Dark Horse Too Cream Stout | Dark Horse Brewing Company

3.69/5  rDev -5.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Undated bottle at 42 degrees into hand washed and dried JK snifter, allowed to warm to 50 degrees
Aroma – roasted malt, fades
Head – average (Maximum three cm, aggressive pour), medium brown, creamy with rocks, diminishing to two mm ring and partial rocky layer
Lacing excellent – wide rings of tiny bubbles
Body – dark brown/black, opaque. Sediment in bottle.
Flavor roasted malt, slightly bitter, initially harsh but smooths out as it warms up; no hops, no alcohol, no diacetyl
Palate medium to full, creamy, soft carbonation

A passable stout, not really tasting or feeling like a milk stout. One and done, unless nothing else is available.

Appearance 4, Aroma 3.75, Flavor 3.5, Palate 4, Overall 3.75

★ 715 characters

3.96/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

12 oz bottle. Black color with small beige head that dissipates completely. Aroma of coffee, roasted malts. Taste is coffee, more roasted malts, freshness from the lactic character, a hint of tartness, slightly bitter finish.

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4.09/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Aroma is coffee, chocolate, dark/roasted malts and a hint of dark fruit. The flavor is coffee, chocolate/dark chocolate, dark fruit/mild sweetness and a mix of a acidity and slight tartness in the finish.

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3.94/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A- Pours black with a brown head, dissipates quickly.
S- Nothing milky or sweet here, roasted black coffee, black licorice, earthy backbone, slight hops. Sweet marshmallow comes out a bit as it warms.
T- Unsweetened chocolate, very dark coffee, burnt graham cracker.
M- Heavy body, very slick and smooth, coats the palate, low carbonation.
O- Very dark and heavy on the roast compared to other milk/sweet stouts I've had, but that also goes along with the abv. Drinking this beer is like sitting around a campfire eating a smores that is a little bit too well-done. It is an exceptional stout, just a bit heavy for the style. I feel it should be qualified as a double.

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4.48/5  rDev +15.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Time for some more Dark Horse carnage.

Looks : This one pours a used motor oil black body, almost obsidian, and 100% opaque. No light penetrates this black hole. The head is slightly off-red or malted milk brown, and pours at 2 fingers. It settles at a thick ring. "Looking" good so far.

Smells : Lots of dark chocolate, deep cocoa, oatmeal, almond milk, and a hint of Kenyan coffee bean. Strong bouquet.

Tastes : Lots of roasted coffee, mixed in with cacao. Some dark fruits also...plum, prune, with some root. I want to say there's blueberry here too, but only superficially. The dark hop finishes out the taste with what's like ground coffee from the filter.

Mouthfeel : Supercharged and electric carbonation, both at the forefront and throughout the taste. At its heart is some creaminess and it follows through to a damp, dry resolve.

Overall : I wasn't surprised at all that this stout was great. Dark Horse makes some pretty amazing stuff, and I'm not going to bat an eye at this one either. Recommended, I think I like this better than their Smoked Fore, even.

★ 1,077 characters

3.94/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Sticky and viscose pour of coffee bean coloring produces a huge golden chocolate foamy head of amazing retention. Big sloppy patchwork of lacing adores the vessel.

S: Fresh coffee and cocoa roast, nice strength. Burnt chocolate malts, dry, with a hint of scorched barrel woodiness and dry vanilla rounds things out.

T: Flavor showed a huge, fresh and roasty nature and depth, freshly grounded coffee beans, dry chocolate with a bit of dry cocoa. Burnt roasty hop cones of pine, with dark fruit, silty campfire minerality, dry creamer and vanilla follow on the finish. A nice overall bitterness lingers long after the swallow with a slight hint of milky and marshmellow sweetness.

M: Thick milky mouthful, creamy, medium-full body, roasty warmth and bitterness.

O: Overall fresh roasty nature, bitter, milky depth for mouthful. Dru milky-vanilla sweetness against a fresh roasted body of bitterness that stays long after the swallow.

