Dark Matter
Hoyne Brewing Co.

I had this beer on-tap in an imperial pint glass at Mission Springs Brewery in Mission, BC.

Appearance: dark brown hue with a little bit of haze and a centimeter of creamy tan foam atop.

Smell: nicely malty with a bit of toasty and caramelly flavor, with hints of chocolate. Not bad!

Taste: a bit more chicolate and caramel than the aroma. Malty but not too sweet. Bitterness is moderate and balanced. Pretty darn good!

Mouthfeel: medium body with a decent carbonation and a pretty smooth creaminess.

Overall: a solid brown ale. I dig it.

 

Tasty, one of the best beers I've had. I ain't much of a beer guy but this helped me get into it and enjoy the search for great drinks to share with friends. Recommend highly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours coffee colored dark brown with khaki foamy head from tall pint can to glass. Bready notes of warm toast, sweet milk and spice. Decent brown ale at 5.3% ABV, reminiscent of Coke.

 

 

2022-11-24
16oz can served in a big snifter. Dated AUG102022. In-laws brought it back from Victoria a couple months ago.

Pours basically black with a small head (I would have thought it was a schwartzbier if BA didn't tell me it was a brown ale). Smell is roasty, coffee, chocolatey.

Taste is similar, with a bit of a grainy sweetness. Tons of roast, maybe some anise, comes across with a substantial amount of a dark roast coffee.

Mouthfeel is medium to light. Overall, it's pretty good and pretty interesting, doesn't really fall into the brown ale category for me, but doesn't clearly fall into other categories either.

Deep garnet brown color where light shines through the center of the glass. Little head and no lacing.

The smell is similar to a dry stout with plenty of burnt black patent malt. No chalk.

This is like a brown ale/dry stout blend. The body is neutral with a slightly elevated carbonation. The flavor continues the burnt malt aspect but without the bite. There’s no chocolate not coffee notes. Quite refreshing.

On tap at Swans. Chocolate malt and base carries.good drinkability.

From notes of my trip out West

Appearance: One finger of head that laced while it lasted, which was not long. The body is an opaque dark brown.

Smell: Straw grain with toffee malt and a hint of dark chocolate in the background. Needed a bit of warming to achieve good potency, but was there was it happened, really brought out the chocolate.

Taste: Toffee malt starts us off that builds up to meet and overcome a bitter walnut note before slight earth and dark chocolate take over and round things out.

Mouthfeel: The aftertaste is most of the ending of the beer as the chocolate earth and a slight tap of the toffee linger behind, the carbonation is ok but have noted I wish it was creamier. The transitioning was very well done.

Drinkability: On the heavier end of medium body, and the lower carbonation lets it settle down well. I noted this as a fast sipper, and that it drinks like a very light porter, which is probably a bit of a downside here. As heavy the beer is, I'd expect a bit more flavor behind it. Still, was great with the sandwich I had in Surrey.

Final Thoughts: I noted this would be a great fall offering to get you ready for winter stouts. Not quite heavy enough but on it's way towards that end. It could use a bit more of a malty backbone to it, but it still gets the job done quite some interesting chocolate and nut notes. Would recommend when you are out that way.

Clear, very dark red-brown color. Almost black. Poured a short head that collapsed to a patchy skiff in half a minute. Too dark to see the carbonation level. Left no lacing.

Mild sweet dark roasted malt smell with just a hint of something I can't identify. Swirling the glass kicked up a mild barnyard for a few seconds.

Stronger dark roasted malt flavor. Rather sweet. A light layer of barnyard. Mild bitters kick in when it warms up. The aftertaste is mostly the sweet malt fading down with a light bitter.

Moderate tongue tingling as it grows to a medium bubbled foam. Medium body.

The high residual sugar level makes this taste more like a coke than an ale. I'm assuming that the recipe has changed over the years, since my notes from a few years ago recorded that this used to be very bitter with a very thin taste. No mention of the sweetness level.

Distant smoke, toasted bread crust and blackberry jam are packed neatly into its chestnut brown body. Its softness translates to its taste where some additional malt complexity shows up in chocolate wafer, graham cracker, and worty dextrin.

The general descriptor of clean lives in aroma, taste, and feel. Peering a bit deeper is where I get the joy of this beer - its chew, its stick, its decadence.

It's got character without flaunting it. It can be crushed or contemplated. I prefer both.

This dark beer is an excellent choice if you’re interested in trying a beer with flavour. Hoyne has a winner with this beer. I just wish it was available on tap in more establishments.