Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

Bottle from 2008 - black wax. Thanks to Todeon for that beer. The bottle looks really, really good, as well as the beer in the glass. Deep black, small brownish head. Starts very, very strong, dry-malty, heavy, complex notes of strong coffee and liquorice. Thick, dry-malty finish. Not really drinkable. I know better Imperial Stouts.

Bottle, 2009 vintage, with enormous thanks to MrBunn. Pours black with 1 - 1 and 1/2 fingers of brown sugar head. Aroma is very intense, coffee, cocoa, cherries, booze. The foam is really lasting on the brew too, leading me to expect some significant carbonation in the mouthfeel. I was wrong. The mouthfeel is thick, as others have mentioned, and the flavor is more strongly of the coffee, fruits (cherries) and something approximating breadiness than I would have expected. All of this is just a preamble, however, to the strong boozy burn here. I wouldn’t say the alcohol is poorly disguised, only that it fights its way through in the end. Lots of sweetness here, but the cocoa from the aroma is all gone. Raisins, anise, and the slightly sour cherries bring it all. Interesting. I’d been "warned" that I might not love this beer, but I do. It’s definitely unique, but that’s a good thing. I do agree, however, that I couldn’t make a 2 bottle night out of this.

09 vintage. Thanks Harpreet for scoring this one for me! Pours very dark and thick with a reddish hue in the light. It has a small, disappearing rust colored head. The aroma is of very strong coffee, licorice, milk chocolate, and fruit. The taste is very sweet and thick, almost chewy. The main flavors that hit me are fig newtons and prune juice. On further exploration, however, a more complex character comes out, mostly of dark, sweet fruits. Dates, fig, raisins. The mouthfeel is oily and port like with low carbonation. The sweetness gives way to a nice roasted coffee finish. A very luxurious beer that mostly lived up to my high expectations.

2009 vintage shared by JMerritt. Pours a dark black with a red Merlot red to it. Almost no head but the thin layer of bubbles produced a dark tan color. Beer had a med/heavy carbonation rated and was pretty viscous when poured. Aroma had a very strong prune fruit note, chocolate, lots of alcohol, some raisin with a slight soured malt note at the end of the nose. Flavor was composed of first chocolate followed by a slightly bitter coffee bite, then a dark fruit, vanilla and ended on a strong molasses flavor. The beer itself is very chewy and high alcohol presence gives it an almost wine-like feeling. Good brew overall but I definitely see this one as a one time offering as it is pretty much good as an "extreme" beer but not an every day type of drink.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said? This beer is insane!!!!! From the first sniff to the coating mouth feel that never seems to go away.

Bottle at Toms Ultimate Glasgow Tasting late 2007 ... ( 2007 version) ... Deep deep black ... Sweet rich smooth malts ... little meaty in nose ... smooth treacly ... lots of malt extract like i used to get as a kid. Great mouthfeel, silky smooth with a rich warming texture. This is a beer that lives up to the hype... Its such a shame im unlikly to see it again. 4.4

Oh my oh my ... This ( 2007)Bottle was dumped in front of us at EBF Copenhagen 2008 ... Huge thanks to who ever put it on the table as i was too excited to actually notice who it was ...Deep black ... Huge choclate nose ... Sweet juicy roast malt ... some toffee ... rich rich rich ... loads of roast malts ... wondefull mouth feel. 4.5 ...

At DLD 2009 ... deep black .. roast malts ... little toffee .. quite rich and meaty ... a little rough ... just didnt seem ready. 3.5 ...

2009 Bottle at RBESG 09 ... and the remains of the bottle the next day as i hate DarkLord Waste... much smoother than the cask at DLD its just settled down a bit more... rich smooth and lots of toffee ...

2008 bottle at home 120909 ... happy birthday to me ... big molasis and roast malt nose ... sweet malts ... juicy ... little oak ... little pine ... roast toffee malts ... again loads of molasis ... little meat ... tiny tobacco 4.3

2008 vintage, served in tulip Appearance: Dark brown, almost black with the faintest amount of brown head. Aroma: Lots of vanilla, molasses and some roast. Flavor: Huge flavor, absolutely huge. Sweet all the way through, with coffee, vanilla, and even some tart cherry. The alcohol shows itself. Finish seems like it’s hours long. Seems to be too much for the ladies in attendance. Certainly not meant for mass consumption. Palate: Viscous and smooth. Lovely. Overall: Seems like it needs some food to pair with. A little too sweet on the finish to drink a lot, but overall a very tasty brew.

2009 vintage bottle, shared with Narnad. Very dark, bordering on black, with red tints along the edges. Very small, light brown head. A lot of alcohol in the nose along with a load of burnt, roasty coffee, dates, bittersweet cocoa and red grapes. Flavor is moderately alcoholic, loads of sticky molasses, some bitter tannins and a bit of vanilla. Finish has a little green, herbal note I couldn’t quite identify underneath the vanilla sweetness and burnt malt. Some complexity, but overall I’d consider it mainly one dimensional. Alcohol not well hidden and a bit distracting.