Dark Horse 12-12-12

Brewed by Dark Horse Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Marshall, Michigan USA

Draught. At 2006 Michigan Brewers’ Guild Festival. Dark murky brown, no head to speak of. Sweet yeast and spicy malt aroma, lightly roasty, very moreish. Flavour follows the aroma, sweet caramel malt, spicy and yeasty, the malt almost has a burnt character. Average body, decent carbonation, syrupy with an almost herbal finish - nice NorAm dubbel.

Michigan Brewers Festival 2006. Black headless body. Funky lightly sour aroma over muted roasty malt. Light woody notes. Similar flavour, with the wood emerging more, and dominating over the sweet malt. Medium palate. Decent, not really for me. 7/3/7/3/14

On tap at the brewpub. The body was black with a tan and light orange head. The aroma was sweet peaches with cinnamon and a little ginger. The taste was chocolate. There was also some light hints of vanilla with oak and a bit of banana. An interesting beer.

Deep dark brown in color with a little or no carbonation. Vanilla and bourbon aroma. Big bourbon flavor. Chocolate and caramel notes. Sweet. Finish is vanilla and bourbon. Full bodied. Ok beer. Drinkable. A lot of bourbon was used here.

Rating 12-12-12 bourbon barrel aged. Very low carbonation but thats how it’s supposed to be. Black with no head and aroma of boozy bourbon and some vanilla. Taste is mostly bourbon and if you can get past that, theres some chocolate and caramel but it’s a far reach to get that much. Sugary sweet with some nuttiness, Full bodied. IMHO, just too much bourbon. Rating 2400.

Draft at Dark Horse. Black pour with a small frothy light brown head that lasted. Heavy complex sweet smoky aroma. Medium to full body. Solid sweet roasted malt flavor with a moderate bubblegum hoppy finish. Complex and interesting brew.

On tap at the brewpub. The bartendress at the brewpub said this was a derivative of there black bier. Charcoal and molasses dominate along with brown sugar and roasted malts. It is thinner then the black bier and not quite as assertive.

This beer was brewed to commemorate the 12 miners killed in the West Virginia mine disaster on January 12th. The third "12" in the name comes from the brewery staff shutting off all power during the brewing process for 12 minutes as a memorial to those who died struggling to extract energy resources in dangerous conditions to feed our energy gluttony. This 8.5abv brew, based on the impressive Special Reserve Black Bier, but using Belgian yeasts, is quite robust, smoky, and roasty. Quite assertive hopping contributes a big bitter finish. I’d love to get my hands on this again, but it appears to be a one shot deal.