Bluegrass Dark Star Porter

Brewed by Bluegrass Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Louisville, Kentucky USA

bottle. Aroma: A decent toasted malt aroma with some nutiness. Light vanilla and some subtle cocoa, as well. Appearance: Poured dark brown with small reddish highlights. Head was light beige, medium in size and had good retention. Not much lacing. Flavor: Good coffee flavor with some light chocolate. A touch of anise and a hint of tobacco smoke. Palate: Medium bodied. Medium carbonation. Overall: A decent porter, but nothing to write home to mom about.

Bottle: Pours a dark brown with a small tan head. Smells a bit of chocolate and coffee, but is not very powerful in the aroma. Taste is almost like a coffee with some sweetner. Not to bad, but nothing to jump for joy over.

12 oz bottle - thanks Kevin


I have now had enough BBC beers to know they do not make anything outstanding but most of their beers are at least well done. This one was a bit of a let down; perhaps on tap it is better. If they have it when I visit I may give it a second chance. It was neither good nor bad but in that middle area of bland beers.

Aroma / Appearance - Faint traces of vanilla, cocoa, chocolate pudding and smoky marshmellows complete the nose. It was not very complex at all, but hardly offensive. I was just left wondering if perhaps my nose was not working well that night. The body was a nice brown with cinnamon colored head and cohesive lacing that slithered down the sides of my glass.

Flavor / Palate - My first thought was that this was too thin and watery to earn any points for flavor. However, eventually I was able to pick up some coffee, applesauce and honey glazed sugarbun notes. The strangest combination was the finish which reminded me of ham that had been dipped into peanut butter. Overall it was bland with flavors all over the place. I’d give this one consideration for a second chance only because it showed promise at times. Otherwise though it is a decent quaffable beer which falls squarely in the middle of the road.

Bottle. Has a bit of a plastic smell to it, a little bit of the same in the flavor, but still has a big amount of mocha and smoked malt everywhere. Has a dark black appearance (rated in low light conditions) with a nice looking tan head. Good stuff overall, but it takes a few drinks to get beyond the plastic smoke flavor that consumes this beer. After that it mellows out a bit on the tongue.

Bottle... Almost pitch black ale with red highlights and a small, frothy, beige head. Good retention. Toasty, milk chocolaty, nutty nose. Chocolaty flavor. Good balance. Medium-bodied with a creamy mouthfeel and moderate carbonation. Lengthy, chocolaty, lightly bitter finish.

Hmm... never saw this before, so I had to get a 6-pack o’ bottles from Harris Teeter, Charlottesville. Dark, rubious black with a large head. Cold cofeee nose and flavor... Nice.

Deep and dark ruby in color with an off white head that stayed around for the whole shebang. Aroma has mild chocolate and coffee notes. Taste is similar but it had an unexpected creaminess to it. I thought it was a tad too creamy and a little on the sweet side. Nicely malted and a decent finish although I didn’t pick up anything spicy about it. Good, but when I want a porter, I think I’ll grab for something else.

I had this on draught at the BBC restaurant in Concourse C of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG). It is very deep red in color with a farily creamy off-white head . It’s aroma and flavor has competing chocolate and coffee tones. Has a decent amount of bitterness on the palatte and and in the finish. I paired this with their Beer Cheese Soup that is supposedly made with the Dark Star Porter. An good porter typical of the style.