Just recently stopped in to Dark Horse this week, and I really enjoyed the stop. They had a great beer selection and really good atmosphere, and the club sandwich I had was really, really good!

I've never been part of a 'mug club', but I suppose if I was a local in Marshall I'd be a member here. The tap room was like a cave, with ceramic 'stalagmites' hanging down from the ceiling...much lower and I would have possibly damaged a few with my bulbous head upon entering the place.

My first beer was the brown ale (Bofo?...can't remember the name). Very good nut brown, exactly what you would expect and very palatable. My next one was the Sapient Trip Ale, their version of a Belgium Triple. Didn't seem quite malty enough for that, but was still very flavorful for what it is. The last one I tried, Black Bier Ale, was a nice surpise. For some reason I was expecting a black lager style beer, but it definitely lived up to the 'ale' in its name. Lots of flavors working very well with each other, could taste hints of coffee, chocolate, a little vanilla, some fruity hints too...nothing competing. A very, very well crafted beer!

Bartender was very nice...I didn't bother her with too many questions, but I'm sure she could have answered any of them. Lot's of hippy/skater/burn-outs drinking there (and I think one of them was the brewer!), but all were nice and seemed like decent folk. Not that I have anything against hippies...but I don't talk politics or religion at the bar, and from all the left-leaning bumper stickers on the wall, I'm sure the conversation would gravitate that direction (I just hope someone lets them know that GWB isn't president anymore :)

Next time I'm through Michigan, I will definitely stop in again!

reviewed on: 2010-06-25 13:46:30

I will guarantee you have never been to, and will never find another brew pub like it. The first thing that grabs you is the overwhelming number of one of a kind wheel thrown mug club mugs lining the walls and ceiling. But then you check the beer list and see "Crooked Tree" IPA, "Scotty Karate" Scotch ale, "Sapient" Triple, "Perkulator" dopplebock, "Cobain's" black IPA and "Off the Scale" Barleywine it makes you start to wonder what is going on here!? If you want some extreme beer, here's the spot. They take beer and to the limits of their styles, and the result is amazing. The food is pretty good too, mostly pizza and grilled sandwiches. But you are definitely going here for the beer. You wont taste a beer there that doesn't amaze. The friendly staff know their stuff too, they answered everything I threw out there like they were sitting in on the brewing process.

They've recently added some extra space to the pub with a large room on the back. They also have a great outdoor seating area with picnic tables, a stage, and lots of standing room. There is a bar out back but it wasn't in use at the time (mid day Saturday). The tap tower is the top half of an old clothing mannequin who's arms have been replaced by tap faucets (hilarious). The best part is…wait for it…the best part of the patio area is the large sand box filled with toys for the kiddies. Nothing says family friendly like a snifter of 12% Double Crooked Tree and a sand castle! Also on tap for the wee ones, and the DD, Peach Fizz soda and Reminator root beer?

This wasn’t my first time here, during my last trip I learned that they also have very reasonably priced kegs for those of us who don't live near. A 6th barrel of the Sapient Belgian Trip now resides in our keg fridge. I suggest calling a week or so ahead to reserve what you need, but if you aren’t picky they usually have something in the keg at the ready. Across the parking lot sits a separate building with a walk in cooler for keg storage. If a keg is a bit too much, you can walk to the neighboring "Wacky's" carry out which sells everything the Dark Horse puts into a bottle plus some other good craft brews.

The Dark Horse tops my list of “must visit”.

reviewed on: 2010-06-01 15:34:31

Another day of my Michigan beercation brings me to Dark Horse. Pulling up to the address you find yourself in a small parking lot between two buildings that both say Dark Horse on them. It turns out one is their general store with shirts and brewing supplies. The other one is what I was interested in. It looked tiny from the outside and I was almost afraid I was at the wrong place.

They open at 3PM on Monday, and that is right when I arrived. Stepping inside the tap room, there is a small bar directly in front of you and to the right. On the left there are 6 or eight tables. There weren't many people here at this time, but it started filling up fast. It was a good thing I staked out a spot at the bar early.

The beer menu was hanging above the bar, with each beer painted on a piece of wood. There were 7 selections available on this particular day. I decided to try them all (with a little help from my wife as well.)
The Perkulator was fantastic. I had only had bottles of it before and this was a treat.
Black Bier, Crooked Tree IPA, and 4 Elf were my other favorites. Big, fresh flavor that had me coming back for seconds.
The raspberry beer was OK, but usually my tastes tend towards the stronger beers. Although, Michelle, who took care of us all day, did manage to pull a pint of the Tres Blueberry for me and it was a nice mix of a fruit beer with a darker base.
The beer at Dark Horse is the reason for coming and it does not disappoint. There are not many choices for the "lighter" beer lovers, but I am glad they didn't waste a tap on that stuff.

The food menu contained a wide variety of sandwiches, toasted subs, and pizza. My wife and I each ordered a sandwich and then swapped halves. The food was prepared practically in front of us because the kitchen is at the end of the bar that we were sitting at. Everything we had tasted good. It is nothing fancy, but I prefer good, honest quality over fancy. Later in the evening we got the munchies again and had something called "Sivarticus". It was a pizza bread appetizer that had bacon and jalepenos on it. It was very tasty, but those peppers start to light up your mouth after a few pieces.

