Dark Horse Brewing Co - Tres Blueberry Stout

One of the biggest components to my previous blog, and I'm sure this one as well, is reviews of some of the various brews that I drink.  I try to vary up the beers that I review.  I like to review some of the more far out there concoctions that I come across, but that can be frustrating to the regular consumer who doesn't feel like trading or searching for an elusive brew.  Therefore, I would also like to make sure that I review some of your more everyday beers as well.  With that being said, this particular beer isn't exactly your everyday brew.

Dark Horse Brewing Co is a fairly good sized craft brewery out of Marshall, Michigan.  While living in the right area can guarantee you that this particular beer is easy to find, you have to live in one of the 8 states they distribute to in order to find it.  They have three additional states they have partial distribution to, but I live right across the boarder from one of them and I didn't see this bottle there.  This one was sent to me as an extra in a trade.  Extras are one of my favorite parts of trading.  It's just fun opening up a package and finding a few extra bottles you didn't know you were getting.

Finding a blueberry stout in my trade was a somewhat exciting and disappointing experience.  Fruit beers in general tend to be very hit or miss for me.  I have started to find more of a love for them.  The increase in sours, IPAs, and other styles that include fruit have started to win me over.  Stouts aren't really known for being fruit centric though.  While I was worried I wouldn't like this brew, I was very interested to give it a try.  Plus it made for a nice beer for my return to blog reviewing.

Appearance: The beer poured out a nice super dark black color with a somewhat oil consistency.  While this was to be expected, it's always appreciated when I see a beer's appearance to be consistent with what I expect from the style.  Perhaps my favorite part was the moderate mocha brown head that developed on top of the beer.  Swirling the glass resulted in some nice lacing and ample sticky residue that stuck around on the side of the glass.

Smell: I wasn't sure what I should be expecting as I put my nose to the glass.  Would a super sweet blueberry mess dominate, or would the base style take center stage?  I was very delighted to find that the roasty coffee aroma was the more dominant of the aromas.  The coffee base combines with some nice rich chocolate notes to provide a good foundation for the potent blueberry aroma that does eventually combine in with the rest.  Somehow, the beer seems to almost have a 2 stage component to the aroma.  The blueberries manage to hang back until after you've been hit by the more roasty base. Eventually, you definitely get a sticky sweet blueberry muffin aroma.  It reminds me of when I open the can of blueberries for the box of blueberry muffins we sometimes make.

Taste: The blueberry flavor here is certainly center stage, but it doesn't steal the show.  The first sip had me a little worried.  The blueberries dominate the palate at the start, but they are met quickly by the bold roasted coffee backbone.  This enables the beer to feature blueberries while still staying true to the base stout style.  As the beer transitions toward the second half of the flavor profile, there is a nice kick up of some sweet chocolate.  At this point the blueberries have backed off and the beer is a rich chocolate and coffee stout.  The fruit isn't done yet though.  The blueberries come back towards the end to work their way into the aftertaste.  The beer ends with a big kick up of roasted woodiness, slight smokey notes, and lingering blueberry sweetness.

Mouthfeel: This beer doesn't lean too much towards the thick and syrupy feel; however, you do get a little bit of syrup in there.  Mostly you have a rich and robust texture.  The flavors are surprisingly well-balanced.  The fruit is accented here and there, while you are mostly left with a great bold stout.  The beers roasted notes are especially long-lasting through to the end of the flavor profile.

Overall this is a great winter offering from a really good brewery.  I've had limited experience with this brewery, but it's definitely one on my long list of breweries to visit in the future.  While I was quite skeptical if I was actually going to like this one, I was more than pleased it ended up as an extra in my trade.  It only makes me want to try more from them.

Teacher Grade: B+

Sharing is Caring

In my absence from the world of beer blogging, I often found myself realizing I was still coming up with topics to blog about.  Perhaps the desire to analyze this industry I invest so much time and money in is something I just can't shake.  Whatever comes of this in the future, and whatever ultimately managed to bring me back, really doesn't matter.  I sit here with great aspirations to once again produce multiple posts a week.  In reality, I hope to get at least one quality piece written and posted as frequently as I can.  It's not like life has finally calmed down.  If anything, it's actually more busy than it has ever been.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see where we go from here.

