Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier

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

Pours pitch black with some lace. Has a sweet taste of dark chocolate. Goes down easy for a dark beer. Tastes like a stout with hints of dark coffee.

Bottole: Pours very black with almost no head. Aroma of coffee and spices. Very good spice flavor with a little bitterness. Good.

Pours black as midnight, with a 1 inch head with a moderately bubbly tan colored head. Sweet and roasty aroma of baker’s chocolate, fresh coffee, and chocolate milk. Background aroma of spicy, minty hops, and earthy, nutty, woodiness. Flavor starts off strong with big roasted coffee bitterness. Dry, bittersweet cocoa powder. Orange pith bitterness and boozy spice round things out. Medium bodied with slightly tangy carbonation and big drying finish. Overall, a nice roasty stout with a good balanced hoppy character.

Deep brown/black in color with a thin brown head. The aromas were sweet and smokey with scents of smoke, fig, Valrhona chocolate, expresso, vanilla, and some hoppy aromas. In the mouth the smokiness was even stronger and blended with dark chocolate and roasted expresson beans leaving a bitter, but not dry, finish. While not explosive in the mouth it glided nicely over the palate, always in balance.

Bottle, pours brown black with a thick creamy dark brown head, leaves a slight oily film and fine bubbles for lacing, there was lots of sediment at the bottom of the bottle and I found sediment in my glass, I have never found this much sediment in my glass!?! Big aroma of dark chocolate, sweet chocolate, coffee, some vanilla beans, lots of roasted malt and coffee flavor with chocolate sweet flavor that is not as prominate as the roasted malt or coffee, dark brown sugar and molasses flavors that whiff away (dissipate with the hop bitterness), has a medium or more hop bitterness, finish is medium dry that leaves a bitter coffee - almost burnt coffee on the palate, mouth feel is medium to full, I found the aroma to be chocolate but the flavor was more roasted malt and coffee, this beer could be a Winter Warmer / After Dinner Sipper but this just needed some more sweetness to fall into that catagory, this is the best Porter I have had for the money, I think this stuff borders on an Imperial Porter, it is that good, I highly recommend this Porter.

Ok, first off, It looks eerily similar to darkness from surly. thats as far as i’ll go with that though. The aroma is Delicious, superbly roasted and toasted malts give off immense flavor and smell. The initial sip is slightly sweet but very quickly translates into a ultra deep roast, almost Burnt. Hints of chocolate, but mostly heavily roasted coffee and burnt wood. As for the finish it’s slightly sweet on the tip of the palate nicely balanced towards to middle, and as if finds the way back it becomes burnt and toasty. Finishes quite dry with coffee and burnt wood. Great beer overall. The only negative may be a thin mouthfeel. Nice work Dark! P.S. drank at nearly room temp.

Courtesy of Hoppymeal, thank Derek! 12 oz bottle. Pours an motor oil black color with a small dark tan creamy head. Nose is of deeply roasted malts, coffee, chocolate, and hints of aluminum. Initial taste is a full body. The deep roasted malts really sets in, reminds me of black coffee. Chocolate malts dance over the roastiness. Mid palate is hints of coffee and mollases. Finishing with that continum of deep roasted malts with well balanced bitter hops and mild creaminess. Dry finish. Sticky mouthfeel and lips. Alcohol is well balanced. Nice lacing of the glass with some head retention. Palate duration is excellent.

12 oz bottle thanks to willblake, thanks Jon. First let me start by stating two things, 1. Dark Horse is a great company and 2. Dark Horse sucks mule cock for not distributing beers in Jersey. Poured a thick looking solid black with a spotty bubbly light beige head. Nicely complex with notes of molasses, capacuino, maple syrup, cherry flavored tobacco and vanilla. Creamy mouthfeel with a full body and average carbonation. roasted malty flavor with notes of coffee, burnt coffee and even a slight smokeyness. This one was so good I considered killing willblake and stuffing him in a closet just to get his six ounces.