 drewbeerme (1790), Chicago, Illinois, USA
Mar 4, 2007 Updated: Jul 13, 2008
on cask at the Night of the Living Ales 07. 2007 vintage. poured black and watery (cask). nose was loaded with coffee and vanilla. flavor was way too syrupy, reminded me a lot of kaluha. alcohol was very well hidden. maybe the beer is too young or the Dark Lord hates the cask. 3.2.
12/4/07, 3 year vertical (05-07):
2005, pours black with tan head. nose of burnt coffee, doughy, chocolate, and really roasty. flavors are pretty sweet with brown sugar, loads of caramel, evolving into a chocolately, coffee, roasty, and sweet candy finish. pretty thick mouth feel with no alcohol taste. pretty sweet beer for sure, but the finish is a bit raw and roasty towards the end, a little too much to be perfect.8/5/8/5/17=4.3.
2006, pours black with tan head. nose is loaded with green apple, it is tough to get past it but some other notes of molasses and espresso. flavor has lots of sugar and green apple, some chocolate, espresso, and vanilla too. mouth feel isn’t thin but is the thinest of the 3. I can only hope and pray that age takes care of the green apple. if there is one off batch of Dark Lord then this is it. 5/5/7/4/13=3.4.
2007, pours dark brown with no head. nose has lots of brown sugar, molasses, vanilla, alcohol, and very slightly sour green apple (more less than 06). flavor is loaded with molasses, honey, vanilla, caramel, some piney hops, with very mild chocolate and espresso finish. this is way too sweet right now and lacks a real chocolate and coffee presence. very thick body that coasted and stained the glass (only version in the vertical that did that) with no alcohol noticed. perhaps this could be great with several years of age. 7/3/8/5/15=3.8
Final Comments: Okay, 2005 Dark Lord is tasting good right now. I wouldn’t say it’s worth the hype though. 2006 is a big mistake, the green apple hasn’t aged out at all and probably never will. 2007 is overly sweet and although those sugars are complex the beer lacks any real chocolate, roast, or coffee presence. However, the 2007 could age wonderfully as it is clearly the less filtered of the 3. DL is using sugar in an impressive/intense way but also over bearingly lacking some sort of balance and typical stout flavors (a few would be nice here). Finally, 2004 Dark Lord was significantly better (much more chocolately) than all of these. Too bad that wasn’t here tonight.
5/3/08, 2008 vintage released 1 week ago. pours black with no head. nose of coffee, raisins, caramel, dark chocolate, and citrus. flavor have a bit green citrus hop character, coffee, roast, molasses, dark chocolate, and still way overly sweet. couldn’t taste a lick of alcohol. full bodied but not as thick as the 07 and this didn’t stain the glass. i think this will age wonderfully and with any luck will taste like the well aged 05 vintage in 2-3 years. I think this vintage closely resembles the 07 but I do prefer this vintage over the 06 and 07, but i dont recall the 05 fresh and never had the 04 fresh. However, the 04 and 05 were far superior with 2-4 years on them. Those two vintages aged had a more balanced sugar level with more balancing roast and chocolate character. Hopefully the 07 and 08 will age into that with a few years. 7/3/8/5/16=3.9.
7/12/08, ’04 vintage. thanks Blake! pours black with no head. nose is extremely sweet but wonderful port, raisins, sugary. flavor is extremely sweet chocolate, dark fruit, coffee liqour. wow just really great brew. I wish the other DL vintages tasted like this. this is amazing.4.4.
awiseman01 (14), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Sep 3, 2008 Wow, very different. Picked up three bottles after 5.5 hrs. in line at DLD 2008. Pours thick, VERY thick, and very dark, with dark brown thin head layer; some lacing. Smells of amazingness including but not limited to the following: roasted coffee, toffee, caramel, sweet vanilla, rich molasses. Taste if so thick you think you’re not really drinking beer. It’s on it’s way to pancake syrup in thickness, not quite there though. Very sweet, with wonderful coffee, vanilla, and molasses flavors. The thickness and sweetness are what really set this royal treat apart from the every day stout (and I would have a stout every day if I could). I will make it a point to visit the brewpub in 2009 to try the other varieties. I can understand where some people find this dissapointing based on the hype, but personally I’m blown away simply by the uniqueness it contains. In terms of drinking for the sake of drinking due to the hype this beer receives, it gets an A-. In terms of drinking for the creativity, uniqueness, and individualistic-ness of this beer, it gets an A+.
Vav (13), Chicago, Illinois, USA
Sep 3, 2008 Hands down the best imperial stout i’ve ever had. 22oz Bottle, 2008 (black wax.)
VERY thick pour, motor oil and molassas consistency & color, with a small, chocolate colored head. Aroma dense and complex with roasted malts, chocolate chip cookie, hazelnuts, coffee, vanilla, maple, and just a hint of pacific northwest hops.
Palate and Flavor is strikingly complex, and at 13%, frighteningly drinkable. It tastes like roasted chocolate milk, with dominant malt notes and hints of vanilla, biscuit, toffee, caramel, and just a tiny little bit of smoke. It finishes sweet without being cloying, and just a bit of hop bitterness lingers.
Absoutly stunning.
fredandboboflo (500), East Setauket, New York, USA
Sep 3, 2008 Bottle, 2008. So I finally get to try the Dark Lord. I say "finally" despite only having been drinking craft beer for a year and a half, and only really took note of this beer a few months ago. Regardless, this beer is really something special. Aroma of burnt malt, tobacco, toffee, caramel, vanilla, unbelievably rich. Flavor is SO BIG with all these notes, but remarkably with all the burnt malt, all the sweet malt, all the alcohol, this beer remains what I would call exquisitely balanced. I’ve never had such a ridiculously smooth, soft, BURNT beer, nor would I ever have imagined a beer so loaded like this would not be unbelievably sweet and/or alcoholic. The combination of all these things I would expect to make an overdone monster, but as I said, this was something special. Remains so drinkable to the last sip, and rich to the last sip at the same time. For me, the CLEAR winner over Speedway in a back to back sampling. Simply amazing.
LilBeerDoctor (501), East Setauket, New York, USA
Sep 2, 2008 2008 bottle courtesy of iowaherkeye (thanks Joey!!). I’ve been wanting to try this for a long time now. I didn’t think that it would, but it lived up to its reputation. Pours an inky black with a thick but quickly disappearing dark tan head. Aroma of super rich sweet roasted malt, caramel, molasses. Flavor of burnt malt, toffee, molassess, caramel, vanilla with burnt toast in the aftertaste. Super sweet and pretty heavy, but somehow super drinkable! Not overpowering at all. Very smooth palate! The flavors really mesh together so well that it’s actually quite hard to pick them apart (and I’m sure I’ve done them a great injustice). I will have to try this again soon! My 2nd rated imperial stout, just below Expedition.
General_Gao (2509), Iowa City, Iowa, USA
Sep 1, 2008 Thanks to iowaherkeye for bringing this bottle to his ’farewell to Iowa’ tasting. 2006 vintage. Poured an opaque black color. The head was brown with an orange tint. Smelled of chocolate liqueur, hay, and a dash of soy. Full bodied and sweet. Roasty and chocolate malts, dark fruits, and a bit of soy rounded out the flavor profile.
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