One of my first trades

One topic I've definitely delved into in the past is the unfortunate way in which beer distribution is handled here in the U.S.  I remember the first time I found out there were beers out there being produced in different areas of the country that I couldn't possibly find at my local store.   I searched high and low for a store that would carry this elusive Three Floyds Brewing Co product. Try as I might, there wasn't a single store in the area that could produce a single ounce of beer from this mythical brewery.  They, like many breweries across the country, don't distribute to this market.

There is a wide variety of reasons why breweries don't send their beers from sea to shining sea. Obviously production is something to take into account.  There are some breweries out there that have a hard enough time keeping up with the demand in their own backyard.  Others produce an incredible amount of quality and varied beers, but they don't have distribution deals with companies that deliver to certain states.  There are actually some midwestern states that don't get Stone Brewing Co and even more that can't get Dogfish Head.  Yuengling, America's oldest brewery, only makes it as far west as Tennessee.  So how is a beer geek to survive knowing all of these great beers seem completely unattainable.

True, some join beer of the month clubs, or they order what they can from various companies online.  That, however, is still quite limited in what you can get.  Ultimately, the only real way to solve this dilemma is with beer trading.  I can obtain various breweries here in the Washington DC area that a lot of other states can't get.  While I sit at home wishing I could get various beers siting on the shelves of their local stores, others do the same wishing they could get some of the beers off my shelves.  In the end, through the help of a few different websites, we talk, figure out a fair deal, and mail out the beers of each other's dreams.  Oh it's not a perfect system, and there are those out there that would like to harm others, but it's the best way to get those products some of us can only dream of.

Washington DC doesn't necessarily have a plethora of beers others are looking to get.  But there are a few sure fire products you can always get someone to jump on.  Many people are quite interested in trying Duclaw's Sweet Baby 

One of my biggest trades

Jesus (chocolate peanut butter porter) and DC Brau's On the Wings of Armageddon ( double IPA). Thanks to these beers, I was really able to get my trading legs under me.  Thanks to trading, I've been able to procure all of the following different beers since the beginning of the summer.

Three Floyds - Dark Lord, The Bruery - White Chocolate, New Glarus - Raspberry Tart, Serendipity, and Strawberry Rhubarb, Westbrook - Mexican Cake, Pipeworks - Orange Truffle Abduction, and Prairie Artisan Ales - Prairie Bomb, Surly - Darkness, and Barrel Aged Speedway Stout. 

Would I recommend beer trading to someone who wants to expand their craft beer horizon?  Of course I would!  Understand, however, you need to start small.  I remember I managed to get a beer I thought was good and tried to use it to spear some of the biggest whales I've been dying to catch.  That is a big mistake.  Others will only ridicule you for shooting too high.  Also, know what you want when you go in there.  You will get shut right down if your post appears to be an auction.  People don't want to guess at what you want.  If nothing else, just put some styles down you would like to get.  Finally, don't try and win a trade.  This isn't like trading baseball cards.  You shouldn't be able to brag about how you practically stole someone else's Babe Ruth card.  It requires some give and take.  You may have to add on your end, or they might on their end.  Regardless, you'll be really happy when a package shows up on your front steps with those elusive beers inside.

I managed to get some 3 Floyds in the end 

A Rebirth

Perhaps some of you are coming across this blog for the first time.  It certainly would appear to be a new blog.  However, for someone who has just happened to find my ramblings here, I can tell you that I blogged for a couple years previously at this site.  It's been a while since I've posted, and with a new year comes a new site.  Really it's more because wordpress was trying to charge me $106 to continue to have my domain name with them, but I'm more happy to say this is a new site with new possibilities.

I decided to keep my old blog name, Lyrics, Libations, and Life, because personally I really like it and that's exactly what I blog about.  I talk a little bit about my life, I do an occasional music review, and I love to talk about craft beer.  Anyone who has ever flipped through the images on my phone know I have two things on there: babies and beer.  

This past year we celebrated the birth of our baby girl.  Perhaps that's why I haven't done a lot of blogging recently, or maybe I just fell out of love with it, but I'm rededicating myself to this process in the new year.  

So, here's to new beginnings and a great new year in blogging.

(Oh and as you can see from the picture, I have plenty of stuff stockpiled to review and talk about)