Dark Horse Tres Blueberry Stout

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

Bottle courtesy of BMan1113VR in this year’s summer secret santa. Thanks! Pours a viscous midnight black with a dark brown head. Just gorgeous. One of the most beautiful looking stouts I’ve come across, but the head falls off a bit too quickly for me. Light sweet blueberries, chocolate, and very faint hints of roast. The body is a little thinner than its looks belie, but it’s not thin by any means. Really nice mouthfeel, smooth and supple. Chocolate, blueberry, subdued roast character that leans more towards bitter cocoa than char. A little like a dark chocolate truffle with blueberries in it. Finishes with more lingering bitter dark chocolate flavor. Outstanding.

Dark with creamy head. smells of blueberries. tastes of dark chocolate, coffee, with slight hint of blueberry and tobacco, but not overpowering

Bottle with big blueberry thanks to coyotehunter. Pours brown-black with little fizzy head of a reddish tan color. Nose is all roastyness blueberry aroma, and even a touch of coffee? Maybe that’s just the roasty malts though. There’s a faint smokey quality as well. Flavor is substantially the same, though with less emphasis on blueberry and more on coffee, bitter roastiness, burnt earth, a touch of cocoa in the middle palate, and a smooth oat-malt finish. Really a surprisingly nice beer. Coyotehunter may be the best trade partner in the world. Nothing but winners so far in the this box!

I was floored to see this was less than 5%. Growler supplied by Kevin. Poured a dark brown almost black. Low carbonation but still a small tan head. Nose is huge blueberries and a fair amount of smoke. Flavor is quite roasty with lovely smokiness and some subtle chocolate and toasted malt complexity. Huge thick body I estimated this beer was 6.5% at least. What an achievement. Amazing beer.

Bottle thanks to polomagnifico!
Black with a thin tan head, gone quickly. Nose is heavy roast, oat, chocolate, and very subtle blueberry. Lots ashy roast and chocolate in the flavor, stinging, syrupy presence of fruit. More blueberry in the finish than anywhere else. I like the subtle nose, but the flavor doesn’t blend well and the palate makes for an overall astringent experience.

Bottle, thanks to TampaBrew for sharing. Poured black with a thin brown head. Aroma is chocolate malt with some blueberry notes peeking thru. Medium bodied with soft carbonation and a slightly oily mouthfeel. Very nice flavor, dry and roasted with a good chocolate character and actually a lot more blueberry than I expected. Finished dry with mild bitterness. Very good.

Better than expected! This stout poured a slick, oily black with no head. Just a few lingering tan bubbles. The aroma was made up of strong blueberry notes and chocolate. The flavor included blueberry, chocolate, and roasted malts.

12oz bottle.
Pours a menacing dark brown-black with saddle-soap-colored head that leaves nice lacing throughout the inside of the glass. Aroma is bitter-roasted grain, dark chocolate, and of course, blueberries. Flavor is also bitter from the roasted grains but has little of the charcoal flavor that so many craft-brew stouts seem to aim for (and lacking this is a good thing IMO). There is some sweetness from the malt and presumably the blueberries to keep the bitterness in check. Speaking of the blueberries, I was skeptical about a blueberry stout, thinking that a judicious dose of blueberry flavor would be the only way it could work. And that’s exactly what they have done here -- just enough to let you know the blueberries are there but not trying to "take over" the flavor. Any more of the blueberry flavor and I don’t think this would have worked. Body is full with a thick, almost oily palate. This would have been a solid stout without the blueberries, and adding blueberry flavor could have ruined it not handled properly. Thankfully, it was handled properly.