Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout (Bourbon Barrel Aged)

Brewed by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Munster, Indiana USA

Serve in Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Tiny snifter at Floyds on Dark Lord Day. Solid black well of souls lurks under a tiny rim of foam, which has given up in its attempt to brighten up this evil brew and now clings panting for its last breath to the side of the glass. A dizzying smell of coffee, maple, vanilla and molasses. Taste... um, um, Thick. Heady. Oaky. Slides down the throat like an oily serpent marinated in Kahlua and vanilla extract. Smooth alcohol nonetheless goes right to my forebrain and shuts off higher functions. Complexity… um… just starting to be known. Notes of cola… wintergreen… cherries. Rough on the back of the throat, but not astringent like other strong stouts. The dividing line between this and a truly fine liquer is… um…
<table width=90% halign=center><tr><td> </td><td>I’m afraid. I’m afraid, Dave.
Dave, my mind is going.
I can feel it. I can feel it.
My mind is going. There is no question about it.
I can feel it.
I can feel it.
I can feel it.
I’m a... fraid.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you’d like to hear it I can sing it for you.
It’s called "Daisy."
Daisy, Dai…sy, give me your an…swer do. I’m… half… cra…zy all for the love of you. It won’t be a styl… ish marriage, I can’t a…fford… a carriage…. But you’ll… look sweet up… on… the seat of a bi… cy… cle built… for… two…. </td></tr></table>

Rating #666...and what a way to celebrate it. Pours a dark black with some red hints with a darker creamy tan head. Aroma of the oak and bourbon does stand out along with the chocolate, coffee, alcohol, vanilla and caramel I was expecting from Dark Lord. Flavor of vanilla, chocolate, coffee and the oak but less detectable than in the aroma. After taste of a great vanilla cappuccino.

Sipping a big goblet full of this black, oily, hazy topped berzerker, I pondered the whole madness surrounding the recent Dark Lord release fiasco. The forum threads had a circus-like atmosphere with ugly attitudes and greedy tones that made me feel like I was reading a forum completely foreign to me. I wanted a case of Dark Lord and I wanted to try this barrel aged beer, which contains every bit of chocolatey, rough espresso edged goodness I expected, delivered in a malty, oaky, alcoholic envelope of teeth clenching bourbon., warming my stomach and sticking like glue to the sides of my tongue. Personally, I’d rather not stand in line for $180 worth of beer that I used to get in $20 growlers, but I completely understand supply and demand (I often spend $250 on an urban vinyl toy that sold-out for $100 just minutes before). I rather enjoy when the pub is filled up and rowdy, too, almost as much as I enjoy it’s quiter moments, but the thought of seeing the people who had recently caused such goofy fury on the forums and being directly associated with that forum made me rethink the reasons why I’ve been a member of ratebeer for the last 50 months. For the first time I didn’t want to go to Three Floyds directly because of my association to Ratebeer! Rating beer was a lot of fun, meeting people was tenfold the fun but now I feel that the ratings and racking of numbers and boorish forum behavior has cheapened the experience for me. I can honestly say that I didn’t want to be a part of the Ratebeer group that rallied at the Pub last weekend. I value many of you as friends on an individual basis, so I hope I’m not coming off sounding elitist or rude. I have met a ton of great people because of Ratebeer and will continue to keep in touch with many of the people here, but through emails and other routes. I also found myself using Ratebeer forums as an outlet for my own grumpiness sometimes and that’s not what this site is supposed to be about. I’m not putting anybody down here, these are my personal thoughts and nobody is being singled out. I will move along through the World of new beers on my own, with fond memories of the great times here at Ratebeer. Joe & Admins, keep up the great work and I’ll continue to point people to this site, like I have for over 4 years now. I’ll buy you all pints when I run into you! Cheers- Joe Marinaro (aka Marinaro500 aka RatedX)

So glad I made it to the brew pub for a couple glasses of this...I was the guy in the tux, who was really hung over and then almost late to be in his friend’s wedding! A thick,dark black with creamy dark brown head. Mild bourbon, dark chocolate and alcoholic aroma. Bourbon immediately hits as you drink...but the coffee, chocolate and vanilla flavors come soon after. Very, very tasty. Thick as hell and the taste lasts forever. I’m loving the BA stouts...and this is right up there with Full Sail Black Gold as one of my favorites so far.

