Dark Horse Tres Blueberry Stout

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

12oz Bottle. Awesome fresh blueberry aroma. All the seeds, stem, flesh and skin of wild blueberries coalesces with a real refined stout character. Light coffee, bright dusty dark cocoa, and lightly cooked blueberries. Pours deep black with a quickly rising rim of hot chocolate tan foam. Probably one of the darkest heads I’ve ever seen. Flavor is right on spot two. Man, the blueberries and the stout work hand in hand. A big part of this is that this is an awesome stout, even without the blueberries. And it’s not all in your face blueberries. It’s a subtle, earthy fruit. Just like wild. Great roasted character, subtle saltiness, and then a very mild blueberry skin approach. A glimmer of hops provides depth to the beer. Carbonation is on point. Fresh. A great stout, paired with the perfect amount of the right fruit. Excellent!

Pours pitch oil black with almost no head. The blueberries are definitely dominant in the smell, mixed in with the typical stout characters, chcoclate, dark malts, roastiness, etc. Taste has some blueberry in it for sure, but not as heavy as in the nose. Mixes pretty well with the rest of the stout characteristics. I think blueberry is a great fruit to incorporate into a stout. Very thick and nice mouthfeel, slightly bitter finish, but overall solid brew.

Black as night. Moderately aromatic, with notes of blueberry pancakes, coffee, anise and chocolate. Taste is odd, revealing more than twice its potency in flavor. A subtle blueberry flavor is present but it distracts from other flavors more than contributing a flavor. Notes of anise, ginger, strong coffee grounds and a hint of blueberry. Lousy.

Pour is a black with a average tan head. Aroma is lots of toasted malts with an ever so slight blueberry. Flavor is your usual coffee and chocolate but there is a nice blueberry there almost hidden but it does make an appearence. The best thing i can say about this beer is that its different.

Re-Rerate: On tap at Dark Horse in Marshall, MI. The palate of this one on tap is delectable. Thin head stays a long time, and then you are looking at a smooth, strong, hefty mirrored black surface. Perfect melding of flavors...more blueberry and it would get horrifying, more stoutish and it would barely be a fruit beer. Upping this one .2. Rerate: Not for the faint of heart or blueberry haters. Everything is over the top here, blueberry aroma and taste, dark dark dark roasted malt. And I mean dark. The head is dark brown, yet the body is lighter, alive. Still the same 3.7 rating, but I had to let it be known that this thing is challenging. Original: 4/24/02: This one works for me...far lighter in the mouth than I expected. Nice aroma, not over the top. Taste components are a slight roastiness, and, of course, blueberry.

Bottle shared with Decaturstevo and Beer_Hawk. Thanks Steve, this has been on my wants list for a long time. Pours dark black with a dissipating brown head. Aroma of fresh blueberries, dark roast, and even some smoke. Initial flavor of blueberry, chocolate and cereal. Middle has a notes of medium roast coffee and smoke. Soft bitter finish, with some faint mineral texture. This beer is nicely balanced, as it is not too sweet or roasty, and the blueberry is not overdone.

I love blueberries and not many beers made with them have appealed much to me. This did. It poured out black with a fleeting brown head. The aroma of blueberries was not overpowering. It was joined by notes of chocolate, coffee, malt, barley. Good body to it and low carbonation. The flavor was rich with the blueberries singing backup rather than lead. Quite good.

12oz bottle from EithCubes - thanks, Mike! You really can’t miss the blueberry smell, can you? But it’s not the smell of those crappy ones they use at IHOP or anything; these actually smell real and natural. The dark, almost rounded taste of the berry is well suited for the way some stouts veer away from bitters into a nice yeast/malt combo - and Tres is certainly one of those. There’s a hint of roast in there, to be sure, but the full malty body really blends well with the dark fruits. Palate’s a bit thin but this is very fine stuff, which I’ll seek out again.