Dark Horse Special Reserve Black Bier Ale

Brewed By: Dark Horse Brewing Company

Style: American Strong Ale (pretty much a stout)

ABV: 7.5%

This beer is the oldest in the Dark Horse family, and I will also add that it’s the best I’ve had so far from this brewery. Not only is the bottle worth it, but the beer inside is excellent.

I was recently able to visit Dark Horse on my trip to Michigan (review of that to come soon enough), but I had already reviewed this beer so I didn’t get to sample it fresh from the brewery because I had others waiting for my reviews!

Look – Poured a dark black with a nice thick tan head sitting on top. Most of the head vanished pretty quickly, but there was a thin layer left on top while I drank this beer.

Smell – Excellent smells! I get a ton of roasted barley, dark chocolate and burnt coffee beans. Somehow, it all seems to balance rather nicely and creates a very high expectation for the taste. There wasn’t a noticeable hop smell, but there rarely is with heavy stouts (excluding the Imperials).

Taste – Totally lives up to the nose. A full roasted malt, chocolate, and coffee taste that yet again balances out to create a wonderful mixture. It’s got a medium body to it, but is very easily drinkable despite the heavy flavors. A very pleasant bitterness sits on the back of the tongue for a good while after the last drink. The only negative aspect of it was that it DID NOT pair very well with the Cajun sweet potato fries I was eating (see picture). It’s not a versatile beer as far as food pairings go, but boy was it excellent with my steak! The other thing I liked about this beer is that it never got boring, I felt the same way about the flavor profile at the beginning and end of the glass.

Conclusion – This is definitely the best beer I have reviewed so far. I have very few bad things to say about this beer. One was the food pairings and the other is simply that I would have liked for it to be a little less carbonated to make the mouth feel a little heavier, but then again, it’s not officially a stout, the brewers say that it sits somewhere between a porter and a stout. I am also glad to finally read brewers comments about a beer that are actually true.

I give this beer an A-

Go check out the Dark Horse website here and definitely pick up one or two of this fine beer.

Happy Drinking!