Three Floyds Oak Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

Draft. Nose of vanilla, burbon, chocolate, light dark sugar, and a light bourbon note. Absolutely black with a few bubbles, looks and has the viscosity of dirty 10 weight oil. Flavor of big oaky vanilla and chocolate, with bourbon and coffee notes. Finish is very light bitterness with some very light alcohol warmth; extremely well covered..

On tap at DLD 2009 been waiting all year for this one is the only darlord I didn’t have last year,well worth the wait black thick sweet and a hint of bourbon not overwelming and hot a perfect accent to the lord of beers

On tap from inside the brewery at the 2:00 pm Three Floyds Fancy Beer Tapping. Bought a double for $10 and drank with a well seasoned Cuban Churchill cigar among Dark Lord Day 2009 festivities. As perfect a combination as any highland Scotch and cigar could be. The oak aged DL is darkness embodied, of course. The entire glass is stained, top to bottom by the residules. Almost no head. Just a lace ring around the top. Tastes of bourbon, butter toffee, black figs, leather, smoke. But really, it’s like trying to describe the ocean if you’ve only ever experienced a puddle. The hype is not undeserved.

On tap at DLD. Here we go again. I first had this hand-bottled (or Facto’d, you might say) two years ago, and though I enjoyed it, it was clearly unrateable. I’ve finally had a chance to try it for real and was actually less impressed than from the hand-bottle.

Let’s get something straight here. I really, really want to like this beer. I want to love this beer. I’d be happy with it in my top 10, because Dark Lord remains one of my favorites to this day, and this has every opportunity to make it better.

But it doesn’t, of course. In fact, it makes it much, much worse. It nearly ruins it. Complexity is not normally a word you throw around with 14% imperial stouts, but after tasting this you will recognize that the unaged version is indeed complex, if only because this is so utterly dominant in boozy and bourbon characteristics in both flavor and aroma that almost nothing else can be sensed. A bit of sweetness, perhaps. A touch of roast. But that’s about it. This is as strong, harsh, and brutal as they come, unforgiving and ruined by the barrel.

I guess it is to be expected that an unrestrained beer would have a barrel treatment as unrestrained as the initial brew, but it doesn’t change my opinion that no matter how big the beer, going light on the bourbon barrel does far more good than using a heavy hand.

Draft, at DLD 2009. Pours pitch black, capped with a moderate sized brown head. Aroma is complex, with oak, vanilla, and bourbon at the forefront, with coffee, raisin, and bittersweet chocolate rounding out the edges. Flavor follows suit, with bourbon, vanilla, wood, and chocolate nicely balanced in the forefront, with dark fruit and espresso notes in the background. Huge bodied and very smooth. Long, somewhat boozy finish, with lots of oak, vanilla and bourbon. I enjoyed this more that the standard Dark Lord, but not as much at the Vanilla Bean aged DL.

Hand Bottle at home ... Deep black thin tan lacing ... light smoke meaty malt light bourbon nose ... smooth silky rich toffee malts ... bit heavy on the bourbon ... some chocolate ... Bourbon is overpowering this one ... This was the Beer i came 4000 miles for ... decent ... but the Basic DL ive had previously blows this away. So pleased to have tried this,and would have been devistated if id missed having it but not the delight id hoped for... As i drink the last of the glass the front to this beer is just what i want, it rich toffee sweet juicy and sublime (4.3) but then the bourbon keeps kicking me in the face.

Sampled at Dark Lord Day 09. Stood in line outside before sales opened and got my free sample. It would appear that among the reviews that the beer was actually better inside than outside. Not sure why, but this was overwhelmed with the bourbon and oak flavors. It did not seem as complex as the 2007 Dark Lord I had in May of last year. Pretty, but overall, not that impressive.

DLD 2009. Draft. Don’t get me wrong, this is an excellent beer, but not as good as regular DL. It is softened too much with the Oak aging. It just loses some of the huge flavor burst sensory overload that DL has.