Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier

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

Bottle. Saw this brewery for the first time at my local beer store and picked up a few. This is my first Dark Horse beer. I have to say I’m surprised. It’s a black color beer with a thin dark brown head. Aroma is strong, smells of roasted malt and alcohol. Sweet initial flavor with a dry bitter end. Has hints of coffee and chocolate that compliment each other well.

Nice black pour with a brown head. Great aroma of roasted malt and chocolate. Tastes great. Flavor of malt, chocolate and some sweetness. Left a great taste in the mouth. Worthy of trying again.

Bottle from Breeze-Thru. Pours pitch black and thick. It actually made a glugging noise that reminded me of a quart of oil pouring out. Aroma has quite a bit of smokiness, chocolate, and coffee. Starts fairly sweet and chocolately up front. The smoked malt comes forward as well. Finishes with quite a bit of bitter expresso flavor and a tiny bit of alcohol. It has a nice smooth and fairly thick mouthfeel. Very drinkable. This is a very good porter and I’ll definitely drink again.

12oz bottle, served in an English pint glass. A slick, oily black pour with no head and miniamal oily legs. Typical of most of the Dark Horse dark beers I’ve had out of the bottle. The aroma consisted of heavy bittersweet chocolate, molasses, and some ripened dark fruits. The flavor had heavy roasted notes, chocolate, burnt caramel, molasses, and dark fruit. The mouthfeel was slippery and medium to full-bodied. Minimal carbonation. Rich and very roasty for a porter. Decent, but I prefer DH’s stout series over this.

On tap @ Dark Horse. I had this beer after the Fore Smoked Stout and I liked this one much better. Pours black with a brown head. Roasted chocolate malt with some dark fruit. A touch of coffee and a little bit of bitterness. I enjoyed it.

Black pour with a 2 finger, lasting tan head. Cocoa aroma with a hint of brown sugar, and some subtle spicy hops. The flavor is much more muted than the aroma. There’s some soft chocolate flavor and a little bitter roastiness on the finish with just a bit of hop bitterness. Creamy, medium body.

12oz bottle pours extremely dark with a dark brown, soapy head. Aroma shows intense roastiness, certainly roastier than most stouts let alone porters. Waves of dark chocolate and toasted wheat bread appear over just the tiniest amount of fruitiness, perhaps dark berries. Some char and burnt aromas are also noted. Flavor is intensely roasty with notes of bitter, dark chocolate. Quite intense flavor really. The intensity might reach over to astringency, honestly, as the burnt toast flavor affects drinkability. Bitterness is a little over the top as well.

2009 Bottle - Thanks dmschefke! - Pours almost a syrupy black with a medium brown head...aroma is cocoa malt, dark fruit and a bit of roast...flavour coats the mouth, charred wood and toasted grain...highly astringent bitterness throughout that lingers considerably...the coffee malt becomes more apparent after you aclimate to the bitterness... quite nice!