Dark Horse from Michigan puts out 5 beers, 1 a month, from November until March, each getting bigger, bolder, boozier.. designed to get you through the long dark days of winter.. supposedly according to them! So I figured it made more sense to have them all in a single night to really see how much bigger each successive one got. *note.. I got pretty damn drunk in doing so, so these descriptions are short.. sorry!*ONE - Oatmeal Stout. Coming in at 8.0% ABV, this is big oatmeal stout to begin with.. There was no difference in any of the pours.. all pitch black, oily, thick and thick heads. Nice creamy, sweet aroma.. burnt/roasted malts, black burnt coffee. Big, heavy and malty.. pure dark chocolate, black burnt coffee, but a touch of the creamy sweetness from the oatmeal.. a surprising touch of bitterness on the finish. A bit big for my taste in an oatmeal, but damned good!
Too - Cream Stout. Another big-ass 8.0% ABV stout.. shit, this is gonna be interesting. Much bigger head, bit more tan. Similar in aroma to the oatmeal stout, but with sweeter notes and a touch of vanilla.. more boozy in the nose than the oatmeal as well. A bit less roasty/burnt that the oatmeal, but still wicked smooth, sweet and big. The booze bite is highly prominent here but more malty than sweet in taste. Rich espresso, milk chocolate, touches of roasted malts and the slightest bitterness. Way bigger than any cream/milk stout I've ever had.. more akin to dipping a triple fudge brownie in espresso ice cream and taking a shot of vodka with is... YUM!
Tres - Blueberry Stout. Little bit lighter at 7.5% ABV. I've had this one before.. but honestly, one of the most unique stout's I've ever had. You can't place much in the nose besides mocha coffee malts and what may be blueberries. The sweetest of the 3 so far.. very very creamy, iced coffee, chocolate malts.. and yep.. there they definitely are, the blueberries! Not in the sense of blueberry muffins, but if you made chocolate blueberry pancakes and drenched them in a thick sweet maple syrup. I can't say much else, but that the sweet, chocolate, roasty malts here work amazingly with the blueberries. A definitely must try!
Fore - Smoked Stout. Another one weighing in at 8.0% ABV.. shit, only been at this for just over 90 minutes... Very chocolatey here, more so than the others and a nice smoke note. Bits of hickory and BBQ's pork fat along with some plum and raisin sweetness. Bold roasted flavors, woody, smoke and a bitter burnt coffee underlies it all. This felt and tasted much more like a 12% imperial, but drank far too easy.
Finally after just under 2 hours - Plead the 5th - Imeperial Stout at 12.0% ABV. Hot damn. After pouring the others, thought it couldn't be possible for a beer to be blacker, but yet here one is! Thick and oily, the aroma exudes chocolate malts, roasted malts and straight up moonshine with underlying anise and licorice. Deceptively smooth except for the booze in this. Incredibly warming.. purest dark chocolate, rich coffee, more of the licorice notes with some dried dark fruit, molasses and a caramel sweetness. A little smokey and just the slightest bit of a hop bitterness before fading into a burningly alcoholic dry chocolate note.
This is huge, but a bit overwhelming. Overall, a really cool series of beers. Stouts are tough to create uniquely and unfortunately, these seem just a bit too similiar beer to beer. Maybe the same night was a bad idea for these.. how I felt this morning lends itself to that!
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