Three Floyds Bourbon Black Sun Stout

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

Draft... DLD ‘08... This beer rocks!... Tar black ale with a small, creamy, tan head. The aroma offers strong notes of espresso, chocolate and bourbon with a touch of vanilla. Oily and full-bodied with a silky-smooth mouthfeel and prickly carbonation. Burnt bitterness follows closely behind bourbony chocolate and vanilla sweetness. Whiskey-warm, chocolate and blackstrap finish. If ever there was a beer totally reconstructed by barrel aging, this is it!

It poured a deep brown body that at times looked black in the glass and had a slender tan head. The aroma had Bourbon, vanilla, roasted malts, licorice (or, was that from a drink I had earlier in the day?), and a woody bitterness. The Bourbon came through much stronger in the flavor, but a splash of runny chocolate also joined the fray and a mild hoppy bitterness finally introduced itself. Probably too light a beer for the BBA treatment, but not bad.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eve Lord Day 2008 at Three Floyds, Munster, IN, 4/26/2008.<font size=-1>

DLD 2008, Bourbon (Barrel Aged) Black Sun Stout: Deep brown hue with a small fading head and spotty lace. The aroma has notes of bourbon, vanilla, oak, coffee, earthy yeast esters, and a hint of herbal vapours. The taste has almost no hop bitterness versus the regular release with mostly coffee and dark malts taking center stage. The finish is a bit boozy and chalky. The mouth feel is medium-bodied with a smooth oily texture. It is okay enough I guess but I miss the hop character, too much coffee notes and that is saying a lot since I am a coffee drinker.

On draught at the brewery’s tap room during Dark Lord Days ’08. Pours an opaque near black as the Ace of Spades brew with a thin tan head that slowly dissipates to a fine film and tan ring. Aroma of toasted dark malt, some black malt, sweet bourbon, coconut, dark chocolate and some vanilla. Taste is full bodied, little carbonation with flavors of toasted dark malt, chocolate, some bourbon and vanilla with a fine hint of citrus zest. Finish is smooth with a dark chocolate, bourbon and vanilla aftertaste that slowly disappears. Another excellent bourbon aged beer from 3F.

Draft at FFF, DLD. this was a huge score for me as i’m a big fan of the base beer. Pours black with a thin tan head. Aroma is bourbon, fruit, and chalky vanilla. The flavor was just that with some hop character but more so chocolate and bourbon. I loved this.

Draft @ 3F. Pours a very dark chocolate color; light tan head with patchy lacing. Lots of coffee grounds, boozy bourbon, and some roasted character in the aroma; mostly, lots of bold coffee. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: coffee grounds, toasty bourbon and dense, chewy chocolate; excellent, dense stuff, with just a touch too much raw coffee. Lengthy finish: loads of coffee, chocolate, toasted malts and roast; very much a coffee-ground dominated beer.

on tap at DLD 08. pours black with tan head. nose of chocolate and oak. flavors are dry citrusy, chocolate, raisins, and some bourbon. pretty tasty.

Pour is black with ruby highlights and a thin sticky brown head...smell is sweet and roasty with strong wood and bourbon notes...oddly, almost alcoholic still...taste is STRONGLY bourbon...almost overpoweringly so...light roasty flavors in the finish...nice chewy mouthfeel...hides some of the odd characteristics of regular blacksun (thinness, imbalanced [strongly hoppy])....over the top though....