Iron Horse Belgian Black
Iron Horse Brewery

On tap at Parkway pub in Tacoma today. Was not familiar with this beer or brewery, though I'll certainly look for other offerings from this brewery based on this beer.

Our bartender mentioned that to her, this just seemed like a typical Belgian ale, except it's black. I see what she means...

The beer pours a black brown color with fair head retention and lacing. I was expecting the beer to smell and taste like some sort of dry, light style porter (like Allagash's black beer), but was very pleasantly surprised by the attractive aroma of cherry, vanilla, spice and touch of sour. There was even a hint of roasty malt to the complex nose on this beer. Frankly, the nose on this bad boy is very reminscent of a fine Belgian Quad. The flavors on the palate replicate the nose, with the cherry/vanilla flavor very dominant. The beer is very smooth, with almost a spun satin mouthfeel. This is a very impressive beer. Not sure what the abv. is, though it didn't seem overwhelmingly high. Maybe somewhere in the 8% or 9% range? In any event, drinkability was pretty good in this beer I thought, though I can't imagine drinking a whole lot of it.

This was a beer that I found myself more and more impressed with, every sip I took. Quite impressive.

This beer is no longer made. From what I was told it was created due in part to a mutated yeast strain and magic happened. If you can find it drink it up, because it is simply amazing!

A- Very dark jet black. Little head which was white instead of tan like most dark brews.

S- I smell sweet balsamic vinegar, strong malts, and hints of anise.

T- The taste definitely has a nice sweet balsamic vinegar taste, nice malts, a slight bitterness, and a great sweet anise taste. This beer is very tasty with a good complexity about it. I had to have a few glasses of this stuff, and may have to go back for more.

M- Easy going in the mouth and tasty.

D- Hell yes sign me up! This is a very good beer great dark beer on a hot day.