Dark Horse Bourbon Barrel Plead the 5th Sour Imperial Stout

Brewed by Dark Horse Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Marshall, Michigan USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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Very good beer. Little aftertaste. Nice rich flavor. Great color and palate. Aroma...not great but smelled worse. Very nice imperial but there’s better for the price.

Sample at 2013 MBG Winter Beer Festival. Really neat version of plead the fifth. The sourness compliments all the chocolate and malt. Very well balanced. Almost has a raspberry tartness to it.

Black with no head (barrel-aged) / Rich nose of coffee, molasses, chocolate, and sour dark fruit / Medium body, no carbonation, a touch thin, modestly sour, some sweetness, with good balance and bitter finish / Sour, subdued flavors of dark roast coffee, licorice, bittersweet chocolate, plum, prune, strawberry, and balsamic vinegar / This being my second DH sour, clearly they haven’t mastered the technique as both have been flat; however, positive elements are evident.

25th November 2011
Noted as Aigre Plead The 5th. Opaque black beer, zero head. Smooth palate, semi dry. Smooth dark malt, no roast. Fair bit of bretty sourness with a red berry fruit undertone - strawberry readily identifiable. Finishes semi dry with traces of chocolate and coffee. A sour RIS eh? Very drinkable.

Bottle compliments of Bill with a bunch of heads. Pours uncarbonated brown. Roasty taste, chocolate, aromas were cheese and weird wet wood funk. Maybe some brandy barlet notes, super flat with a light mouth. Not a big fan of this brew.

Dark brown, opaque with almost no head at all. Aroma of coffee. Flavours of coffee with sour notes, some oak and roasted malts. Almost no carbonation. Interesting beer, courtesy of Liam.

Liam’s bottle. An imperial stout at heart, with sourness that is bretty in the finish. Roast aroma. Very undercarbonated, despite a cork that took Shwartzneiger work to remove. Very dark brown without a head.

I bought a 750ml bottle of this at the general store for $15. They sold it as a limited special release beer. It is undrinkable. It smells of coffee grinds mixed in with week old garbage. It tastes like week old coffee mixed with spoiled milk. I couldn’t drink more than a couple of sips. 3 other people I was with couldn’t drink it either, so I ended up pouring the entire bottle down the drain. I really like Dark Horse, but I’m really dissapointed that they sold this beer. It is either an accident, or a failed experiment that they are selling as a limited realease beer. Not cool. I understand that people have different tastes, but this stuff is undrinkable, and they have to know it. I will still drink Dark Horse beers, but I will no longer be buying one off batches from their general store, as I no longer trust that the beer will always be drinkable. If you see this Don’t buy this beer. It goes by the name Aigre Plead the 5th, which means sour.

Pour at EBF has a dark black color and a still look. Aroma has chocolate, some roast, light acidity, and malts. Mouth feel is hefty and the mouth feel coats well with a nice texture. Flavor has chocolate, some barrels, roasted dark malt, and a very light sourness. Quit enjoyed but could have had a bit more sourness.

750 ml bottle poured a translucent dark brown with a lingering ring of brown foam. Aromas of roasted malt, coffee, dark chocolate, fruittiness and light vinegar. Palate was light bodied and smooth with a lightly tart finish. Flavors of roastiness, coffee, citrus and dark chocolate with a smooth dry lightly tart citrus finish.