Cut Out Kid

Cellar Dweller: 2015 Darkhorse Brewing “Maple Bourbon Barrel Black Bier”

Darkhorse Brewing’s 2015 Maple Bourbon Barrel Black Bier gets better with time. I drank it five years ago and it was good then, but now I feel like it’s even smoother. A little toned down, with great barrel effects that allow the adjuncts to shine. It ages well. Like the Dixieland below. Hit play and read on.

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The maple and bourbon are both present upfront, but cold, it starts off a tad smokey. There’s a booziness that lingers throughout each sip, but it still feels balanced by all recent comparisons (of the 2015 BA beers that I’ve pulled from my cellar). The warming process reveals a fried, bacon-esque smoke. Lightly roasted cocoa beans accompany the exceptional lager finish. I love that that Dark Horse aged a black bier, and that it finishes like a black bier, light and crisp. It’s a thinner swallow than a barrel-aged stout or barleywine, lighter and cleaner, not so rich.

“Schwarzbier, or black beer, is a dark lager that originated in Germany. They tend to have an opaque, black color with hints of chocolate or coffee flavors and are generally around 5% ABV. They are similar to stout in that they are made from roasted malt, which gives them their dark color.” -Wiki

So essentially, the color of a stout but the finish of a lager. What a concept. But wait, Darkhorse barrel-aged it! So, you get the bourbon,the booze and the maple upfront, and a nice lager finish on the back end. A pretty novel idea, eh? That’s Darkhorse Brewing.

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Bacon, Barley Wine, Barrel-Aged Beer, Black Bier, Black Lagers, Cocoa, craft beer, Dark Horse Brewing, Java, Lagers, Maple, Stouts