Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

22 oz bottle, 2008 edition, sent to me by the ever generous Acknud. Pours black as a moonless night in the country with a tiny brown ring of lace. Aroma is heavy with molasses, malt and vanilla. Probably the thickest, heaviest palate I’ve yet to experience in a beer. This pours so thick you could pour it on pancakes. Now there’s an idea. Darklord for breakfast. Flavor is a wonderful combination of molasses, roasted malts, chocolate with a hint of vanilla bean. Alcohol tries to stay hidden, but at 13% it can’t hide long. Finishes bitter with a real alcohol bite. This was a terrific drinking experience.

Bottle. 2008 version. Medium high and lasting creamy brown head leaving long lacings. Pitch black body. Mild and yet powerful roasted barley malt aroma with coffee choccolate and fruity notes as well. Spicy coffee choccolate vanilla fruity strong roasted malt flavor as well as a good deal of hops bitterness, low carbonation and a long bitter aftertaste. The best of all is however that the brewers have managed to keep the alcohol at a subdued level both in aroma and flavor even at such a high alcohol percentage. Awesome.

Here is an 08 vintage, close to a year old now. Appearance - Wow... Is there anything that is darker than "black?" I guess if "Dark Lord" were a color then yes, there would be something blacker than black. Has very little head to it after an aggressive pour. The head that it does have is absolutely beautiful in color, very Abyss like, possibly a little more red in hue. A little mocha ring is left after the head has subsided. This beer has some legs too, motor oil kind of legs. Smell - Very sweet. Almost sickeningly sweet smelling. Lots of dark, dark chocolate. I can smell the alcohol too, seeing as its 13% I expected that. Lots of vanilla, smells like it’s been aged in bourbon. There is some molasses too in there as well, very complex. Taste - Wow, talk about sweet. This is candied beer for crying out loud. Tastes like an alcoholic chocolate milk, except much thicker. Faint taste of burnt dark fruits in there, mostly a plum aftertaste. I can’t get past how sweet this is... Mouthfeel - Damn, perfect. I love my beers thick and viscous, and this one tops them all. I thought the Abyss had the perfect mouthfeel, but it has been beaten. The thickness of this monster is going to hurt its drinkability though. That is where the Abyss reigns king in my world. Minutes after taking a sip I can still taste the beer in my mouth, probably because it is still there. Drinkability - This hurts a little from the fact that it is soooo sweet and soooo thick. I love the thickness, but this is definitely a "share with your friend" kind of bomber. I am going to have a hard time finishing this one.

2007 (Silver Wax) bottle. Thick black pour with a thin brown head. I couldn’t take my nose out of the glass. Chocolate, coffee, toffee, vanilla, and a slightly fruity nose. It was all there. Every sip brought a little something more as it warmed to room temperature. There was very little to no alcohol present at the start, then started to peek through as the beer warmed up. An amazing complexity of dark chocolate, molasses, vanilla, coffee, toffee, dark roasted malts with a noticeable fruit berry flavor. It’s a seriously deep beer, and the longer you let the beer roll over your tongue, the better it gets.

Jesus God. Really. 2009 bottle my roommate brought back from DLD. Nose is...everything. Super creamy chocolate, coffee molasses. So sweet smelling, like candy almost. Head is nearly non existent. The flavor is sweet and smooth. Absolutely nothing stands in the way of anything else. The chocolate is unlike anything I’ve had in a beer before and leaves a very unique impression on the palate as it makes love with the coffee and molasses. Never had I drank a beer so perfectly balanced that you can taste every nuance individually and as a whole. This is the best beer I’ve ever had.

Sampled this at DLD ’09 on tap, but my rating is based off the ’09 bottle version. Pours a thick, straight black body. It also has a nice reddish glow towards the edge of my snifter. It truly does look like syrup coming out of the bottle. The head is a paper-thin, dark brown that dissipates immediately and leaves a delicate swirl on the surface. The lacing on the glass is an abundance of dark brown oils that looks like it has been stained by soy sauce. The aroma is surprisingly sweet. It has a noticeable vanilla and woody bourbon to it, which makes it seem like a combination of the Vanilla Bean DL and the Barrel Aged DL. There is a good amount of molasses to this as well. Probably the most molasses I’ve ever encountered. Lots of rich, dark chocolates and a very soft roast and coffee. The hops are noticeably that FFF bright, earthy citrus, but are not as bold as I would have expected. They are pretty reserved. The flavor is just what the aroma leads it to be. Much sweeter than anticipated, although it does have a nice touch of roast, coffee, and bittering hops. The vanilla is distinct, along with lots of rich chocolates and molasses with more of a sweet lingering taste than overpowering roast/bitterness. The finish is smooth, rich, and slowly dries. Palate is full, thick, and very round. Overall, a great Imp Stout and worth every penny/mile driven/time waiting in line to experience DLD. The people at FFF really did a great job this year. Much better than ’08. As for the beer, its a very well balanced Imp Stout. The thickest body you will ever come across. Not as hoppy or roasty as others out there, but very rich and flavorful. A great marketing tool for FFF.

DLD 2009! Draft, HUGE. Black with a deep chocolate brown head. Aroma of coffee and chocolate and alcohol. Thick mouthfeel, bursting flavor, an explosion of thick, rich roasty coofee, dark chocolate bitterness. More hops than I expected, huge dry lingering finish..Totally lived up to the hype. AWESOME!

Draft at DLD 09’ Black and thick as motor oil. Aroma is coffee, molasses, and chocolate. Coffee jumped out immediately in the taste, but was balanced by the rest of the flavors. I was expecting the beer to be good, but was surprised that it lived up to the hype!