Weekly Beer Geek: Reserve Special Black Bier Ale

---

Reserve Special Black Bier Ale

Dark Horse Brewing Company

$2.19/bottle

Grade: B

Introduction:

Dark Horse Reserve Special was recommended to me by the clerk at my liquor store o'fancy beer, and I was chagrined to realize that until he told me about Dark Horse I'd never heard of the brewery- a sin, considering they are home-grown Michigan. As an apology to Dark Horse for the lack of attention I've paid to them, I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend the brewer's web site: www.darkhorsebrewery.com. Aside from being well organized and informative, the writing is a hilarious stream-of-consciousness consisting of absurdism, inside jokes, and profanity. Much like my life. Do yourself a favor and go there- just reading the web site left me praying the beer would measure up.

What They Say:

Reserve Special is the oldest of Dark Horse's beers in full-time production. As would be expected from the name, the beer is dark- "so dark it's eerie," as the web site says, although I have yet to be frightened by the color of a beer (well, there was this one time...). It is supposed to be thick and heavy, with a strong physical as well as flavorful presence. They don't mention the hops, so I went into the tasting expecting a beer without overt bitterness- instead, Reserve Special is supposed to be a heavy explosion of malty roast chocolate. That either sounds like a damn good beer or a s'more made out of Whoppers.

What I Say:

Like the other insanely dark beer I have reviewed, Old Rasputin, this is opaque in front of even the bright fluorescent light. However, it is more brown than black, including the foam on the head being delightfully rich-looking tan. It's also thick, and left lacing all the way down the sides of the glass as it settled. It smells delicious, by the way, almost like toasted soda bread. On the flavor side of things, the malt and roast flavors are certainly exploding, although the promised chocolate is nowhere to be found. This beer really is intense, even to me as a dark beer drinker, but I'd say it's good overall. I would, however, say that the malt is toasted a little too much, and the flavor would be improved by being a little less intense so it would be easier to savor.

Drink This Beer:

If and only if you are a fan of dark intense beers- it's strong enough to turn a newbie off of dark beers altogether, and it certainly leaves a strong taste in your mouth. I wouldn't recommend this with anything you wanted to savor, it's going to take over your taste buds. It would be quite good with some sort of herb bread or aromatics (onions, garlic). In a moment of geekishness, I realized this is the kind of beer I picture characters in fantasy novels drinking at inns. So you should ask for dark horse if, you know, you happen to be a character in a fantasy novel and also read The Black Sheep.

Bottom Line:

Take a good close look at the label of the beer... scroll up, I'll wait. Dark horse my ass, that's a happy smiling donkey. With yellow eyes. Maybe this is a throwback to their original name for the brewery, "Jaundiced Donkey," before a more sober look at their notes convinced them to change it.

 

---

---

Write a comment

Name:
Email:
Subject:
Comment: *

Help prevent spam - enter security code above: