Dark Horse Reserve Special Black Bier

Black bodied with a brown head, this has an aroma filled with sweet roasted malt, chocolate, vanilla, and a drop or two of coffee. Creamy. The flavor is a bit sweeter with the addition of molasses and is lightly bittered by almonds. Sticky finish with a modest hit of earthy bitterness. Nice.

U.S.A. rating #1234!

<font size=-4>Thanks to the generosity of RateBeerians at the <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eventID=3465>Dark Lord Release- Three Floyds, Munster, IN - 04/29/2006<font size=-1>

Nice dark black pour. Wiht maybe a slight red touch. Nice creamy looking tan head as well. Very smooth and creamy mouthfull. Not a whole lot of taste in my opinion. Slight coffee, molasses, hops, and alcohol notes. A little to bitter for my taste. Not one of my favs. But drinkable.

Black coffee pour. The nose is real roasty, with a touch of dark chocolate and charred cookie. Thick mouthfeel is appropriate. Lots of baker’s chocolate throughout, leaving my tongue chalky. A nutty layer persists under the chocolate, helping to sweeten things. A slight sharp bitterness in the finish is nice contrast for this otherwise smooth brew.

Draft at Dark Horse. Poured a black color with an average creamy light brown head that lasted with excellent lacing. Moderate sweet toasted malt aroma. Medium to full body with a creamy texture. Well balanced sweet toasted malt flavor with a smooth moderate bitter finish of long duration. Very pleasing brew.

bottle. pours a deep dark black body with a medium-sized frothy mocha head. Top notch aroma of vanilla bean, rye bread, milk chocolate, and toffee. Full-bodied, flavourful stuff to say the least. Lots of roasty malt flavour with general coffee and lots of rich chocolate notes. finishes with intensely bitter chocolate and toffee essence. Delicious! Bought at Bello Vino in Ann Arbor in April 2006.

Pours opaque black with a two finger foamy tan head that dissipates quickly, moderate lacing. Aromas of roasted malts, coffee, chocolate, smoke, molasses, soy sauce. Flavor is very roasty with semi sweet chocolate, molasses, coffee, vanilla, smoke and a gentle hop zing in the finish. Seems very well balanced, absolutely delicious. Mouthfeel is substantial for a porter, moderately creamy and slightly oily with gentle carbonation. Is this really a porter? I’ll take this over many stouts any day, great stuff.

Bottle shared with and courtesy of HogTownHarry. First beer of our Dark Horse Brewing tasting. Pours a murky bubbly black with a spare light-brown head. Slightly roasty aroma of caramel malt, chocolate, vanilla, hops and an interesting spice that I can’t place -- very nice! Flavour of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee and a nice hoppy finish. I found the aftertaste had a slight metallic taste to it, subtle but still there, perhaps the bottle was slightly past it’s prime? Nice full body, especially for a Porter. This was a pleasant surprise, a very good Porter and a fine start to our DH tasting.

My second Dark Horse brew and another threat. Thanks to Tom and Nancy (mamabeer) for sharing. Pours out very black with a nice brown head. The nose is semi-sweet chocolate, coffee, with some ripe berries and a touch of citrus hops, all of which carry over to the flavor. Rich and full in the mouth. Smooth. This Dark Horse seems to be a winner.