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4.49/5  rDev +15.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

12 oz bottle, poured into a pint glass

Appearance: Pours an inky, completely opaque, pitch-black color with a full finger of chocolate-colored head that quickly dissolved away into a thin lacing of foam that completely covered the top of the beer.

Aroma: Very aromatic with lots of rich, earthy, roasted malt, imparting notes of freshly toasted dark bread, dark chocolate, some brown sugar and toffee, a touch of vanilla, a touch of coffee. Very nice!

Taste: Exactly as the aroma. Lots of rich, earthy, roasted malt, imparting notes of freshly toasted dark bread, dark chocolate, some brown sugar and toffee, a touch of vanilla, a touch of coffee. There’s a slight, but pleasant bitterness at the finish, not hoppy, but a little like chicory coffee. Very nice beer.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied to slightly chewy and pretty smooth and creamy. With an ABV of 7.5%, there is no alcohol on the palate.

Overall: This is a very nice cream stout. Roasty, slightly sweet, slightly bitter, and very tasty.

★ 1,011 characters

2.07/5  rDev -46.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2.25

Great roasted, malted aroma. However, it is overly roasted and bitter in flavor. It's not creamy or milky at all. Somewhat disappointed in the overall product.

★ 159 characters

3.91/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Pours thick and rich. A very dark 1-finger head quickly falls. There's a viscous coating on the glass as it's tipped. The aroma is big and enveloping; full of deep fruity smells. The beers taste is what one might expect of a sip of dessert wine, with dry, burnt-coffee notes on the back end. This is a big stout, and I imagine it would be hard to distinguish from many imperials; quite an accomplishment for a 7.5% libation. Mouthfeel lives up to the name.

★ 456 characters

3.84/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Pours a nice light creamy brown head with decent lacing. Smell is chocolate malt, malted milk, roast marshmallows. Taste is subtle chocolate milk, nice smoke presence, with darker chocolate residuals. Overall a very nice stout that is easy to drink.

★ 249 characters

3.76/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Pours nearly black with a modest cap of brown foam that rapidly settles into a soapy skim. The coloration is gorgeous, and this isn’t the first time I’ve been impressed by the appearance of Dark Horse’s stouts; they know what they’re doing on that front. Simple but pleasant aroma smells of roasted malt and salted caramel with perhaps a hint of brown sugar.

The first thing that stands out to me upon sipping is the beer’s smoothness--it flows across the palate like quicksilver. I can definitely appreciate the cream stout moniker. The flavor is roasty and toasty, along with muted dark chocolate notes that peek through moreso in the finish. The carbonation is medium and the body is just north of light.

Overall, this is an ultra-smooth and drinkable, roasty stout. One of the more sessionable stouts I’ve come across.

★ 842 characters

3.55/5  rDev -8.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

12oz bottle poured into nonic. This beer is opaque black with a quarter inch of light brown head that settles to a thin ring. Minimal lacing. The aroma is carried by roasted malts and coffee, plus creamy lactose sugar and a hint of milk chocolate. It has a subdued vanilla cream sweetness that rolls in after a strong wave of coffee, molasses, and roasted malt bitterness. Medium-light body and a thin mouthfeel that are disappointing; soft carbonation and a long roasty finish that are quite nice.

★ 498 characters

4.25/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours darker than I expected, deep dark chocolate color. Almost no head, stronger chocolate in the nose than I anticipated, but not a truly strong chocolate smell. Taste is of chocolate that is slightly sweet, with some maltiness in the background. Reminds me of Boulder Beers' Shake, only this is it's older more intense brother. Imperial Stoutish without the coffee nor the higher alcohol. I could drink a number of these very easily. I will buy again and suggest those who haven't tried it, to seek it out.

★ 509 characters

3.83/5  rDev -1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a nice deep black with no light getting through. There's a nice dark brown head that comes with it and settles down quickly, leaving some oily lacing. The aroma is big rich malt, with hints of chocolate and coffee. The taste is a little light, missing the big rich flavors of the aroma but does have a nice light hops finish. The body is also a little light, even for a milk stout, but it has almost no carbonation, so it's got that going for it.

