Chicagoist's Beer Of The Week: Dark Horse Fore Smoked Stout
By Jason Baldacci in Food on Jan 24, 2014 7:40PM
People always say it's good to try new things, and we say there's no better time than a day where the temperatures are dancing dangerously close to zero degrees Fahrenheit. If you're anything like us, you'll welcome any distraction this week. We have the perfect thing for any beer drinker to dive into.
Fore is a Smoked Stout from Dark Horse Brewing Co, the fourth beer of five in their Holiday Stout Series they release every winter (we covered the third around this time last year). They brew Fore with smoked malt, which definitely dominates the nose along with heavily roasted barley. On the palate this beer has an amazing texture. It's almost chewy up front but velvety by the end. While the smokiness may dominate the nose, it's nicely balanced in the flavor. We got notes of coffee and molasses up front with a hint of plum and roasted walnut in the mid-palate and a smoky bitterness that lingers on the finish. At 8% alcohol content, Fore is probably a little easier to drink than it should be, but a wonderful treat to warm you up on a cold night.
Despite a lot of American brewers experimenting with smoked beers in the past few years, the practice can still be a bit off-putting to a lot of American drinkers. We agree that it tends to be more of an acquired taste, but German breweries have been making smoked beers as long as they've been making any beer at all. Before modern electricity some brewers had no better option than to dry their malt over wood fires, the same way the distilleries of Scotland had to dry their own by burning peat. If you're not sure about trying smoked beer we recommending pairing them with food. A nice pot roast with a rich sauce will play along very well, but don't rule out Mexican dishes that are made with ancho chilis or mole sauce. If you happen to be braising meat, smoked beer can make an excellent braising liquid. A beer like Fore is a dead ringer to go with almost any chocolate dessert, the richer and darker the better.
Fore is available in 12oz bottles and on draft. Check beermenus.com to see where you can find yourself some this weekend.