Dark Humor Rising Beer Release Hits Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant in Media

Dark Humor

This week I had the pleasure of attending one of Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant in Media’s most exciting events, the Dark Humor Rising Beer Release. This was the third year that they have crafted this 100% Brettanomyces (Brett) fermented porter, but what makes this beer release so special is that each batch is split up and aged in six different vessels.

Dark Humor Bottle

They offer their vintage Dark Humor Rising that has been aging for a year, or you can choose from Dark Humor Rising aged in either bourbon, rum, sherry, tawny port, or ruby port barrels.Of course, I recommend getting the sampler which provides you with 4 ounces of each of the versions so you can try out all the different flavors that these barrels impart on the brew. Iron Hill Media is also selling 750ml bottles of all of the Dark Humor Rising variations for you to take home and enjoy or give as a gift.

This was my second year attending this event and it is one of my favorite beer releases. As a beer fanatic and big-time sour fan, I absolutely love the flavors from all of these beers. As a homebrewer, I love the chance to get to see what different flavors you can impart on a brew by using different barrels. The vintage Dark Humor Rising pours a deep dark brown with a frothy head that dissipates fairly quickly. The aroma I got from this beer mostly revolves around the tart smell from the Brett, but I also smelled chocolate, coffee, and roasted barley. While sipping this non-barrel-aged version you initially get hit with the tartness up front which is slightly citrusy, but this quickly gives way to flavors of chocolate, caramel, toffee, and earthy flavor, and the sip finishes with more tart flavor from the Brett. I absolutely love the combination of flavors in this beer and I really appreciate how well these flavors have melded over time.

Sampling Sheet, Dark Humor

The next version of Dark Humor Rising on my sampler was the sherry barrel-aged batch, and it was definitely one of my favorites. The sherry version adds some floral, fruity, cherry, and vanilla aromas, and tastes a little sweeter—smoothing out the tart flavors a bit. The barrel also imparts flavors of oak, cherry, dark berries, and a little vanilla.

Dark Humor on tapNext up was the tawny port barrel, which added a little bit of fruitiness to the aroma. This batch was interesting as it was much drier than the rest of the iterations. The barrel imparted a strong dry tannin flavor from the port, as well as more oak and roasted flavors. The dryness mixed well with the Brett and even seemed to mellow out the tartness a bit, and overall, the beer had a flavor profile that you don’t encounter often.

I moved on to the ruby port-aged sampler. Just to clarify, ruby port is a younger version of port that is typically sweeter and fruitier, while the tawny version is more dry, tannic, and has more barrel-aged flavor. The ruby port Dark Humor Rising smelled less tart and had a fruitier nose, which included the aroma of tart cherries and berries. This version added the tastes of sour cherry, oak, dark fruit, and the ending was more well rounded.

The bourbon barrel version is definitely the most popular of the six, as it is always the first batch to sell out on draught and in bottles. This brew included flavors of bourbon, vanilla, oak, and dark roasted barley. It also imparted a slight smokiness to the brew which melds well with the earthy flavors from the Brett.

The final sample was the rum-aged version which is also a big crowd favorite. This version had a slight sweetness to it, and each sip included flavors of the rum, oak, molasses, caramel, and toffee. This beer was great because you could taste the rum, which played well with the malt from the porter and created a lot of flavor but was also very well balanced.

Even though the release event has already passed, and quantities are limited, as of writing this the vintage, both ports, and the sherry versions are still on draught at Iron Hill Media. The 750ml bottles are currently on sale and they have enough to last beyond the day that Dark Humor Rising finally runs out on draught. You can keep updated with all of Iron Hill Media’s events on their website, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Photographs credited to Arne Morin.