Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier

12oz bottle from EithCubes - thanks, Mike! A lovely and unexpected beer. Massive body and frothy head, it comes on with a pleasant roasty aroma. THe first sips, though, are very powerful with chocolate malts. But the finish! Oh man, the finish is gorgeously dry, going right to the edge but not too much. Bitter coffee, a trace of charcoal grilling, like unsweetened dark chocolate and some cracklings from the grill. Excellent.

12 oz bottle. Pours ultra black with mahogany at the extremities and a finger of red-brown head. It has a rich mocha aroma with some pure malt notes and just a faint hint of wood and dark spice. The flavor is very fresh espresso and cocoa up front, and then a distinct ashiness. Not like charcoal, but like charred firewood. Some sweet raisin notes float around, too, before some piney bitterness comes into play. The pine bitterness and some bitter cocoa notes make the finish slightly drier than the rest of the sequence of flavors, but the aftertaste gains a rich sweetness reminiscent of chocolate-covered-cherries along with another strong burst of ash. This is some pretty good stuff... I wish I’d bought a few more bottles.

Bottle courtesy of Moejuck: Poured a pitch-black color beer with a medium foamy head with good retention and good lacing. Aroma of medium coffee with light roasted malt. Taste is dominated by some medium dry coffee with some light roasted malt and some nice oatmeal notes. Body is quite creamy which I always enjoy as well as being full with some medium to low carbonation. Well done and something I wouldn’t mind having again.

4/23/2007: Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier is near black in color and pours clear. There is a good-sized foamy brown head the slowly collapses and leaves a frothy dark tan crown on the beer. Thick foamy lacing with brown speckles cover the glass almost from beginning to end. Semi-sweet chocolate, some alcohol, and delicate char (nice complexity) can be found in the very nice aroma. The flavor contains heavily roasted malts, dark chocolate, and coffee. The flavor isn’t really that sweet and it has a perfectly balanced bitterness from all the roasted malts. The roastiness is like dry roast all the the way to just before being burnt; it’s just perfect! The finish has a wonderful milky/creamy dry cocoa and espresso flavor. There is no alcohol detectable in the flavor. The body of this beer is full and it feels very smooth in the mouth. Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier is quite complex and almost reminds me of an Imperial Stout! 12 oz bottle from illinismitty. Thanks Sean!

big thanks to Paul for sharing this after the CL anniversary party. Just about a solid black in color with a medium brown head. Alot of chocolate and roast wafts from the glass as you take in the aroma. Taste is chocolate, and light to moderately roasty, with a creamy body. Very drinkable and pretty smooth- finishes roasty and moderately bitter. a great porter.

12-oz. Thanks, SecretSanta! Pours opaque black with a virtually nonexistent off-white head. Super chocolatey nose. Flat. Not much attack, but the mid-palate picks up some steam. Watery. By the time you’re into it, you get chocolate and roast, and then there’s a burst of ash near the end. Clingy, bitter finish. These guys overall seem to lean toward the flat, watery, and ashy, which aren’t big selling points in my mind, but I can see that people dig them and I respect that.

Nice color, very dark, mouthfeel was a little thin. Taste was very roasted malt, coffee, caramel. Finish was bitter, but very good. A wonderful example of a porter. Update: Mouthfeel not as thin as I originally thought (first sampled at tasting). However, the finish seems to be a little acrid, which is really my only complaint about the beer. That and the mouthfeel is a little puckering/tannic at time.

Big fan! Dark dark dark oil black, into impy stout territory with almost no head. The nose is fantastic. Chocolate hits first, with some coffee roast and even some charcoal. A bit sweet, but not into Founder’s breakfast stout territory. In a way, I like that slightly better. A little bit of berry to floral sort of hops. A bit creamy. The palate is marked by a very subdued carbonation and still a creamy smooth mouthfeel. The roast comes out more in the flavor profile, but the chocolate is still rather strong. Floral hops appear. A bit drier than I would have guess from the nose, a bit of fitting diacetyl making this melt on the mouth. A creamy finish with soem fruit becomign char by the end. I could start seeing myself buying sixers of this stuff.