Session # 105 | Dark Horse | Reserve Special | 7.5% ABV
American Strong Ale | Marshall, MI | Rating: 90/100

Here we are wrapping up another week of craft beer where we focus on a specific brewery. This week was Dark Horse and I chose to focus on a few of their stouts. Though you will notice this beer today is not classified a stout, it is virtually stout-like in every way. This is the brewery’s American Strong Ale called Reserve Special Black Bier. I first became aware of it a couple years ago when Draft Magazine listed it as one of their Top 25 Beers of 2008. Of course I had to purchase a few and enjoyed one last year and held on to the other two until now. Reserve Special is a very interesting beer because it really is a Stout or Porter in my mind. It pours black, has a light tan head, and smells every bit as dark and molasses-y as you’d expect from these two styles. The nose is much more elegant than the other two beers from this week. In fact, I could really smell this beer for a long time. Even though I pull out things like dank leather shoes, smoky malts, caramel, and molasses it tastes better than it sounds. Ultimately it has that signature Dark Horse taste that I’ve come to learn over the last week, but it’s clearly the winner for me and the only one I would recommend going out of your way for. Up Next: Pretty Things Jack D’Or

Others: Dark Horse Fore, Surly Smoke, ØlfabrikkenPorter

Check out all sessions of The Hopry here.
This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Arcade Fire “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”



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Session # 104 | Dark Horse | Fore | 8% ABV
American Smoked Stout | Marshall, MI | Rating: 88/100

It’s becoming fairly evident at this point that Dark Horse stouts generally taste the same. On the surface, they all share the same dark malt characteristic that puts off a damp cave aroma and taste. On one hand, this is a good thing because it gives Dark Horse a signature taste. However, with the number of stouts they produce in this Holiday Stout Series, each one is not distinctive enough to really stand out among the other releases. Today’s beer, the Fore Smoked Stout, pours exactly like the Too Cream Stout we looked at on Monday. On the nose, you get a lot of the same characters you find in the Too, which is dark roasted malts, earthiness, and damp cave. The only difference in the Fore is a fair amount of smokiness coming from the malts. A touch of booziness finishes off the nose. As the first drink hits your tongue you immediately notice that this is a bit more viscous than the Too, which I certainly am thankful for. The smoke is immediately apparent in the mouth, as is a good amount of molasses, chocolate, and burnt caramel. As you dig deeper, though, there’s a bit of tartness that comes from the depths of the beer that makes you think of chocolate covered raisins. Again, not the best stout I’ve had, but we’re definitely moving in the right direction. Of the three that I’ve had thus far, I still prefer the Tres the best. Feel free to go back and watch that one now if you’d like (just click here). See you back here on Friday when we’ll be wrapping up Dark Horse Week with one of their better offerings. Up Next: Dark Horse Special Reserve Black Bier.

Others: Alaskan Smoked Porter, Olfabrikken Porter, Founders Porter

Check out all sessions of The Hopry here.
This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Beach House “Walk in the Park”



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Session # 103 | Dark Horse | Too | 8% ABV
Milk / Sweet Stout | Marshall, MI | Rating: 82/100

Now for the beer… This week I’ll be sharing a brewery that I think most of you are familiar with called Dark Horse Brewing Company out of Marshall, Michigan. This is a fairly small brewery that doesn’t have the widest distribution (outside the northern part of the Midwest), but I was able to purchase several of their beers while on a recent trip to Minneapolis. I chose to do a week of stouts because the brewery actually has a lineup of stouts called the Holiday Stout Series. Though the Special Reserve Black Bier, which we will look at on Friday, is not in this series of beers, you’ll see that it might as well be. Today’s beer, called Too, is the breweries cream stout that is released every November and clocks in (purportedly) at 8%. It pours black as it should with a light tan-colored head that tends to hang around longer than one might expect. The nose is (as I’ve come to learn) very indicative of a Dark Horse stout. There is loads of damp cave, earth, malts, blueberry, chocolate, caramel, and charred corn, which all seem to unfold as you drink it. The taste is slightly different than the aroma and it comes off unusually thin on the palate. I expected an 8% cream stout to be much sweeter and chewier than this. However, the flavor unleashes a lot of chocolate, molasses, frisee (lettuce), and cream. It’s definitely an interesting stout, but not quite what I expected from a cream stout in particular. Up next: Dark Horse Fore

Others: Dark Horse Tres, Portsmouth Black Cat, Bells Cream Stout

Check out all sessions of The Hopry here.
This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: TV on the Radio “Family Tree”



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I hate to admit it, but it’s true! My good friend Andrew went to Wisconsin to visit a relative and I gave him a list of beers to buy, including a couple beers from New Glarus. One of them being the stellar fruit beer called Wisconsin Belgian Red. Funny thing is that the Dark Horse Tres was the hardest beer on the list to find. I begged him to look at one more liquor store before giving up on this intriguing beer. And guess what? Here it is… Tasting like a very small amount of blueberry and a whole lot of stout, Dark Horse Tres is part of a series of five beers Dark Horse released as part of their Holiday Stout Series. With an extremely low ABV of 4.5%, you’d think this beer would lack in flavor. Quite the contrary my friend, this is a really nice (yet subtle) stout. If you find yourself in the state of Wisconsin, I recommend picking up a four-pack of this little delight. Hell, buy some of the others while you’re at it. I’m sure they are delicious, too.

For a larger HD experience click here.
This beer can be found in these states.
On the iPod: Monsters of Folk

Brewery: Dark Horse
Beer: Tres
Style: Stout (Blueberry)
Location: Marshall, Michigan
ABV: 4.5%
Rating: 92/100