Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier

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

Bottle. Pours opaque black with a rich creamy khaki head. Excellent lacing. Wonderful nose: roasted malt, dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla and roasted marshmallow. Very dry flavor profile. Loads of dark roasted malt. Honestly, I was looking for more. A tad light on the body. Beautiful color and nose didn’t quite live up to my expectations. A good ale, though.

Bottle thanks to Ughsmash! Poured an opaque black with virtually no head and no lacing. Aromas of roasted chocolate malt and a bit of astingency. Taste was a wallop of roasted chocolate, lots of sweet malt up front chased by bitter malts. Medium bodied porter with good carbonation, almost no alcohol taste at all. Aftertaste was a roasty bitter. A very roasty and bitter porter that balances the sweet and bitter malts very well together. A great porter, has the same malt characteristics of a good stout.

I really enjoyed this one. Poured black with tan head. Aroma of roasted malt and strong chocolate. Flavor was mostly coffee followed up by chocolate. Some earthy hop hints in the finish. Clean and refreshing.

Bottle. Black with a small brown head. Roasted and malty with notes of chocolate, coffee and hops. Pretty well balanced.

Pours with a reasonably tightly beaded, full, creamed chocolate, brown colored head that is initially three-fingers in height. The head leaves a distinct lacing pattern on the sides of my glass as I work my way through this beer. The beer is an almost black color, with perhaps some dark amber notes to it. The aroma has notes of chocolate, dusty roast grain husks, toasted malt and a nice burnt, yet still sweet, raisin note to it towards the end. Interesting, after rooting around in the aroma for a bit I notice a distinct, yet subtle note that reminds me of wood, smoked malt or perhaps butterscotch; I am not sure which, but it is certainly noticeable and now I can’t seem to not notice it.

Light feeling as it first hits the tongue, it picks up a medium fullness to it as it moves across the tongue. The finish is marred by an astringent, sharp, almost harsh burnt bitter note, that is thankfully not too overwhelming. Notes of bitter, French Roast, black coffee, darkly toasted bread, a burnt acidity, and a acrid char flavor. This beer has a ton of darkly roasted grain character, it is actually a bit much, but on the upside I think that it is helping to hide some off flavors that are derived from a bit of diacetyl and perhaps some vegetal notes. In the end the dark malt is just a bit too much, if the gravity was bumped up a bit it might be more in balance.

Bottle - Thanks to DrewBeerMe for this one. Dark brown, nearly black pour with a small tan head. Aroma is thick with dark chocolate and heavily roasted coffee. Taste is of dark/bittersweet chocolate with a bit of coffee and well-roasted malts. Drier than I expected, but still tasty and satisfying. One of the better porters out there. Another high quality Michigan beer.

bottle. pours a pitch balck color with a medium brown head. it has a nice roasty aroma. taste is nice and roasty. bitter and dry. nice.

12 oz. bottle. Pours black with a small, rapidly diminishing tan head. Aroma is of dark chocolate with a touch of coffee. The dark chocolate reappears and is blended with stronger roasted coffee flavor. Medium to full bodied with a dry finish. I wasn’t sure what this was schwarzbier or porter. Ultimately it doesn’t matter; it’s good either way. I wish I had picked up more when I was in Indy.