Dark Horse Tres Blueberry Stout

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

Shakeyfest 09. Wow what a surprise! Nose is full of anise and fennel-not unlike Chartreuse really. Slight blueberry. Not at all sweet. Great mouthfeel, perfect thickness and carbonation.

12 oz. bottle. Blueberry / blueberry pie / blueberry syrup unmistakable in the first sniff. Aroma also features dry, roasted coffee bean and dark chocolate scents. The blueberry and classic stout smells work surprisingly well together. Pours a very dark, almost black color with a miniscule amount of dark tan head. No lacing. Simple but cool appearance. The taste features a stout start with a blueberry finish. The blueberry flavor comes in a sugared, treated form, like blueberry syrup or blueberry jam. Heavily roasted malt taste. A tartness develops upon multiple sips. This is too coffee-like by my standards, and yet the blueberry presence is excessively fruit-sweet. This beer takes some getting used to, and I’m up and down on the taste. Long, roasted coffee-bitter aftertaste. Light to medium body. Not bad in the palate but completely forgettable. Dark Horse Tres is a very interesting beer with an unusual aroma, appearance, and flavor. I don’t think the blueberry stout concept works very well here in the flavor, but I like the idea in general. This is a challenging beer both to the palate and to the throat (that is, it’s hard to analyze and hard to drink). Nonetheless, I respect what Dark Horse is trying to do with this product, and I am awarding an extra point in the overall score for uniqueness. I rarely recommend a beer that I give only a 3.2 rating, but I do suggest that people try this fascinating brew if they get the chance.

Cool blueberry, vanilla, a little chocolate, and boo berry cereal. Black as coal and a burnt sieana head. Light mouth feel and more carbonation than extected, fortuanatly the carbonation died down at mid glass giveing way to a pleasant slightly dry bitter charactor. Coffee, chocolate, blueberry, and ambient fruitieness came together in an amazingly effective way. Finishes chewy and roasty with a wallop of chocolate, coffee, molases and only the faintest traces of blueberry. I'd concider this more of a stout than a fruit beer. I've got a friend in psychprof, and he's got a friend in me.

Bottle. What to expect? Apparently one hell of a stout. Pours black as midnight with a rich brown head. My first thought is of a blueberry pie crust with traces of chocolate and plenty of dark roasts. Finishes with a lingering bitterness. This brewery knows stouts.

(Thanks go out to Mike [BBB63] for this beer!) Pours black with a tan head. Good retention and lacing. Intresting aromas. Coffee, cocoa, berries, and smoke with a metalic yeasty note. Lots of chocolate and blueberries present in the flavor. The berry flavors seem like they used real fruit not extract, which is certainly a good thing. Much better tasting when it warmed up. Finishes with a flavor that would made me think someone put out a cigarette in my glass, but I was the only one around and I’m not a smoker. Has its good points and bad points.

From bottle, courtesy of wheninhell, thanks Andy! Medium black pour with tan ring. Nose is light bitter chocolate and blueberry pie, the fake kind. Flavor follows with more of the canned blueberry in the finish. Dry, smooth palate that is a little thin and a blueberry tart that keeps showing up. Very interesting and all-in-all, pretty good use of blueberry.

Pours black with a small tan/mocha head the disappates quickly leaving a small lacing. Blueberry and roasted malt aroma. Roasted malt, chocolate and blueberry flavor.

Poured a deep dark brown with a large brown head. aroma was of roasted malt and blueberries. Taste was roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, and subtle hints of blueberry. mouthfeel is light and slightly creamy. The combination of stout and blueberries easily could have been a disaster, but this beer pulls it off fairly well.