Commentist Beer Barrel: Let’s Have A Lager!

Happy Super Bowl Saturday! My sympathies to the vast majority of you whose team won’t be playing tomorrow, but the consolation match is, I think, a pretty exciting matchup with some real offensive firepower on both sides, and you don’t get that every year. I, for one, tend to drink a little bit more quickly when the game’s fun, so maybe today we can all agree to drink something light and take it easy. Right?

Yeah, I didn’t think so. But we’re still drinking a lager. And that lager is the latest in Saint Arnold Brewing’s Divine Reserve series of one-off releases: Divine Reserve 17, a Baltic porter.

Okay. I can see some of you are confused. A porter’s an ale, isn’t it? Yeah, usually! And some breweries, true, will just a brew a strong porter with an ale yeast and call it a Baltic porter, but Saint Arnold is not here to jerk you around like that. Traditional Baltic porter, as it originated (predictably) in the modern-day Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and also in Finland, was a product of German rather than English brewing methods, cold-fermented with German lager yeasts. And so the yeast in Divine Reserve 17 is the same Bavarian lager yeast they use for their pilsners, which strikes me as a pretty impressive achievement since I don’t usually think of pilsner yeasts as hardy enough to keep fermenting all the way up to DR17’s imposing 9.2% ABV.

Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 17 is one dark, dark beer, pouring black all the way through. The light-khaki head fades away quickly, leaving a thin ring of foam around the margins of the glass. Aroma is mostly grainy, with a little more bitterness than you’ll experience when you actually take a sip. The flavor’s primarily sweet and chocolatey, backed with a hint of raisin; there’s some of the roast of an imperial stout, but it’s muted, defining the beer around the edges, along with the hops, rather than being part of its core. Saint Arnold has suggested that the beer can be aged (and I, for one, will be aging some of it) to “smooth out” the alcohol, but unlike many nine-percenters, this one’s perfectly smooth already, with not even a hint of detectable heat. In my opinion, this is one of the best beers in the series so far.

lady snow says: I like that this isn’t as bitter as a lot of strong stouts and porters.

make it snow says: That’s something that really stood out to me too.

lady snow says: But it’s definitely not overwhelmingly sweet, either. It reminds me of Old Rasputin.

make it snow says: That’s interesting, because I think of Old Rasputin as one of the more bitter imperial stouts. But then, the bitterness there is about the hops. On the other hand, it’s appropriate, because Old Rasputin’s more of a traditional Russian imperial stout, historically Baltic porters were patterned on those strong stouts brewed in England for Baltic markets from St. Petersburg to Poland.

lady snow says: Interesting! Yeah, I think this is like that base flavor from Old Rasputin, underneath all the hops.

tl;dr: You don’t have to make an ale to make a porter. And sometimes you can make an even better porter if you don’t make an ale.

Grade: 17 out of 17.

make it snow is an alot of beer and underinformed movie critic. He’s on like his fourth six-pack of Divine Reserve 17 since it release. They’re only making it once, after all. 

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makeitsnowondem
make it snow is an alot of beer. He is also a Broncos fan living in Denver.
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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
Gratliff

Motherfucking Dawkins didn’t make it in. Fuck the hall. Just induct all the safeties and quit fucking about with your quotas.

herodotus450

Rewatching some Parks and Rec episodes. REALLY hoping this Kristen Bell guest role turns into a lesbian threesome with Amy Poehler and Lucy Lawless that I just don’t remember happening the first time I watched.

JerBear50

If you had to spend the rest of the evening hanging around with Dax, would it still be worth it?

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Burp.

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Had my first ever beer from Melvin Brewing today. Called Citradamus. It’s a double IPA that I found d better balanced than many. It’s my first IPA since I got back on/off the wagon, and I enjoyed it very much.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Sunny and 60 here; so yes at work. At least no one is here so I brought the dog.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1qQJaIDVa2c/Us6TX22M_eI/AAAAAAAAP3c/UbGzn3Z9zaE/s1600/evelyn-taft.gif

ballsofsteelandfury

Gotta love LA.

herodotus450

Quite Taft.

herodotus450

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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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King Hippo

I’d probably like that there Baltic porter/lager, but it would call me a “mudblood” or somethin’ worser.

Bloody Lethal

Had a sixer of these the other day:

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Found it to be delightful.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24134/94175/

Bloody Lethal

I liked the IPA as well. Where are you located? In NY they’re popping up everywhere.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24134/94175/

JerBear50

That can reminded me of a special release my closest-to-home brewery Escape put out this past fall. It was a Gose infused with stone crab claws. I did not have the balls to try it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BM6xHR-gk-Y/

Bloody Lethal

Sounds good thanks.

ballsofsteelandfury

Potentially heretical question: Does anyone consider Guinness to be bitter? It tastes almost sweet to me and I do not get any bitterness at all, but my mom doesn’t care for it as she thinks it’s bitter. She prefers lagers. Which brings it back around to today’s beer. Perhaps this is the magic stout she might like?

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

The way they process it is to add a sour to the batch.

It is a very light, creamy stout. I think people look at the color (colour) and make their taste judgement there instead of when it hits your palate. It is comparatively low calorie/ alcohol content beer for any beer let alone a stout. Still love it and it is a fall back beer when there are not craft brews I like/ want to try available.

Here is a good explanation:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/662/

ballsofsteelandfury

That makes sense.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

I know these women are Brits, but Cromwell did a lot of work there,

King Hippo

I just don’t like it. Too filling and makes me prone to break wind. To each his or her own.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Filling? I guess if it gives you gas maybe, but for me it is one of the least filling beers available.

http://1.media.collegehumor.cvcdn.com/f/8/collegehumor.3971e29fb0d7e8009d4982985d4fc13d.jpg

ballsofsteelandfury

Yeah, i don’t get the filling thing. It has very low carbonation too, so it is SUPER easy for me to drink. I could drink it all day.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

After a full day you are taller, cuter, funnier, and richer (PUTS ITS ON SHMY TAB!), so it is truly a miracle beer.

http://s2.favim.com/orig/28/bewitched-elizabeth-montgomery-samantha-stevens-Favim.com-235549.gif