Dark Horse Amber Ale

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

Pours a hazy dark amber with a thin white head. Smells of yeast and light hops. Flavor is yeast, light hops, caramel, bananas, and floral notes. Bits of yeast particles at the bottom. Quite an odd flavor for its style but enjoyable.

Amber/brown color with a short lived white head. Aroma of yeast, some spice and hops. Flavor of yeast, caramel, some spices and hops. Very unusual for a amber ale.

Reddish brown pour with a small, short-lived, white head. The aroma has caramel and some slight dark fruit with a little banana esters. The flavor also has some fairly pronounced esters and dark fruit, with a little caramel and nuttiness. There’s also a little hint of spice. If it weren’t for the label and the decent amount of caramel malt flavor I would swear this was a dunkel. The body is medium with a fair bit of carbonation.

Hmm...this was unexpected. An amber, but with many of the qualities, particularly in the yeastiness of the flavors, of a Belgian variety. Odd, and not bad, but very unusual.

Bottle. Pours a ruddy shoe-leather brown with a fair amount of activity, but no head. The aroma is iniviting in a homey way. Wow, at the first taste I’m taken aback -- this has quite the Belgique character, yeasty and esthery. Pleasantly surprised, this is different for an American Amber! (#3558, 5/30/2009)

soft inviting yeast nose. light funk. flavor is nearly brown ale like -- malt overtones almost seem roasted. malt sweetness and yeast tartness interplay well. yeast esters and fruitiness almost combine to give birth to cherry notes. even a very well balanced amber ale doesnt interest me, maybe a very well hopped one might....this is an interesting recipe to set this one apart.

12 oz bottle courtesy of the Binnys Singles Rack (Orland Park, IL). I believe every Dark Horse beer I’ve had is from this very location.. except the Raspberry maybe. Either way, pours a very nice orangey amber with decent haze, small white head that quickly dies to a film, laces very minimally. Aromas are interesting, taking on caramel and biscuity notes, a bit of toast with some very nice citrusy hoppiness. Initial is medium bodied, preaching biscuits, light toast and caramel, with light florals and balancing hops. A bit underwhelming for the style, but not bad. A sessioner for sure. Cheers.

Nice malt on the nose there. Light bodied but has more backbone then other ambers I have drank. A bit of hops hiding in there as well. Ruby amber color also does not lace the glass very well. Pours with minimal head.