Dark Horse Tres Blueberry Stout

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

The blueberry in this stout, through and through, is just magical. It doesn’t just resemble a blueberry flavor, it tastes and smells like fresh freaking blueberry pie. Unreal. Hats off to Dark Horse for this wonderful beverage. Proof that a fruit beer can be much more than just a fruit beer. The blueberry, while unique, offers the perfect contrast to what is already a marvelous stout. The way the flavors bounce and play off each other is so interesting, so complex, yet so quaffable and so downright plain old fun to drink! An ingenious beer from an ingenious brewery. Fantastic.

What an interesting beer. While this was still cold my impression was that what you need to know about this beer in order to understand it is how big the underlying stout is: thick, black (yellow edging), opaque, rich, roasty, chocolately, just really deep with all of those big stout qualities. In that formation you get the blueberry from the nose and the finish, but are overwhelmed by "Imperial Stout" in the middle. As it warmed fully, you could get the blueberry all over, including the delightful swish that made for a subtle but elegantly fruity note. It is like an Impy that has that plum/port quality going, only...just a bit different. Thick, viscous, low alcohol but you want to assume it has to be big (it isn’t)...what a marvelous job of brewing. A real triumph for what it is.

Pours with a velvety texture to an oily, thick black body; a thin pond of tanned marshmallow foam rests easy. Blueberry aroma lunges out excitedly with the first crack of the cap and breathes more calmly with dark vinous depth once poured; ethereal, tangible sumatran dark roast, prunes, black licorice and moist earth lend a dense, approachable sophistication. Really a beautiful aroma. Damp and tannic flavor of blueberries lingers heavily on the astringency of black and roasted malt, warming steadily into a pleasant, delicate counterpoint of excessive bitterness and excessive fruitiness; hints of browned banana, french roast, vanilla cola, currant and maple wood. Smoky and wet, with a hint of steamed vegetable creeping in on the back. Detailed despite its understated character in terms of size, and even a bit tightly wound with fruit and sugar, so as to suggest that it might even age well for a year or two. Fluffy palate pushes the boundary of viscous; softly carbonated, and sweetly coating, giving way to a lightly acrid peaberry and tannin finish. Rich, lucid, and leaving a polished impression; well done.

Bottle shared with maxxdaddy. Pours a very dark brown/black with brown head. Taste is definitely creamy and chocolately, with a hint of blueberries. I’m not always a stout lover, but the aroma and flavor of blueberries really put this beer near the top of my stout list.

Bottle courtesy of Secret Santa ’07. This one is....different. Not being much of a blueberry person in general, I was a little hesitant upon smelling the big blueberry aroma. Initial taste is light chocolate followed by a strong presence of blueberries. Medium body/texture with a pretty dry finish. I can easily see why this has been getting 4+ reviews from others, but given my dislike for blueberries my score is a bit lower. Thanks Santa!

Opened bottle and was surprised as it foamed over out of the bottle, Strange the bottle hasn’t moved in over two weeks, the temperature was at 45 degrees. The bottom of the bottle however, had a lot of sediment in it, much more than I’ve ever seen in any bottle. After that, I poured it and the aroma was beautiful! Strong blueberry, chocolate, malt, roasted malt, coffee and a hint of smoke. Poured pure black with a dark tan with purple very, very large foamy head that slowly receded into a thick, creamy cap. Very impressive lloking. Left nice lacing on pint. Taste was fantastic! Starts out with a slight chocolate flavor followed by beautiful blueberry, then malt, coffee, touch of smoke, touch of slightly burnt roasted malt, followed by more blueberry. Very good! Body is medium, texture slightly thicker than medium and creamy. After the initial foam over, the very large head I expected it to be overly carbonated But, it was average, much to my surprise. The finish is dry, pleasantly robust with slight bitter and short. Very good! I really enjoyed the beer even though it foamed all over me out of the bottle. LOL.... Seriously, it is one very excellent stout. Very complex, very tasty, very smooth, very creamy. A excellent stout! Great job by Dark Horse. If you like ’em black, creamy, sweet with a slight bitter aftertaste this is one you have to try!

Bottle shared with jerc & mabel - my bottle obtained from HogTownHarry. Very dark black with a dark mocha head. Great aroma - charred malt, dark roasted coffee, and blueberry. Smooth mouthfeel. As jerc notes, the blueberry seems subdued in the flavour at first - notes of roast malt, chocolate, coffee and smoke are more prominent - but we were snacking on brownies while drinking this, and the chocolate really brought the blueberry forward - so much so that I could taste it even once we started on the next beer of the tasting. Very unique, and very good.

Bottle courtesy of pantanap (thanks!). Poured dark black with a small amount of dark tan head. When pouring this one out, I could see he thickness of it and thought I was in for a real treat. I was greeted with a blast of blueberries upon opening the bottle. When smelling from the glass, I got roasted malts and chocolate, with the blueberries coming in at the end. Really beautiful. The taste was great, with some chocolate hittin the tongue first, followed by blueberries, whose sweetness cut into the roasty bitterness rather well. Palate was thick and the finish was mostly chocolate. An excellent brew and my favorite of theirs thus far.