Dark Horse Fore Smoked Stout

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

Pours a thick and oily very dark brown-black, with a brief cap of tan foam that quickly turns into a sparse ring. A little foam clings to the sides of the glass after each sip, but then slides back into the beer in oily sheets. Amazing bold mocha java aroma, slightly smoky, slightly fruity, with lots of molasses. More bitter flavor than the aroma would indicate - heavier on the bitter coffee, bitter chocolate, and husky grain. No trace of the fruit or molasses from the aroma. Dry bitter woodsmoke and charred oak throughout. All of these plus hash oil in the aftertaste. Frickin’ hash oil of all things! Mild carbonation, warming alcohol presence, but no alcohol flavors.

Bottle thx to The Knight. Pitch black with a small brown head. Nice and malty, roasted and quite smokey. Well balanced - great!

Bottle . Thansk to Styles. Poured a deep black like oil. Aroma of coffe and smoke is very present. The taste is of coffe and the smoke taste makes me think like I just bit into a smoked briskit.

Bottle, courtesy sebletitje. Pours pitch black, with a small creamy head and very creamy lacing. Nose is nice and smoky, with chocolate and coffee, and toffee and caramel. Flavor is great, with smoke, some roast and hints of caramel and coffee, and dark fruit ad big toasted malt in the finish. Smooth, dry, extremely drinkable, medium-bodied. Enjoyed it a lot.

Insanely dark black coloured body with a thinnish deep brown coloured head. Aroma of strong smoked peat, deep roasted malt, vanilla pods and a great bitter coffee scent. Full-bodied; Strong bittering coffee and dark chocolate (~80% cacao) flavour with the smokiness you’d expect from the style. Aftertaste shows a heavy body, malt, and a bunch of smoked flavours - all amazing...with some vanilla and oaky flavours. Overall, probably the best smoked beer i’ve had to date - and truly a great beer to try. More of an Imp Stout than a Smoked, but the smoked flavours are running rampant in this bottle. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle on 09-July-2005 purchased from Merchant’s in Dearborn, Michigan.

Bottle. I’m kind of surprised no other brewer I know of has done a smoked stout. Oily black with a nice tan head that laces. You can smell the smoke from an arms length. Taste is nice & burnt caramel and malts. Silky smooth flavors of chocolate and ash. Fantastic.

Pours perfectly opaque, viscous and oily. Head is dark brown and lazy. However, the small bit that does reside around the edges leaves gorgeous mahogany lacing when the liquid is swirled in the snifter. Smell is rich, of chocolate cookies, smoky leather, and a distinct almond and cream that it is unique for a stout. Really a fine smelling beer, like being tucked deep in a leather smokers chair. Mouthfeel is richly smooth and oh so smoked. Pork barbecue, chipotle peppers and cigarettes, is what its like, but they all contribute without being gimmicky. Elegantly they mesh with the roasted chocolate malts and rich pit fruits. It’s a boldy packed palate and it works extremely well for such a full load. The guys out West with their massive stouts ought to take notes. Aftertaste is chocolate, fruit and some alcohol – strong, but unobtrusive. Cheers to my great friend jgb9348 for bringing this back to me from Michigan as part of my college graduation gift!

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with Eyedrinkale, thanks Mike!) Been sitting on this one for almost a year, so it’s had some time to do its thing in the bottle. Hardly a wimper when I pop the cap, and pouring the beer, whoa, this is black, black, black! Looks like used motor oil, with a fairly thick viscosity. The light brown head is about as dark a cap as I’ve seen on a beer, but it’s extremely small, barely cover the beer with a full layer, and completely dissipates in under a minute. But wow, it’s fully black even at the edges when held to a sunlight, so you can’t get any darker and more opaque than this. The piquant, intense nose projects a very earthy and roasty aroma, plenty of decaying wood, and strong hints of delicious, sweet, chocolate-coated cherries. Not getting much in the way of smoke, however. Some differences in the flavor though, with quite a bit more coffee showing up. It’s roasty and fairly bitter, earthy and mushroomy, only slightly sweet, plenty of that cherry and chocolate combination. But again, smoke isn’t really all that noticeable, and that’s probably because the stout shows so much roastiness and ash that smoke wouldn’t really add much. Lightly carbonated, as one would assume given the nearly headless pour. Full bodied, but not thick and heavy, so this makes it a pretty easy drinking beer for one that packs such rich and intense flavor. Extremely flavorful enjoyable beer, one that drank pretty easy for me, and my now-empty glass provokes much sadness.