Dark Horse Brewing Company

buschbeer

Ohio

4.3/5  rDev +3.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I popped in for a brewery tour on the way to visit my grandfather. I got there on Sunday at noon, right when they opened. I wasn't the only one arriving for the opening. The first thing I noticed was that they had five bartenders. That is a sign that they do well on Sundays. The bar was small with various shards of tile grouted into it. I ordered a R.O.D. and was off on my tour.

I liked the fact that I was the only one in the tour since they just opened. Tours do not go on a schedule that I could tell. It was ask and go when the tour guide was available. The tour was typical. The process is always the same only on larger and smaller scales. I did get to see some beers aging in barrels along the way. The best part of the tour was of course the tasting. The tour was $7 and worth every penny to get to sample barrel aged Plead the 5th. What a great beer! The others were good, but the ba Pt5th was awesome.

Once I returned from the VIP lounge I noticed that there were a couple thousand beer mugs hanging from everywhere. The mug club must be popular. The bar itself was nothing fancy. It kind of looked like a dive bar or biker bar as several iron horses had come since I left on my tour. A lot more down to earth place than some pubs.

I really enjoyed the stop and wanted to enjoy another pint but Bell's was waiting for me down the road. I would return to this place in a heartbeat. Maybe I'll get some grub next visit.

06-03-2012 22:27:17 | More by buschbeer

trxxpaxxs

New York

4.38/5  rDev +5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

I drove out here for lunch on a weekend trip to South Bend, Indiana. It took about two hours, but it was well worth it. When I got there, the place was already hoppin'.

On your way there, you really can't miss it. There is a huge banner on the side of their barn, located just pack the train tracks. From the outside, the place just looks like a run down shanty. And from the inside, it looks like the most popular place in all of Marshall, MI. The walls and ceiling are COVERED in "mug club" mugs. It's a pretty impressive sight.

The bar area is small, but I had no problem grabbing a seat at 12:00 on a Friday. There were about a dozen beers on tap, including their regulars and some limited draft-only brews. Solid selection. I had a Smells Like Weed IPA, a Thirsty Trout Stout, and finished with a fresh Crooked Tree.

The food seems pretty legit. I had the "Oh Yeah!" (a bourbon pepper turkey sandwich with bacon, guacamole, and gorgonzola served on a ciabatta). It was awesome to say the least.

The staff was fast and friendly. The bartender even directed me to a local beer store in Marshall so I could pick up some Michigan goodies.

Highly recommended.

05-19-2012 22:10:50 | More by trxxpaxxs

TheSevenDuffs

Ontario (Canada)

4.54/5  rDev +8.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Stopped by for a pint and a tour on our drive home from K'Zoo.

This is the most unique brewery I have visited. The bar/restaurant makes you feel like you are in the middle of the country and the really has a great small town feel to it.

The tap selection was solid, especially since I was finally able to try Plead The 5th on tap! The tour was a lot of fun and the tasting room at the end of the tour was one of the coolest tasting rooms I have been to.

The service in the bar, the tour guide and the people in the tasting room were all incredibly friendly.

I strongly recommend stopping here if you are in the area.

03-16-2012 02:22:43 | More by TheSevenDuffs

Yetiman420

Ohio

4.5/5  rDev +7.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Stop #334 on my world brewery/brewpub tour.

Thursday around 6:30 with a nasty winter storm rolling in from the west.

I've passed on Dark Horse a number of times while traveling through south central Michigan. Not really sure why. I think I thought Marshall was not really a town and Dark Horse may be some sort of sketchy local bar. Not the case at all as Marshall is a modest town and Dark Horse was comfortably full of cheery locals (some with their families).

I sat at the bar. The "kitchen" is kinda part of the end of the bar out in the open. Pizza oven and no frier that I could see.

Laminated 8.5 x 11 print out complete beer list with crayon X on what is available. Nice idea so everyone can read details of beers and it's easy to update.

Tres Blueberry Stout
Fore Smoked Stout
Plead the Fifth Imperial Stout (I had, nice)
Thirsty Trout Porter
Double Crooked Tree IPA
Crooked Tree IPA
Amber Ale (Belgian yeast, my first beer of the night)
Raspberry Ale
Reserve Special Black Bier Ale
Boffo Brown Ale

I love spicy food and had a sandwich on spent bread with spent brewers grain. It was very, very spicy. I wonder if they made a mistake or something. In any case it was very good.

Would recommend and will return when passing through in the future.

03-09-2012 21:38:05 | More by Yetiman420

dblab33

Michigan

4.7/5  rDev +12.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 5 | $$

Dark Horse is one of my favorites and I'm sad that they're so far away from where I live.

The atmosphere and vibe make it feel like an awesome dive bar that happens to serve amazing beer and great food. I like the fact that the entire place is covered in unique mugs and it's very common to see a group of folks walk in, look up, grab their mug and get it filled right away. All of the staff I've interacted with have been great both on site and at various festivals.

I really enjoy their pizza and of course the beer. My favorite beers include their Double Crooked Tree, Tres Blueberry, Fore Smoked, and BA Plead the 5th. With the amazing offerings they always bring to festivals and what they have at 4 elf.... I really wish they had more taps at the pub to showcase that diversity and some of the more interesting beers.

