Saint Arnold Endeavour IPA²

March 20th, 2012 by in Other Beer Reviews

For the second time in about four months, Saint Arnold has re-released one of their single batch Divine Reserve beers. Last October for Halloween I reviewed Pumpkinator, the re-release of Divine Reserve #9 that Saint Arnold will now put out seasonally in the fall. Now I’m reviewing Endeavour, Saint Arnold’s newest year-round beer. It’s a re-release of Divine Reserve #11, a double IPA (or IPA² as Saint Arnold calls it on the label) that Lindsay, Jackie and I reviewed last year.

Saint Arnold couldn’t decide what to call this beer when they decided to re-release it. They had two names with compelling arguments for each: Eleven and Endeavour. Since they couldn’t decide, they put it up to a vote. More information on the vote can be found at the Houston Chronicle  beer blog.

Endeavour is named after the Space Shuttle Endeavour, fitting because Houston is known as Space City. The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is located just southeast of Houston; Mission Control and other NASA facilities are housed there. The Endeavour name also fits in with Saint Arnold’s nautical theme for its IPAs; the shuttle Endeavour was named after Captain James Cook’s ship Endeavour. Cook sailed the Pacific Ocean in Endeavour, mapping previously uncharted waters around New Zealand, Hawaii, and other locations.

Since I still have bottles of Divine Reserve 11, I’ve decided to crack open a bottle of both Endeavour and Divine Reserve 11 and compare them side by side.

Divine Reserve 11 (released April 1, 2011 – 11 months old)

Appearance: Cloudy copper/orange color, decent off-white head.

Scent: fruit, caramel, some hops, but mellowed.

Taste: sugary, a little syrupy taste with mellow citrus hop bitterness. Slight bit of alcohol taste

Mouthfeel: a little thick with lighter carbonation

Endeavour (released 2/29/2012)

Appearance: clear amber color, good head that lingers a bit longer

Scent: a lot more floral and citrus than DR11, definite hoppy nose

Taste: more hoppy bitter taste than DR11 and less sweet, but still a smooth beer. No sign of alcohol.

Mouthfeel: about average, lightly carbonated and pleasant to drink

As far as comparing the two, I definitely enjoy this better fresh. The aging really reduces the hoppy flavor in the beer and the Divine Reserve 11 wasn’t tasting a whole lot like an IPA anymore. It was still a decent beer, but not what you would expect from a double IPA. Fortunately Endeavour is now a year-round beer, so it shouldn’t be tough to find fresh bottles.

Finally, take a look at this picture, especially near the bottoms of the glasses, and I think you’ll be able to see the difference between the fresh Endeavour, which is clear, and the cloudy Divine Reserve 11.


  • Ken Goyette

    11 Months on the Double IPA. I am pretty surprised any hops showed up at all. That said a friend just traded for an Endeavour and I am insanely excited for him to share it…

    Reply

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