Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier

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

12oz bottle. label contains a "scared donkey"... Kinda like Kinky Kelly and the Sexy Stud? Pours a thin dark brown/black. Aroma of roast. Flavor is thin, roasted malt.

bottle. Aroma is malt with notes of sweet coffee and chocolate but subtle. Nice average sized tan head that mostly diminished and left ok lace. Black hue. Flavor is sweet and malty with a lingering finish. Palate is full bodied and oily smooth. Pretty big for a porter but average overall.

Bottle, thanks to CaptainCougar. Pours opaque brownish black with a lacy dark tan head. Pine and sweet chocolate aroma with a touch of coffee. Medium body and light carbonation. Sweet taste of coffee, chocolate, molasses. Roasty espresso, smoke and pine finish. A really nice beer, but guys, this is not a porter. Not even a robust porter. What you have here is a sweet stout, or maybe even a foreign stout. Not complaining, I’m just sayin...

12 oz. bottle. Coffee and berry scents dominate the aroma. The smell reminds me of coffee with a healthy dose of cream and sugar as well as fruit-flavored syrup. Fruity and floral. Licorice, red grape, and the tangy scent of roasted coffee beans. Pours a rich dark brown with a maroon tint and a dark copper hue. I believe the liquid is clear, but it is so dark and thick as to appear to be opaque. Small amount of short-lasting, thin, sable-colored head. Good lacing, especially for a beer with so little head. Upon the first sips, dark, roasted coffee dominates. The beer fortunately mellows considerably upon multiple sips, but it remains too coffee-like for my tastes. The later sips feature vanilla, sweet fruit, powdered sugar, and milk chocolate in addition to coffee, making this brew fall into the rich dessert beer niche. Complex flavor profile overall. Roasted coffee finish and long, dry, bitter, similar aftertaste. Full body; thick in texture as well as appearance. Oily and lively in the palate. The coffee aftertaste is too much, but otherwise the palate effects are very good. Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier Ale falls squarely into the fruity, English-style ale tradition. It is a love it and hate it beer for me. If the brewers toned down the coffee notes, I think it could be truly great. The bottle I sampled has been sitting in my cellar for several months at least.

Thanks to Eben for this one. Black bodied, not much head formation. Roasted coffee aroma along with chocolate, cola, and smoke. Flavor is quite smoky. Wonderfully light with chocolate and coffee flavors backed up by a lingering roasted smoke that persists in every breathe. I enjoy this very much.

Dark brown minimal tan head. Roasty aroma. Complex flavors; roast, chocolate, coffee, and malts. Slight smokey finish

Pours pitch black. Fairly light aroma. Very heavily roasted; burnt toast covered with nutella flavor. Not bad at all.

12 oz bottle thanks to acknud. Pours much darker than expected, almost black in body with a small cocoa head. Very nice aroma of milk chocolate and fruity red apples. Medium body with subdued carbonation. Taste has a bitter bite from dark roasted malts. Pine hops also in play and a nice addition of red apple fruitiness. Very bold porter that is very complex and drinkable.