Arbor Dark Corner Ale (2007)

Muddy brown with minimal head. Aroma has big extract like sweetness. Brown sugar and syrup? Burnt grain background. Flavor is on the downside already. Big sweet malt up front, quite cloying. Astringent hop bitterness through the middle, dry cardboard finish. Unimpressed.

Popped the lid with anticipation. Musty malted nose lend an air of dark appearance. Pours cloudy with lots of little dark floaty bits I have come to expect from Dark Horse. Small tan head. Malted goodness with a big warming and a little bitter kick in the end. Hangs on your palate. Solid to the end.

12oz, no date from Artusory, thanks Ryan! Cloudy reddish brown and a huge four finger light beige head after pouring just over half of the bottle, though the retention is good. Burnt plastic and floral hops up front with some brown sugar, toast, and light spices in the background. Oh, how I hate burnt plastic. Flavor had some spicy alcohol up front as well as some caramel malt sweetness--not as toasty as the aroma. Light roast in the semidry spicy alcoholic finish, bitterness around a 2-3. Overall a fairly sweet beer. High carbonation with a medium thin body. Tastes better than it smells, but it still isn’t phenomenal. I’m anxious to see how the Dark Horse interpretation will be.

12oz bottle 2007 bottling. Red Capped Arbor version. Poured into a big snifter and side-by-side with the black capped version from Dark Horse. The color is a deep brown/purple color with a quickly reducing head of creamy white froth. Nice lacing. Aroma while cold is actually hoppy? A rich malty beer but the hops are there. The flavors are hoppy and toffee toasty malt. Nice tasty brown. I think this one comes out on top of the Dark Horse version.

Bottle courtesy of ughsmash. Pours brwon with a more pronounced off white head than the other version. Smells of earh, some fruit, tea, touches of spice. Tastes of spice, sweet malt, some dark fruit. Mouthfeel is more robust on this one. Finish is of spice and some alcohol.

Don’t make the mistake, like I did, of looking away while pouring this beer! Before I knew what was happening head was overflowing out of my glass and I had hardly emptied 1/4 of the bottle yet. Flavor of hickory bbq sauce mingling with a tingly-sweet sensation on my tongue. A unique experience all around, and not one I especially look forward to repeating.

Bottle thanks to Schroppfy! Poured clear reddish-orange with an explosive (90% of the glass) cap of beige head. The aroma picked up sweet dusty and soapy notes with chocolate and sweeter caramel beneath.. hard to pull out what was supposed to be going on here. The flavor was a touch better.. quite a lot of brighter pine and floral bitterness over caramel, chocolate, and leafy notes at the base.. OK balance with a bitter finish. About medium-bodied on the palate with decent balance.. nice chocolate and pine kick at the finish.

Clear amber body with a large beige head - lasting with sticky lace. The nose is cookie crisp cereal, light berry with lots of herbal and floral hops. Flavor is moderately sweet with grapes, plums, caramel and herbs. Medium/full body is very soft with moderate, gentle carbonation. This was definitely the superior of the two.