Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

From a 22-oz bomber, shared during Cellar’s Wine & Spirits’ Wednesday evening beer tasting in St Paul, Minnesota, this pours a thick dark brown motor oil texture beer with a thin tan head that really stick to the glass. Aroma is complex with so many scents including raisin, dark pitted fruits, molasses, chocolate, coffee and some white pepper. Flavor is thick and fork-wise chewy with no carbonation and has flavors of molasses, raisin, dark chocolate, toffee, vanilla and caramel. Finish is thick and syrupy with a mild bitterness and a lingering molasses and raisin aftertaste. Five hours in line for this? A little over-hyped but still memorable for rate # 2400.

[Bottle ’08, huge thanks go to Skyview for bringing this back!] Pours black with a dark tan head--really nice appearance, even if it does leave kind of a sludge on the side of the glass when you swirl it. Aroma is chocolate, light raisin, caramel and a little vanilla. Taste is somewhat sweet, I imagine from the molasses, with light hops, a bit of peppery spice and a fairly harsh roasted malt. Ridiculously thick mouthfeel--thickest I have ever seen. I love a really thick beer, and I’m giving the palate a 5, but this is almost too thick. Overall, this beer was good, but not spectacular. The memorable thing about it is the syrupy mouthfeel, which I think I could grow to dislike with a larger sample.

Vintage 2007- Beautiful coloring, a rich dark brown/black. No carbonation at all. Heavy nose of whiskey and coffee. This stuff is THICK. I really didn’t enjoy the taste of this vintage, the whiskey character was completely overwhelming to me especially coupled with the viscosity of the brew.

Thanks to MaltOMeal for this silver 07 bottle. Super dark black with no head. Nose of soy sauce and rich dark chocolate. Flavor was very rich dark chocolate and drank like it was 10W-40. This is the thickest beer I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking. Didn’t know if I should drink it or chew it. Wonderful. Thanks Bill!

the great stout shoot out was finished with a blind test. i gave this beer #3 for the eve.. i will adjust the scores but leave the writing of the first taste. *did not mind. would pay part of the cost for at least a year old bottle, i hate aging.* aroma: booze, soy earthy hints of sweet booze vanilla and expenisive bottling. app: thin brown blood. Flavor: needs age! boy. all that work and money to get one of these bottles and then! you gotta let it sit for a couple years before its yummy. I think this would make a grand meatloaf marinade. Palate: thin flat OA: over the top? needs age and balance. let us not forget good culinary concepts when making or brewing beer. this is rich and huge and out of balance. suppose a chef served you a cup of soy sauce, a bowl of cocoa powder a a shot of everclear.. what a good meal.. or not. I would rather have a fine wine and a good desert.

Sampled at Sean and Ryan’s tasting, 2008 vintage. Deep black with a small tan head. Rich sweet aroma of malt, brandy, and chocolate. Huge taste of toasted malt, brandy and cognac, coffee, molasses. Lingering toasty bitterness. Fantastic imperial stout.

2005 bottle many thanks to footbalm. This really is an amazing brew. Pours a deep black, no light can get through. Appearance of black oily tar. Medium dark tan frothy head. In my opinion the biggest down side to this beer (in fact the only down side) was the aroma. It was very hot, yes there was chocolate, raisin, cherry and roasted malt in the nose, but there was a large overwhelming presence of alcohol. Flavors where very complex.. dark chocolate, sweet cherries, vanilla, roasted malt, a bit of smoke, coffee, molasses, oak, toffee, raisin, and dark fruit. Also notes of hops in the flavor profile. This imp stout packs a large punch. The mouth feel is extremely thick, oily, and mouth coating. The finish lasts and lasts. One sip and you get a huge amount of flavor and it doesn’t quit. I would love to try this again if I can get a hold of it. This is my #600.

2007 bottle thanks to drmatt. I’d been holding onto this a few months and finally got the guys together to share this bad boy. This poured dark as pitch with no head. Aroma was not great. Soy maybe? The taste though was all I ever could have wanted and expected from an Imperial Stout. This was sweet with chocolate and molasses, but not cloying. Flavors kept coming at you. What a complex brew! Mouthfeel was thick and so wonderful it was like my mouth was having an orgasm!