Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier

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

Oil can black. Rich tones of darkness. Lots of body and chocolate. Sweetness lingers but it finishes with a tart taste. Porter? No, it is a stout. Come on.

Nearly opaque brown-black with a thin brown head. Dark roast coffee and chocolate aroma - malty and smoky. Chocolate and especially coffee dominate the strong flavor, with smoke and a little hops lingering on the finish. Medium body. Excellent.

A nice black beer with a head that is reddish at times. It soon fades to a very thin layer and a small ring. Roasted notes, chocolate, and a bit of smoke define the aroma. Flavor is rich chocolate and premium coffee. Some dark fruit and mild bitterness, as well. Delicious and big, especially for a porter. Big, robust, and delightful.

Pours dark black with a medium tan head. Strong coffee aroma and lighter chocolate tones. Some woody hop as well. Slightly bitter coffee flavour and a decent roast malt body if a little lighter than I had expected. Some molasses and a thin bitterness in the finish.

Bottle courtesy of KieferUGA, picked up for me while we were all up in Chicago/Indiana. Poured a pretty viscous black with a small and short lasting light brown head. Aroma of roasted/smoked malt, chocolate, coffee and oats. They sure crammed a lot of flavor into this one. Huge amounts of coffee, which I normally do not overly love, but this was really nice tasting. Chocolate, roasted malt, caramel and darkish fruit. A pretty solid hop presence in the finish. Just a really stand out example of the style.

Bottle courtesy of SQNfan. Pours black with a small dark tan head that fades quickly. Aroma of rich roasted malt, alcohol, and bitter chocolate. Flavor of sweet roasted malt and a hint of bitter chocolate. A little boring, flavor-wise but ok.

12oz bottle. Jet black pour, dark tan head. Dark roasted aroma, a little chocolately as well. Nice dark roasty malt body, thicker than most porters to me, slight bitterness in the back of the throat.

Bottle. Absolutely gorgeous aroma of roasted malt, coffee, espresso, supporting sweet alcohol, supporting bittering hops, working well with the coffee notes, giving them different edges. Nothing too fancy, but just everything I’d want in a robust porter. Flavor works together marvelously as well, bitter chocolate, sweet coffee ice cream, perfect alcohol presence. A stand-out in a category where beers are apt to get muddled in with the masses. Mouthfeel is creamy yet airy and silky at the same time. Again, just what I’m looking for, full-bodied and superbly drinkable. Is it a 5 in appearance? Tough to say...not much of a head...but this beer feels like a 5.0 to me, a glorious feeling, and the bubbles on the head that it did have were quite lively and glistening...so...a 5.0 it is.