Dark Horse Brewing Co.
Marshall, MI
Available: MI, IN, IL, WI, MN, OH, PA, MA
Dark horse amber ale uses a ameribelg yeast to give it a unique fruit and clove aroma and subtleness in flavor.
ABV: 5.5
ABW: n/a
Color: 10.1
Bitterness: 14.5
Original gravity: 1053
If it looks like an amber, smells like an amber and tastes like an amber―it must be an amber! Right? Well, yes, but in this case, there’s a little more than meets the eye, making Dark Horse Amber a bit of an unexpected surprise. You first notice it in the aroma―a spiciness that lets you know this is a bolder brew than you first anticipated. The pepper really shines through at first sip. The elements of a nice amber are there, but the peppery spice notes make you sit up and take notice. This isn’t amber; it’s amber’s sassy friend.
Is it just my well-traveled sample or does this beer always appear cloudy? Never mind: it still tastes great. Caramel and cookies are the key flavors, from aroma to finish, with a faint citrus sparkle and a delicate, almost apple-like fruitiness from the yeast. Hops provide a rounded herbal bitterness to hold everything in place. This is a tasty beer without ever being strident, which makes it all the more quaffable for its strength. I’m sure it’s even better without the haze and chewiness of yeast in suspension but there’s plenty to like about this beer as it stands.
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.
