Ghost Train Dark Ride — Belgian Strong Ale and Alabama Wildflower Honey on a Train to Somewhere Good

The Review

Ghost Train’s Dark Ride is a Belgian Style Strong Ale brewed with Alabama wildflower honey, and the name — a term for an amusement park ride that takes you into the dark — is doing a lot of accurate descriptive work.

It pours a deep amber-brown, medium in color despite the name, with a white head. The nose is immediately Belgian: spicy clove and banana from the yeast, a rich honey sweetness underneath, and a warmth that announces the ABV before you’ve taken a sip. On the palate: classic Belgian spice up front, the honey arriving in the middle with a clean floral sweetness, and a finish that’s drier than you expect given how much sweetness there is in the nose.

Food Advertisements by

Ghost Train writes that despite the medium brown color, Dark Ride is “surprisingly refreshing and clean” — and they’re not wrong. The Belgian yeast character lifts what could be a heavy beer into something that drinks lighter than its gravity. The wildflower honey from Alabama gives it a local specificity that most Belgian-inspired beers lack.

This is the Ghost Train beer that beer nerds order. If you find it on tap, don’t pass it up.

Quick Stats