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Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier

Percentile
98
overall

bottled
common

on tap
available

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RatingsAverageScoreABVStyle PctlServe in
5533.87/5.03.86/5.07.5%99.3English pint, Stem glass
Commercial Description:
Our Reserve Special Black Bier is a full bodied ale. Each batch is brewed with heavy roasted and chocolate malts to give this beer its unique flavors of coffee and chocolate. The color of this beer is black, and when pured into a glass it will have a deep brown head of foam.
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 AllAboutStout (605), Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/57/104/516/20
Feb 14, 2007  
12oz bottle poured into my delirium tulip glass. Pours black and roasty with only a minimal head that doesn’t last. Smell is really good. Roasted malts and some cocoa bean coming through. Taste is even better. A good coffee, tobacco (very well done) taste hit you at first. This has a decent bitterness to it. This is a very solid stout. The mouthfeel is a bit thin for an American Double but the taste more than makes up for it. The thin mouthfeel does keep it from making it to the next level. A very good offering from Dark Horse and I’ll seek out more of their beers. If you see this beer, definitely pick it up.


 JasonG (700), Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/57/104/517/20
Feb 11, 2007  
12oz bottle: Opaque black color with tiny, quickly dissapearing dark tan head. Aroma has notes of cherry, vanilla, lots of hightly kilned malt, touch of red grapes, prunes, slightly vinous. Flavor is malty, slightly sweet, with blackened malt, bit of vanilla, oak, note of brandy, with a balanced finish, with subtle herbal bitterness and equal sweetness. A nice porter, very well done.


 milewide (609), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/105/59/104/516/20
Feb 11, 2007    Updated: Aug 19, 2009
Black color! Lots of roasted malt flavor and aroma that seems like a stout to me. Not much hop bitterness. Label is so childish that it detracts from an excellent brew!


 cathcacr (588), Portland, Oregon, USA
4.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/105/58/105/517/20
Feb 7, 2007  
Style designations mean little here. Theoretically a Porter, this presents like an Imperial Stout; that was my guess before logging onto here. Put it in a blind taste test up against an Impy and see.
Like many a well-done Impy, this is very good, and you know pretty much what to expect in such.


 TheKegergator (241), California, USA
4.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/58/104/518/20
Feb 3, 2007    Updated: Jul 7, 2007
Pours about as perfect as you can get, imo. Thick, black, with a good sized head that lasted quite a while. Half way done with the glass and still ahs lacing on the entire glass. The alcohol up front that mixes with the chocolate and malts nicely on the finish. 8% porter that is this smooth? :banned:


 mjg74 (1995), La Mesa, California, USA
3.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/104/515/20
Feb 1, 2007  
Bottle from Sprinkle. Pours a very dark black color. Little foam. Looks quite thick and oily. Strong roasted malty aroma. Lots of burnt foreign stout like qualities. Rich bitter and roasty. Bittler hoppy/roasty finish. Alcohol is very well hidden.


 DrnkMcDermott (1845), Downers Grove, Illinois, USA
3.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/56/103/514/20
Jan 31, 2007    Updated: Sep 24, 2008
<i>Bottled.</i> Okay, what’s with the crude drawing of the donkey from "Hee Haw" on the label. Anyway. Pours Pretty stoutish black, with a thin tan head. Big smell and taste of coffee, toasted carob, hint of licorice. I think there’s a pretty good-sized charge of hops here, and some of it may be American C&C. Somewhat of a Kingsford briquette aftertaste and quite a lot of bitterness. Perhaps this harshness might be covering up harshness from alcohol, but I definitely taste that, too.


 hellomynameis (794), Mayer, Minnesota, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/58/105/516/20
Jan 28, 2007  
This was yummy! Black colour with a thick brown head and tons of lacing. Lots of roast aromas, almost burnt malt. The flavour is phenominal, one of the best porters I’ve had! There is a bit of coffee like flavour in there, but not bitter or astringent flavours. I get chocolate and roasted malts again. Dry finish and a nice mouthfeel that is either missing from all other porters, or puts this one a bit out of the regular porter category.



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