Dark Horse Whiskey Richard Belgian Style Ale

Draft at EBF. For so many barrel aged beers,what i feel to be my favorite thing to do with a beer. This was a stand out. Flavor is sweet pear and apples with a nice whiskey background but like a cheep bar drink. Very drinkable with an easy finish.

Tasted blind. Clear 750mL Bottle. Acetone and banana, caulking glue. This smells toxic. Pours a hazy gold, with a rim of white. Aroma, a bit of sickly Jim Beam. Weird and confusing. Flavor is acetone, apple cider and jesus. This is terrifying. Tart and dry, but terrifying. Rodenbach Grand Cru on drugs. There’s some weird base to this. After you get over the acetone, there’s some interesting tart dryness. Then some apple skins and some sweet apricots. Too much freakin’ acetone. Then it may be okay. Weird and crazy. Not particularly complex and enjoyable. Drys out quickly on the palate. Past the acetone, it’s unique and fruity. Not particularly interesting or well done, but exciting to try a Michigan lambic. Note: I’m not sure this rating belongs here. The bottle owner told me that this was a special "Lambic-style" rendition of Whiskey Richard. However with so much ambiguity and the unlikelihood that enough other people are going to rate the limited release bottles, I’ll leave it here. Thanks much Steve!

MBG Winter Fest 2008. Poured hazy copper color with an average fizzy white head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Moderate to heavy fruit, whiskey and citrus hoppy aroma. Medium to full body with a slick texture. Medium to heavy bittersweet flavor with a medium to heavy bittersweet finish of moderate to moderate duration.

Draft snifter, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, the only drink to have as we were driving a long way home. I haven’t been back in Dark Horse since the Summer of 2005, and it is a place I miss a lot -- my former local. Aroma is of a strange Belgian yeastiness, funky and sour (not sure exactly in what way, perhaps lactic from a barrel?). Flat. Whiskey notes, but not as strong as I might fear. The taste was just not a standout; a funky lemon, a bit of nuttiness and sourness, and whiskey. Had to try it, but in hindsight a Double Crooked Tree might have been a nicer drink (well, I had some sips of my wife’s...)

(Draught) Pours a hazy golden body with a small off-white head. Aroma of citrus, herbs, caramel, bourbon, vanilla, and oak. Flavor of orange/grapefruit peel, apple, caramel malt, and oak in the finish.