We had quite an amazing afternoon the last time we stopped in and I can't wait to go back as soon as possible.

02-11-2012 19:41:18 | More by dblab33

PittBeerGirl

Pennsylvania

3.83/5  rDev -8.2%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$$

Atmosphere- This has to be the weirdest brewpub I have ever visited. Its really set up like a biker bar/brewpub kind of in the middle of nowhere. THe freaking toilet (at least in the womens bathroom) has a heated seat and one of those self cleaning seats-then there are all these comments with profanity on the bathroom stall doors about it. This place was really crowded last night- and of course you seat yourself. Pretty much a free for all. Mug club mugs all over the ceilng.

The Beer- Awesome Tap list. By the way the had BOURBON BARREL PLEAD THE 5TH. Pretty frinkin awesome. 10-12 beer on tap. Plenty to choose from. Very good selection and quality overall. Unfortunately they dont really do samples.

Service- We were sitting at the bar. I understand frustration when its crowded-but when every 4th word out of the bartender and servers mouth are the F word-thats not cool. The servers were fine to us personally-just stressed and they didnt seem to care that we were from 6 or so hours away.

Food- THe food was kind of hit or miss. A paper container full of $1.50 a bag pretzels with some mustard for $5? Are you serious??? I had the Savarticus-which was a bunch of french bread pizza pieces with cheddar, garlic, jalepeno,etc. Awesome.

12-29-2011 02:53:35 | More by PittBeerGirl

MarcatGSB

Michigan

4.3/5  rDev +3.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Arrived early Saturday morning about 9 o'clock to get in line for the 4 Elf Party and BA Plead the 5th release. We waited for a few hours outside, when they told us that we could begin to move into the beer garden, collect a token, and wait inside! Thank you DH! Great idea.

So myself and my three new friends went in, ordered some Perkulators on tap, occupied a table, and chilled waiting for the bottle releasea at 3 to begin. We order a couple pizzas, one of which had some nice dank Gorgonzola on it, and was very very enjoyable. The staff was super friendly, and handled the onslaught of beer geeks very well.

The pub building is rather small, almost like a modular home type set up, with 8 taps (nothing spectacular on tap inside), but has a very nice and cool atmosphere. I think I saw my 8 or so seats at the bar. I'm sure this is a great local hang out, my kind of place. Like mentioned before, the entire ceiling is lined with mugs for the mug club. Nice looking, locally made I'm sure, clay mugs.

Once they opened up the brewing area to us, is where all the fun started. They had about 40 of their beers on tap, some of the finest brews I have ever sampled. They handled the party very well, and I give Dark Horse props. I will definitely return, and wish them the best. Some class acts...with U.P. ties, booya!

12-20-2011 16:04:55 | More by MarcatGSB

SpdKilz

Illinois

4.18/5  rDev +0.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Was driving up with whitemomba to go to the JP La Roja GR release. We were getting there the night before and he mentioned the Dark Horse 4 elf party was going on. Needless to say we made the quick detour from our final destination of Ann Arbor to check it out.

Got here about 2:45pm and randomly got a token they had left (#201 oh yeah!). Turns out they were going to start letting people into the party at 3:00pm so we got there right at the start essentially.

Since we were so late, we let everyone else line up before us and we headed into the establishment to grab a pint and some pizza. The place was insanely crowded at first (they were nice enough to let people stay in there while waiting for the party to start) but emptied almost immediately when everyone went to line up. Despite being so busy, the workers were still in good spirits and accommodating.

The actual building is a bit run down and could use some renovations in the bathroom area, the décor was pretty cool with just hundreds of mugs lining the roof, walls, etc. The selection of beers on tap was average, but only because the party had all the crazy beers so I don’t fault them at all for that. I will, however, rate the selection here for the party included because there were just a TON of awesome taps – more than I was expecting.

The pizza (BBQ Chicken) was delicious and reasonably priced. All in all a very good experience and would stop off again if on my way to Ann Arbor.

12-13-2011 01:26:47 | More by SpdKilz

HosP

Indiana

4.14/5  rDev -0.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Visited Dark Horse for the first time this weekend for their 4 Elf party. Not a huge place. Very at-home feeling. The first thing you notice is the entire ceiling filled with mugs! I guess they have a mug club. Sat at a table made from an old door, interesting. Walls are drawn on and decorated with pictures from patrons and events. The actual bar is quite small. About 8-10 beers on tap. There aren't to many workers, so when it got busy they were really moving to take care of everyone. With it being very busy, they did a great job. Very friendly and ready to help. Didn't eat anything, but the pizzas looked pretty good. Smelled awesome, even on a full stomach made me want to get one. Had a great time here. Wish I had a local bar like this somewhat close to me. Great local feel to it. Can't wait to go back sometime!

12-11-2011 23:17:18 | More by HosP

Labonix

Illinois

4.33/5  rDev +3.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

I had a nice time at this place. The atmosphere here was nice. People I didn't even know just started making conversation with me. They didn't really have a big selection of beer to choose from, but what I had was good. The bartenders are friendly here and they give you great service. I got a pizza to eat here and it was amazing. I just wish I could have got more to eat because everything looked great on the menu. I also liked that I could see their brewery when I went outside. They had the big door open.

10-09-2011 19:09:11 | More by Labonix