Arbor Dark Corner Ale (2007)

Brewed by Arbor Brewing Company Pub & Eatery
Style: Brown Ale
Ann Arbor, Michigan USA

Brown bottle - Red cap- Pours a wonderful rust-brown colour with an off white - scrambled egg colour head some small amounts of yeast(?) floating in there too. The aroma is of malt-hops-honey-toffee-chai latte, beautiful. Flavour: Malt and toffee with a hint of coffee, alcohol is well disguised too, it has a short dry finish. Cracking little beer

Red cap bottle, courtesy of Hogtown Harry. Medium to dark brown, lots of streaming bubbles, good sized mocha white head, lots of floaties in the bottom. Nice aroma - toasted grain, a rel nice kick of caramel or toffee, not really much sweetness. Taste is decent - burnt toast like taste, some nice complimenting earthy hops, and a good kick of alcohol. Medium to light mouthfeel but well carbonated adding to its drinkability. Simple and well done.

Bottle Fall 2007. Poured a clear brown color with an average frothy off-white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate toasted sweet malt and hoppy aroma. Medium body. Solid balanced toasted flavor with a medium bittersweet finish of moderate duration. Good complex brew.

Bottle from Styles. Totally surprised by this beer. I almost overflowed the glass on the pour. Foamed up like nobody’s business right from the start and took forever to subside. Dark murky brown color, like something I drew up out of the Mississippi River. Smells hoppy and malty at the same time. Similar to the Dark Horse version. Hmmmm... Strange. It starts off with a nice hoppiness then fades into.....coffee?? What? Yep, that’s what it is. Thought for a moment I had cross-contamination from the Brooklyn Black I had earlier but no, it was from a different glass. Damn, this is really good. I like this better than the Dark Horse offering. This was much different than the Dark Horse version and I think better.

12oz Bottle $1.69 Single Siciliano’s, Grand Rapids Damn! Dark Corner is about as close to being a gusher as you can get without actually being one. As I cracked the cap the foam rose to the top of the bottle but without overflowing. On the pour 3/4 of the glass ended up being thick craggy beige foam. That eventually died down enough to complete the pour. The body was a semi-hazy copper. The aroma isn’t all that inviting. There seems to be way to much earthiness, by erthiness I mean the aroma of dirt, in this beer. Once you get past the earthiness, which is hard to do, there’s a solid dose of caramel and a dash of citric hoppiness on the backend. Unfortunately the taste isn’t much of an improvement on the smell. Caramel and a citrusy (orange and lemon) hop sweetness come through but the dirtyness is still there. If that dirtyness wasn’t there this would be a decent brew but as is it’s pretty disappointing. Not only is this brew a dissapointment in the body and flavor but there’s way too much carbonation present. Too prickly and thin. This is just not an enjoyable beer. I would call this an IPA, although there is a big helping of caramel, if that dirtyness wasn’t involved. Not something I want to drink anymore. This is a complete let down. I’ve never sampled anything from Corner Brewery before but when I saw Dark Horse and Corner brewery each brewed the same recipe at each brewery I couldn’t wait to try it. Hopefully Dark Horse’s version is better but we’ll see. 1/12/08

red cap...arbor stuff...dark brownish, bloody red...very murky..aroma similar to an ipa or pale with grapefruit hops and small sugary malts..flavor of fresh hops, light malt, caramel, and finishes like an ipa (bitter, and somewhat dry); reminds me of a black IPA..

Thanks dra19. (red cap version). The color was cloudy medium brown/orange. There was light floating sediment. The aroma was sweet caramel malt, some spice, and very light licorice. The flavor had some spice and sweet malt. The palate was mildly carbonated. The finish was clean.

Thanks dra19. (red cap) Pours a nice murky brown with much suspension. The head was profuse, it was almost funny watching how little liquid could produce so much head. The aroma is sweet, a little Belgian,malty, bready, and citrusy. The flavor is sweet, caramel, a little toasty, nutty, and some alcohol. The palate is a bit dry.