


June 12, 2008
Shiner Spezial Leicht (btl to plastic cup)
We picked up this six pack and met some friends in Galveston, TX. I'm starving out on the beach with a salty taste in my mouth. It was straw colored and smell vegetal, like a lager, with a white head. We drank it ice cold (like the bottle says) and it tastes of low breads and low noticeable hops. It's definitely a light beer with little to no aftertaste. It finishes quickly, yet has high carbonation and moderate drinkability. Not my favorite, but it serves its purpose.


June 13, 2008
Divine Reserve #6 an American Barley Wine (btl to pilsner glass)
Now that we got that out the way, we commenced the journey to find DR. This beer is a small batch of beer who's recipe is brewed by the St. Arnold's Brewing Company, yet comes from the winner of a homebrewing contest. We tried to get DR #5 a few days ago (a Russian Imperial Stout) only to find out that this sh*t sells out within HOURS of its release. So we are nervous as heck and find all the various beer bars that may have it. We settle on the Flying Saucer, though that means we'll need to drive all the way downtown to get it. Small price to pay even with these gas prices. The wife and I did not even eat before getting this beer or even wait for the waitress. We sat outside, got a beer from the bar. Bad move on the food.

The smell is of flowery hops, some grapefruit and spicyness in there. It's got a thick tan head, and pours orange at first with auburn color as it fills the glass. The first thing we notice is the bold full body. Lots of hops and great thick maltiness to balance. Velvety finish with medium carbonation. It was a little warm as well PERFECT. It is beers like these are the reason brothas start beer tasting in the first place. It's smooth and creamy. The more I drink it, the more malt and hops come out. We don't sip it but drink it a little fast, and both of us get kinda tipsy as the 9.4% ABV starts to take affect. Awesome wow beer. My only problem is that I think it's too hopped up to be a Barley wine, more like a Double IPA or Imperial IPA to me. But whatever, I ain't a beer judge. St. Arnold's hit this one out the park. It's no wonder I'll probably never taste it again.