Arbor Dark Corner Ale (2007)

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.

Brown bottle - Red cap- Pours a wonderful rust-brown colour with an off white - scrambled egg colour head some small amounts of yeast(?) floating in there too. The aroma is of malt-hops-honey-toffee-chai latte, beautiful. Flavour: Malt and toffee with a hint of coffee, alcohol is well disguised too, it has a short dry finish. Cracking little beer

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.

Bottle from Styles. Totally surprised by this beer. I almost overflowed the glass on the pour. Foamed up like nobody’s business right from the start and took forever to subside. Dark murky brown color, like something I drew up out of the Mississippi River. Smells hoppy and malty at the same time. Similar to the Dark Horse version. Hmmmm... Strange. It starts off with a nice hoppiness then fades into.....coffee?? What? Yep, that’s what it is. Thought for a moment I had cross-contamination from the Brooklyn Black I had earlier but no, it was from a different glass. Damn, this is really good. I like this better than the Dark Horse offering. This was much different than the Dark Horse version and I think better.

Bottle courtesy of swoopjones. Dirty brown with a medium sized beige head. Aroma of roasted/toasted malt and earthy hops - not super complex, just really nice, and very American in style, if that makes sense. Medium mouthfeel. Flavour of slightly charred malt, a hint of roasted coffee, the earthy hops suggested by the aroma, warm finish. Solid stuff.

Black cap 12 oz bottle - roasty and hoppy, brown in color and lightly carbonated. toasty and nutty malts, with a clear presence of roasted barley. a hint of warming alcohol buried amongst tastes of cocoa, toasted white bread, walnut , and a few other subtle and muddled flavors. an amped-up brown ale, very nice. 7-4-7-3-15

Red cap 12 oz bottle - perhaps a bit hazier than the black-capped beer but the color is the same. brighter and fruitier aroma than its counterpart, with a yeast profile more like arbor brewing than dark horse. nuttier and butterier than the black, but the flavor is a bit more balanced than the surprising roastiness of the black cap. an enjoyable beer, and the two beers are fraternal twins with subtle differences but so much the same that it can be hard to tell them apart. 6-4-7-4-15.

Red cap bottle, courtesy of Hogtown Harry. Medium to dark brown, lots of streaming bubbles, good sized mocha white head, lots of floaties in the bottom. Nice aroma - toasted grain, a rel nice kick of caramel or toffee, not really much sweetness. Taste is decent - burnt toast like taste, some nice complimenting earthy hops, and a good kick of alcohol. Medium to light mouthfeel but well carbonated adding to its drinkability. Simple and well done.