★ 452 characters

3.46/5  rDev -11.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

A: Pours deep black with a few tan bubbles but no real "head" to speak of.

s: Light aroma. It's chocolaty and malty with subtle vanilla notes. Proper "stout" stuff. 

T: Not too complex, but well rounded. Chocolate shines through on a smokey background. Coffee and a malt presence are there, but nothing too strong. It's just not exciting at all. It does hide it's alcohol well, though.

F: Slightly too thin, almost watery. Well carbonated, but really no body.

O: I'm enjoying it (kinda), but it's not really making an impression on me.

★ 540 characters

3.65/5  rDev -6.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Pours a dark black with a finger or so of brown head. Nice lacing.
Smell is not very pronounced at all. Hints of chocolate and coffee with a bit of alcohol.
Tastes nice and smooth. Roasted coffee with a bit of the alcohol bite at the end.
Mouthfeel isn't horrible, but it is way thinner than I was expecting based on the name.
Overall it's a nice enough stout that I would certainly drink again, though the creaminess I was expecting wasn't apparent at all.

★ 457 characters

3.25/5  rDev -16.5%

Was expecting something a little more in the "sweet" sense, but instead this stout has a very distinct smokey oak taste to it. The aroma isn't as pleasant as I would have liked and very lingering smokey aftertaste. Not one of my favorites and I like most stouts. If you are fan of the very earthy oak and smoked flavors you would like, but I've had much better stouts.

★ 371 characters

3.82/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

12 oz bottle served in a snifter.

Pours near black and thick looking; like over-used motor oil. Weak head. A layer of dark sediment left on the bottom of the bottle despite a full pour.

Aroma: exceptionally appealing if fairly simple, with more medium roasted grain than expected.

Flavor: Excellent sweet/bitter balance, with the light sweetness overcome by mild bitterness by the finish. Lingering dark roasted malts and black coffee in the aftertaste. A hint of dark chocolate.

★ 486 characters

4/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours pretty well pitch black, like motor oil, with a fine head of deep tan foam. Virtually no lace, though!

Nose is bittersweet cocoa nibs, dark berries underneath. Burnt malts galore!

Taste is smooth — charred malts and dark fruit duking it out on the palate for dominance. Finishes with more of the bittersweet malts and a hint of alcohol warmth. This is a delicious and smooth stout that approaches some Russian Imperial Stouts, even. Superb.

★ 451 characters

4.1/5  rDev +5.4%

Pours black with a brown head that thins. Some lacing sticks.

The smell is of chocolate, coffee, cream and earthy notes. Robust and pleasant.

The taste is of robust milk chocolate balanced by mildly roasted coffee. Subtle dark fruit and earthy/anise-like tones mix in. A touch of sour lactic tang is in the finish.

It hits full-bodied. Some alcohol warmth lingers through the finish, as does the rich milk chocolate sweetness.

Not too heavy on the lactose for a milk stout, but it is sweet - the roast is mild. Overall, it's a rich, robust, complex, very enjoyable stout.

★ 577 characters

3.64/5  rDev -6.4%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

How clever they are, One, Too, Tres, Fore and Plead the 5th! I am holding Fore in abeyance, awaiting a smoke-a-thon one of these days. In the interim, another of my bottle backlog is annihilated, but still no end in sight.

This was visually stunning coming out of the bottle and into my glass! It looked like high viscosity engine oil, 40-weight, as it did its pseudo-cascade and then formed a finger of dense, deep-brown head with excellent retention. Color was a deep, dark-brown (SRM = 44) allowing zero light penetration. THIS is their interpretation of a Cream Stout?!? Nose was rich and chocolaty, more towards dark chocolate with a charcoal smokiness. Mouthfeel was big, full and creamy and the taste was incredibly smoky, which while appealing to me, is stylistically incorrect. Why would they make Fore and this? I left a bit in the bottle so as to be able to stir up the lees for an additional pour, but it really did not change things by much, except to intensify the smokiness, if that is possible. Finish was bitter, smoky, dry, all of which adds up to something other than a Milk/Sweet Stout. I am not a style maven, by any stretch, but this was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

★ 1,189 characters

4.02/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured into a Funky Buddha Brewery snifter. Bottleneck says 303-13.