Enjoyed two glasses of this stuff at the Floyd’s. Black body, dark brown head. Sweet hershey’s dark chocolate aroma with tangy roast underneath. Some bourbon fruitiness. Big acidic dark chocoalte plus deep sweet milk chocolate, some dry roast in the finish. There’s a big caramel sweetness in there as well but there’s a lot of other stuff (chocolate, roast and bourbon) to mask it. Patent acidity and bouron pear/apple fruit as well as alcohol heat, too. A classic examplar of the BA Imperial Stout style. It’s not pushing any boundaries but no matter - it’s delicious.

I did enjoy this malty beast for more than an hour, savoring all it had to offer. Aroma: Bourbon, mocha, bitter chocolate, toffee, vanilla and slight burnt cherries. Appearance: Opaque with dark brown head and some sticky fine webbed lacing. Flavor: Bursting with dark chocolate, mocha and powerful bourbon. slight notes of vanilla came through on the palate as well. The body seemed to be a little more lean than the original. Palate: Full in body with sticky sweet malt that had a slight warming effect as it ran down the palate. Overall: A fantastic variation of the original and I hope to tase many more BA Darklord’s in the future! Cheers to the whole FFF family for making this beer possible!

on tap at the 2006 Release Party.

I would say this one certainly lived up to its expectations. pour was as black as night with a tan head which faded quickly. as people walked around the 3F parking lot it was readily apparent whenever someone had the Oak Aged DL. nose was in the cup and a smile on their face. a great balanced blend of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, vanilla, oak and brown sugar. not quite the full-mouthfeel I expected but still had a nice slick, oily feel to it. delicious!

What can I say that hasn’t been said? I spent about 30 mins at least sipping my 6oz. It poured a slick oily black with a dark thick head. Aroma was chocolate and bourbon mixed with coffee and caramel. Flavor was bourbon chocolate truffle. A nice bite toward the finish lets you know there’s a lot happening in there. Overall I can’t argue against it.

Impenetrable. Opaque. Obsidian, blanketing the glass and seemingly sucking light from all that’s around it. A creamy, thin, deep khaki tan head resides on top. Dark mocha fudge hits the nose, paralleled with tracts of bourbon and Godiva liqueur pumped into delicatessen dark chocolate, caramel laden turtle candies. The bourbon is a major player, but it’s more of a first violinist rather than a soliloquy. The currant, tar and other black earth elements from the non-barrel aged vintage don’t consciously resonate. That being said, it’s still salvation for the nose.

Letting the liquid gracefully enter the mouth, we can effectively say that this is a perfectly barrel-aged beer. Dry hop bite and black patent seem to take a steak knife to the tongue. Thick, oily toss of the fluid seems to make it ooze even more slowly over the tongue. Espresso grinds come up big, sweetened by this dark chocolate liquor accommodation. It’s oppressive, but a welcomed tyrannical dictatorship. Heavy caramel accents intertwine with a bitter dark chocolate character for a hearty espresso grinder’s day in paradise. When it fades out from the mildly carbonated and chewy bourbon/chocolate sluice, we’ve got some dense pound cake qualities that’s choc full of flavor and enhanced with greasy mocha grinds, not to mention the dark chocolate fudge and liqueur-laden Dove chocolate bars. Quite a bitter and fiery flick at the tongue’s tip on its way out, and it seems to devilishly pry open a few of the tongue’s weaker taste buds and ignite them with a peppery flare. Thick, palatable justice in the hard-to-halt viscosity.

An absolute pleasure (and thanks to my wife for her allotment as well!) The barrel does supplant some of the intricacies that help to orchestrate the cadences within the traditional Dark Lord vintage, though this barrel aged beer would be any delicatessen’s dream to craft an ale in such an awe-inspiring manner.

Jet black pour tan well lace head. Aroma of bourbon & toffee & butter & big roasted malts even a toch of old coffee. Pal is well carbonated hugely coated & creamy. Flavor lingers in a big way lots of buttered toffee & bourbon traces of alcohol in the finish almost to much butter & bourbon for me but still just huge & delicious Very big & very good. Although the BAging seemed to make the DarkLord less unique.