The World’s Best Dark Ale. These words not only appear on Unibroue’s website announcing the availability of 17 in the United States but also on the back of the bottle itself. The original batch of 17 was brewed in 2007 for Unibroue’s 17th anniversary. That original batch won many high honors including platinum medals three years in a row at the World Beer Championship. However, in 2010 the same original batch aged three or so years was named the World’s  [ Read More ]

Shiner Kosmos Reserve, named after Kosmos Spoetzel, is the fifth of six beers in the Shiner Family Reunion six pack. Kosmos Spoetzel was the first Shiner brewmaster and also the namesake of the Spoetzel Brewery. Here’s the label text: Kosmos Spoetzel knew how to brew great beer. Born in Bavaria, Kosmos’ mastery of German brewing carried him as far as Egypt before he found his way to the small Texas town of Shiner. Our proud brewery still carries his name  [ Read More ]

Check out the photo from my new photography studio! It may or may not be made from a cardboard box, tissue paper, masking tape, and poster board. But that’s not why you’re here… on with the beer! I previously reviewed Divine Reserve #9 by Saint Arnold about 12 months after its release; it was still delicious and perhaps even better than it tasted when first released. Here we are now about 19 months after it had been bottled and it’s  [ Read More ]

Lindsay, Jackie and Scott spent the afternoon together to enjoy a few beers; two of these were for an upcoming article, but the third was the newly-released Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #11. Every so often Saint Arnold, Houston’s local microbrewery and Texas’ oldest craft brewery, releases a single batch of a big beer under its Divine Reserve label. This particular beer is a double IPA. So who is Saint Arnold? According to the Wikipedia article, Saint Arnold was a soldier  [ Read More ]

Tonight I’m having the latest from the St. Arnold Divine Reserve series, #10.  This one is an English barleywine and is based on the recipe of a Houston homebrewer who won the Big Batch Brew Bash.  It’s 11% ABV with a sweet and somewhat hoppy taste; the beer also looks thicker than it is.  I plan to age a couple of these bottles to see what happens over time.  Like Divine Reserve #9, this one will be difficult to find,  [ Read More ]

Tonight, after a successful TweetWatch of Muppet Christmas Carol (thanks Ryan), I broke out a bottle of Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #9. The Divine Reserve series are limited edition single batch “big beers” from Texas’ oldest craft brewery. This particular beer is an Imperial Pumpkin Stout and was purchased over a year ago.  I have kept some bottles of DR9 in the bottom of my pantry for the past year and I’m very pleased with how it aged.  It has  [ Read More ]