Saint Arnold Goes Big with Divine Reserve No. 18

Saint Arnold is starting off the year in a big way with Divine Reserve No. 18, an Imperial Stout, with the highest alcohol by volume percentage in brewery history. This beer will be available in six-packs of 12 oz bottles and 22 oz bottles in Texas and Louisiana next week.

The Saint Arnold Divine Reserve series consists of single batch beers, each brewed with a completely different recipe. There is no particular theme to the beers, although it can be assumed that most all of them will be big. This year, the brewers went really, really big. After many test brews, the brewers settled on a brewing process that pushes the Saint Arnold yeast to its limit, includes three times the amount of grain bill as the Fancy Lawnmower, two additions of Belgian candi syrup during fermentation to provide an adrenaline shot to the yeast, and let the beer rest for 3 months before adding a small amount of Madagascar Vanilla beans.

“For this Divine Reserve, we turned an experiment into what the alcohol tolerance of our yeast was into an amazing beer,” said Aaron Inkrott, Brewing Operations Manager for Saint Arnold. “By taking what we’ve learned in-house, from friends in the industry, and through several trials, we created a beer that we’re extremely proud to share.”

The beer pours a rich darkness that doesn’t allow light to pass through and has a mocha colored head. The aroma is filled with molasses, vanilla, baker’s chocolate, and rich dark fruit from our house yeast and the amount of malt used is four times the amount of Fancy Lawnmower. The flavor profile starts with rich chocolate and raspberries that are dipped in honey, then builds on dried dark cherry notes, and finishes like a vanilla marshmallow kiss.

“One of the most satisfying parts of brewing is that we are still learning and growing as brewers even after doing this for 24 years,” said Brock Wagner, Founder/Brewer for Saint Arnold. “Finding limits and then moving past them all while brewing well-balanced beers we want to enjoy with our community is why we do this.”