Three Floyds Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

rating #100! bottle courtesy of stfun, thanks a ton on this one man! pours a viscous, opaque black with virtually no head. aroma is amazing! tons of vanilla, buttered rum, and sweet licorice. hints of chocolate, roast, burn, wood, figs and prunes, and a dense earthiness underneath it all make the nose very, very nice! did i mention butter??? the taste is a nice mix, sweet vanilla and bourbon notes first, then a more bitter prune like taste, but fading very smoothly, leaving only a a slightly bittersweet port-like coating in the mouth. notes of charred wood, roasting cocoa, prune, anise, and some hints of some cardamon and curry style spices even peek in. the body is very, very full, but amazingly smooth. the alcohol is barely, barely present if and when you search for it. the smell and taste have barleywine, bourbon, coffee and port qualities to each of them. the vanilla comes through nicely and balances the huge bill of this stout, a really good call on FFF’s part to slightly sweeten it, imho.

On tap at the Great Taste of the Midwest 2009. Pour was again dark and robust with aromas of chocolate, roast, caramel, prunes, and a nicely blended vanilla. The flavor was just a little sweeter from the vanilla making the roasted overtones mellow just a little. Again, a real complex brew that I liked a little more than the original. Quite good.

Rating #1200! Hand bottle shared by largadeer on BA - thanks a lot for this, Chris! Been looking forward to this for a long time. Pours jet black and fairly thick with just about no head. Pretty amazing aroma, strong and complex with vanilla, oak, dark fruits, chocolate, roast, and bourbon. Flavor is awesome and comes at you from a lot of directions. Loads of vanilla along with a big bourbon presence, coffee, cherry, rich chocolate cake, roasted malt, and some alcohol. Long, awesome finish. Not as viscous or sweet as regular DL, which works in its favor actually, especially as far as the drinkability goes. Full, silky mouthfeel with some alcohol warmth and just a bit of booziness, although that goes away as the beer warms. This was incredible, but I’m ranking it slightly below regular Dark Lord for now, although that may all change when I try the two again at DLD 2010.

Big DL flavor profiles, chocolate, espresso, burnt grains, plums, molasses, bourbon, with the addition of a sticky sweet vanilla to spice things up a touch. Interesting twist on the base impy stout.

On tap at GTMW ’09: Pours an opache black with a small dissipating tan head. Aroma is heavy vanilla, fruity sweet (plums and raisins) chocolate and some bourbon. Flavor is really much of the same, sweet fruit, bitter chocolate (maybe too much Vanilla). Finish is very long and warm with more vnailla and dark fruit. Full bodied and very creamy. My third favorite of the Dark Lord Series..

Handbottle, many thanks to Gunhaver. Pitch black beer no head. Nose is very rich and pleasing, loads of vanilla, bourbon, chocolate, and some tobacco. Extremely full bodied with a velvety smooth mouth feel. Flavor is quite sweet with tons of vanilla some lighter chocolate and bourbon notes are also present. Very good but I prefer the Oak version.

Courtesy Gunhaver. Pours a staining black with no head. Aroma of chocolate, vanilla, oak, bourbon, more vanilla, roasted malt, and caramel. Taste is the same as aroma. Full mouthfeel with smooth alcohol. The vanilla bean version had less vanilla than the oak aged version. Not as good as the oak aged but one hell of a fine brew.

Big thanks to Gunhaver for sharing this. You ROCK! Pours thick glass staining soul stealing darkness with no head. The aroma is rich fudge brownie, building vanilla bean goodness, smooth caramel covered oak and some very light bourbon notes. This beer emits vanilla notes that seem to sum up all the bean with rich super sweet vanilla sticky goo and earthy vanilla bean husks. Wow. The taste is rich straight up luscious organic earthy like vanilla, rich oozing fudge brownie, some caramel smothered oak and a thin background note of booze. D-Lish!