Beer Review - Dark Forest Ale

A Pint of Dark Forest Ale

I’m in a mood! But maybe I did it to myself. I love dark beer. It’s my favorite. When I saw Dark Forest Ale in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios at Universals Islands of Adventure I was excited.

I saw dark…and assumed it would be at least a brown ale.

I saw forest..and I thought woodsy, maybe a little spicy.

And I swear I saw spice in a description somewhere. But maybe I tricked myself!

I thought, yes something different and new, I bet it’s a spicy winter warmer style beer that will remind me of cold days as I see the snow-capped buildings of Hogsmeade.

I was wrong!

Dark Forest Ale by Crooked Can is a drinkable 5% ABV copper-colored beer with no IBUs. It is light, drinkable, and reminds me so so much of Yuengling Traditional Lager! The color is similar and I think the flavor is similar. I walked away wondering if that was what I just drank. But nope, it was a theme park specialty beer that I hoped was going to be different than other offerings, but I think I could have just been as satisfied with another copper-colored beer in Dragon Scale which also has no IBUs.

So first, let’s be fair. I do love a themed beer and I love craft beer. So I do tip my wand to Universal for choosing again to partner with Crooked Can as a local craft brewery. I also think that Crooked Can as a brewery has dialed in making a drinkable crowd friendly beer. I just wanted something dark, spicy, and as dangerous as the scariest creatures in the Dark Forest.

Who Drinks This: You like lagers, you like Yuengling, and you want to be themed so you find yourself with a dilemma as you spend a buck fifty more for this draft than you would outside of the Wizarding World for Traditional Lager. Then you flipped a coin and selected this potion over Dragon Scale!