Dark Horse Dark Corner Ale (2007)

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

Black cap. Murky orange-brown body, medium tight buff head. Dense chocolate aroma with toast and caramel notes. Robust body, with milk chocolate, sweet dark fruits, bitter tannins, and a long, chewy, bitter finish. The sweetness builds after a few sips and has a Grape Dimetapp characteristic. Overall a bit rough and heavy.

Bottle, thanks kmweaver. Cloudy amber red with an off-white head. Rich caramel, a whiff of smoke and sweet candy covered apples. Very full and caramel-y with notes of cherry, sweet/sticky brown sugar, light chocolate and a subdued hop presence. Full to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

12oz bottle, black cap, Dark Horse version, courtesy of artusory. Thanks, Ryan! Pours a hazy, amber-brown color; light tan head with patchy lacing. Cherry cough drops and sticky, nougaty maltiness in the aroma. Plenty of maple syrup / caramelly sugar and red fruits in a medium-to-full mouthfeel: still get that cherry coughdrop, sticky malty presence throughout. Medium, brown sugar and dried red fruit finish. I preferred the version brewed at Arbor.

(12oz bottle, tasted side-by-side with Arbor version, thanks kmweaver) Beige head atop hazy copper body. Aroma is moderately sweet, caramel, fig/cherry. Taste is moderately sweet, caramel, raisin/cherry, light cola, chocolate. Medium body.

A thick brandy shade of brown with glowing resin edges. Aroma suggests a young old ale. Peat, vanilla, smoke and barrel are powerful in the front. Candy sugar and black cherries, rustic and hard. Brown grains and dog food swell consistently until they swallow up the details in a clumsy rush. Taste is similarly dark and dirty – scotch, bark, and honey. Hot and gritty, with a dry rubbery finish. Fairly thick and comparatively well-defined in the mouth, even a bit smooth. The pulse is residual, grainy, a charcoal grind. Too rough. Thanks for sharing, Ryan!

So this is the version brewed by Matt Greff @ Dark Horse. Opaque brown and reddish colored body with a dark tan head. Nose of raspberries, cherry pits and stems, very fruity, with notes of maraschino cherries and sweet port, and some cream as well. Very nice nose, but unfortunately the flavor did not follow up. It’s coarse and acidic up front, with cooked grains and husky cherry flavors, finishing with a cracker and grain coarseness and an accompanying crude bitterness that I didn’t enjoy.

12oz - black cap - Aroma is roasted malts, barley and a touch of smoke. Pours cloudy brown with a small head and good lacing. Flavor is mellow roasted malts and a little hop bitterness. Palate is creamy and smooth. Decent but nothing special.

12 Oz Bottle. Subdued generic hop and malt aroma, bits of the West Coast and barley fields pop in. Pours a bronzed amber, gold on the out and brown on the in. Rim of white. Carbonation low. Flavor has develops way too much Crystal malt. There’s a whole boat of burnt caramels, chocolate toffee and sickly sweet candies. Crystal comes much too forward. The hops fight amongst the Maillaird bitterness to wiggle in amongst the annals of fuming alcohols, shallow bitterness and tepid body. Not a well brewed brother to the other. One malt character dominates the beer, the body is too thin, and the hops play as only bitterness. Malt character minimal but some minerals find home in the background amongst the reeds and willows. Thanks Sean!