A- Pours an impenetrable black color with a 1/4 inch brown head that immediately vanishes leaving a thick ring around the edge of the glass and a small center patch of surface foam. Semi-resilient lacing leaves a jagged ring behind.

S- Lots of milk chocolaty goodness with some caramel and vanilla thrown in for good measure. A little nutty too.

T- Smells a lot better than it tastes as there's a brush of roast and then an abrupt metallic flavor that kind of kills the party. Alcohol is decently well-hidden. The roast creeps in more and more with each sip bringing notes of dark chocolate. Minimal sweetness.

M- Thick, robust, medium-low carbonation and a full body. Once the sediment in the bottle retained from the initial pour (and boy there was a lot of it) is introduced, the mouthfeel becomes more creamy.

O- I wish this beer had more elements of the aroma in the flavor as it smells wonderful but the taste leaves a bit to be desired. Still it's drinkable enough and there's nothing necessarily wrong with it. Just feel like it could be so much better.

★ 1,134 characters

3.53/5  rDev -9.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

A: Oily black with no light coming trough. The head is massive - it almost overfilled my glass. It is easily 2 1/2 fingers of dense tan foam.

S: Sweet and roasted malts - chocolate and vanilla. Very pleasant combination of smells.

T: I get a lot of smoke. It is not bad - I just wasn't expecting it based on the nose or the description. There is subtle sweetness and hints of bitter coffee.

M: A little thin and less coating that expected. No noticeable carbonation.

O: Based on the Appearance and Nose I expected big things. The taste was way off the nose - and not really in a good way. I am desperately sipping and hoping for hints of chocolate and more coffee - but I am just getting smoke. There are other stouts in this series from Dark Horse - I have them and will try them. I *think* there is one that is a smoked porter - I can't imagine something smokier than this!

★ 879 characters

3.75/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

12 oz. bottle, with no apparent bottled on date present. My second of the five winter stouts from Dark Horse Brewing Co. Picked up a single bottle of this from the local beer store.

Poured into a clear balloon snifter.

A - Pours an inky jet black colored body with about a finger of dark mocha head. Some spotty mocha lacing, but none really sticks. Looks pretty nice.

S - Smell is comprised of milk chocolate, cream / lactose, coffee bean roastiness, cookie dough / fudgey, & mild dark fruit presence. Maybe a hint of spicing. A pleasant, yet average aroma.

T - Taste follows the aroma - milk chocolate, cream / lactose, dark coffee bean roast / bitterness, mild indistinct dark fruitiness, and some hints of metallics on the finish.

M - The feel is silky smooth, and creamy. Medium bodied with good roasty bitterness lingering on the palate.

Overall, a nice example of the style, but it lies somewhere in the middle of the pack. Lightly warming with a moderate 7.50% abv. Well worth having, and I look forward to trying the others.

Dark Horse Too Cream Stout ---3.5/5

★ 1,076 characters

3.71/5  rDev -4.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Bottle purchased at AJ's Beer Warehouse in Henrietta, NY.

Pours out a dark, nearly pitch black, with a half inch head, and not much lacing.

Smells like lactose, vanilla, coffee, and roasted malt.

The taste is similar. Pretty smooth, but slightly simple. Some roasted malt flavor is smoothed over by milk stout-y lactose flavors. A little bit of chocolate and coffee flavors, but they are pretty weak.

Medium bodied, but slightly thin. Creamy, smooth, slick mouthfeel. Low carbonation.

Of the "numbers stouts" in this series that I've had (all but Fore), this ranks #3, behind Tres Blueberry and Plead the 5th, and slightly better than One Oatmeal.

★ 652 characters