The overall atmosphere of the place was great as long as you feel comfortable in a very small and intimate setting. The ceiling is covered in mug club mugs and it seemed that practically everyone that packed into the place was a member. It makes you feel like an outsider, but I just embraced that status. Michelle told me that she loves tourists, just not as much as she loves locals. That is OK with me because I unfortunately cannot make it to Dark Horse regularly so someone has to keep them in business between my visits. She also indicated that she does NOT like "tour-ons", which are tourists that act like morons. I tried hard to behave myself and just enjoy the beer.

There is no smoking in this cozy space unless you count that contributed by the constant toasting of subs and pizzas. Later in the evening the smoke from the kitchen got a little thick, but it cleared out... or maybe I got used to it.

Overall, I loved Dark Horse and I would definitely go back again. The beer was tasty and there was just enough selection to keep me busy for the night. The service was great even though they were VERY busy. Do not miss Dark Horse if you are traveling past Marshall on 94.

reviewed on: 2009-12-29 09:31:47

Odd building but totally what I'd expect from Dark Horse. The bar manager Michelle is really nice. There are about 8 reasonably priced taps with at least one or two not available in bottle. The growlers are cheap. A bit of a drive but totally worth visiting. The pizza and quesadillas are great.

I went to the 4 Elf party last year and had a blast. They had a snack buffet with a bread, cheese, and a selection of odd meats(Kangaroo, Rattlesnake, Armadillo, etc.) Mike, the sales and distribution manager, hooked me up with a couple of free beer tickets.

reviewed on: 2009-11-12 12:01:13

The Dark Horse Tap Room is a cool place. It is pretty small, as others have said, with hundreds of mugs for their mug club hanging from the ceiling and the walls and well,...everywhere. I stopped here on an I-94 tour of Michigan breweries and I liked it, but definitely felt like an outsider on a Friday evening. I was fascinated by this; that a brewery tap room was functioning as a local watering hole. It seemed like mostly regulars packed into this shack of a place (a very cool shack mind you what with all the mugs and posters and photos of regulars everywhere.) I felt a bit out of place, but the staff was friendly and perhaps half-drunk. The crowd certainly was half-drunk, in some cases very drunk. It was astonishing to see all these locals in a small Michigan town drinking "microbrew" from their local brewery. There was nothing else served other than beer. No soda pop, no water, no coffee, no liquor. Just beer, and darn good beer at that. I didn't have a meal while I was there, but I loved the house-smoked cashews as a snack. They went well with my Boffo Brown Ale. The Perkulator Dopplebock rules, too.

reviewed on: 2008-11-13 23:09:12

I visited Dark Horse Brewery about a year ago. Slightly off the beaten path in Marshall, visiting Dark Horse was a pleasant experience. The selection was good. I had a pint of the Double IPA, which was tasty. They have bottles for sale as well. I purchased the belgian trip ale, I believe. It was a high gravity beer that was not quite able to pull off the the high alcohol content (somewhere around 9%).

The atmosphere was good with a bar inside and outside seating as well. Overall, it was a good experience.

reviewed on: 2008-08-04 11:03:14

I have been to Dark Horse, and I have bought their beers at stores. The Black Beir definitely taste better at the pub. From a bottle it was very watery and had too many harsh flavors.

At the pub, the atmosphere was a little weird, it is very small, which if not a local or a regular can feel weird with everyone looking at you as you walk in. Otherwise, it is fairly neat decor, and a lot of mugs. I tried ordering their stout but they were out, I then tried ordering another (cannot remember what it was called) and they were also out. This made made the choices very narrowed. I ended up going with the IPA. It was decent, but nothing I am left craving.

reviewed on: 2008-06-09 18:15:38

I visited Dark Horse late Saturday afternoon. There was a steady stream of customers throughout my visit, both locals and travelling beer geeks. It was friendly and laid back. There was a very local feel to the place. (and that's a good thing) I have never seen more mugs hanging anywhere!

Seven beers were on tap, and everything I tried was more than solid. The Black Bier and the Crooked Tree being the stand-outs for me.

They serve pizza and subs along with a few other bar snacks. The pumpkin seed pesto pizza was very tasty. The food prices weren't super cheap, but the portions were plentiful.

If you have a chance, get to Dark Horse.

reviewed on: 2007-07-05 16:43:02

Dark Horse is a must-stop if you are anywhere near Marshall.It is a cozy little brewery/brewpub that had just banned smoking two days before our visit(yes!). There must have been 1500 mug club mugs hanging from the ceiling. Double Crooked Tree was on tap. Six beers on-tap, including a saison called Say "Zon". Great beer. Really good Pumpkin Seed Cilantro Pesto Sub. There is a small outdoor area with a stage. The brewmaster's dad came in and showed us the brewing operation. Really nice people here. Didn't buy any schwag, wasn't diggin' it. Almost bought a Dark Horse thong for my wife, since it was her birthday and I was 600 miles away drinking beer. But I like being married, so I didn't.

There is a store called Wacky's next door that sells lots of Dark Horse beers to go. My favorite stop on the Michigan beer tour.

reviewed on: 2007-06-22 13:59:17