Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

200th rating and a tribute to the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies on the World Series Championship. Bottle, 2008 vintage, pours black as night, looks like a syrup with a very thin dark beige head. I love how it coats the glass. I didn’t even have to stick my head up to smell it, the aromas traveled over a foot to my nose, WOW. Loads of coffee, expresso notes. Light alcohol scents and some dark cherry. First sip, nice stuff. Tons of dark molasses and again expresso. Mildly bitter until the finish which is more of a dark bakers chocolate bitter than from hops. The mouth is heavy and smooth. Feels like I’m chewing through it. This is fairly chilled and I’m getting a nice burn from the back of my throat to my stomach. Overall, I’m a fan, it’s big, full of wonderful flavors, but still very drinkable. Looking forward to the next hundred, now I get to sit back and finish off this bad boy!

Silver wax 2007 bottle from bgburdman9. My 1,000 rating for my daughter’s 1st birthday. This beer better be as good as rumored...it certainly was. Pours dark brown like used motor oil with no head. The aroma covers everything from soy sauce, molassas, alcohol, coffee and chocolate. Super smooth feel. Flavour is bitter espresso, vanilla, bourbon and slightly burnt malt. 13 ABV? Hidden really well. Another great FFF brew.

[Bottle] generously shared by skyview after DLD ’08. Pours motor oil viscous black with a caramel colored head. Aroma is alcohol and rubbing alcohol, vanilla, dark fruits, and sweet chocolate. Ridiculously rich mouthfeel. The alcohol is a bit more subdued in the flavor, and has lots of roasted barley, espresso, is somewhat vinous, and is extremely smooth. Leaves a thick, dark coating on the glass, and my rinsewater was darker than most bocks. Tasting Update: 2009 Bottle. This bottle has a lot more soy sauce character than I remember. There are still tons of flavors jammed in there, but that saltiness is just way to pervasive to let slide. Unfortunate, because I heard that this was one of the better vintages. Maybe an off bottle.

2007 vintage courtesy of a trade with jgd0608. Pours a dense black with absolutely no head. This beer has terrific legs, leaving a brown tinting on the glass as I swirl the beer. I was expecting this to be mostly about the coffee, and I was wrong. The aroma is much more fruity with figs and prunes along with coffee and molasses. The flavor is even more intense with figs, dates, prunes, coffee, rich malt, molasses, and alcohol. A bit boozey at the finish with a bit of an alcohol burn, especially as the beer warms. Slick mouthfeel. Full bodied. Good stuff!

Black-waxed 2008 vintage. Huge thanks to TexasWayne for sharing this beauty! Pours blacker than a thousand midnights. Thick, one-finger head is darker than any I’ve ever seen, leaving spotty dollops of lace as it recedes. A light swirl leaves thick tan sheets on the sides of the glass that refuse to fall. According to my notes: ’’viscous as fuck.’’ Nose is as enormous as expected, with sweet french roast coffee predominating; Chocolate, vanilla, smoke, leather and earth add serious complexity. The palate reflects the nose, in flavor and enormity. Some dark fruit flavors and sweetness add to the complexity. Mouthfeel is thick, slick, and creamy. Finish is incredibly long. Alcohol burn is not horrible, but present enough to drop drinkability a notch. Yes, it’s that good. Believe the hype.

2008 bottle; black wax. Poured a viscous, midnight black with a small brown head. Aroma was just so strong and good. A strong caramel, cocoa and roasted malt/coffee presence with underlying notes of fruit, earth, brown sugar, alcohol and wood. Wow. Flavor was a nice blend of flavors. Brown sugariness, roasted malt, chocolate, vanilla, oats, alcohol and wood. Some light hints of fruit. Dangerously drinkable as the alcohol was present but not overly powerful. Really did live up to the hype in my mind.

Bottle at EBF. Black, no head. Dry, salty liquorice aroma, Porvoon Lakritsia and soy sauce. Flavor is intensive rye pudding, salty liquorice, ginger and bitter orange. Full bodied of course. Strange stuff, the closest thing to Finnish easter pudding I’ve ever had.

’08 bottle traded with BOLTZ7555. Thanks a lot. This pours so thick it hurts. Thin beige head that leaves beautiful lacing. Man. The aroma. The coffee comes and kicks you in the face so much harder than so-called "coffee" beers do. It’s like a graham cracker is in there too. Then the chocolate comes in. It’s almost like smelling a smore minus gross burnt marshmallow. Flavor is where that marshmallow comes in. It’s like drinking pure liquid marshmallow for grown-ups with coffee flavors making themselves more pronounced than not. And then it’s like drinking the bits of bitter cacao. It finishes with a slight alcohol burn, but it doesn’t really detract. The body is so thick it’s almost like drinking syrup and can almost be difficult to swallow and kind of hangs around in the back of your throat because it’s like your throat can’t actually take it. Spectacular beer.