Three Floyds Oak Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

. The same thick motor oil texture and pitch black color of Dark Lord. The same aroma and flavor of Dark Lord, but with bourbon. While not as bad as a lot of bourbon beers, everything I love about Dark Lord still takes a backseat in this one to the bourbon. Delicious in its own right, and very warming. Re-Rate: The 08 version (at 09 DLD) was simply incredible. Much more subtle than previous years. The wood and vanilla come through much better. Traces of tobacco and a nice earthiness all around. Damn this is great.

Draft at DLD08. Jet black with no head and thick as oil. Perfect. Nice sweet aroma. The oak seems to tone down and smooth out the taste. Most think the oaked is better, but I think its hard to top the original.

Draft at DLD. A Jet black pour with no head whatsoever. This beer stinks of bourbon, vanilla and oak. Flavor is just that and IMO better then DL for just that. Etoh is easily detectable but thats perfect for what it is. Obvious flavor of chocolate, coffe, and bourbon. Its thick and viscous as hell like the unoaked DL, but that oaked bourbon makes this beer simply better. WOW!

Having been to DLD for the first time, I was able to try this wonderful brew. It smells like chocolate, malt, and bourbon. Mmmmm. It pours to what I dream of with an imperial stout. The oak age adds so many subtlies of flavor to this beer. I taste vanilla, chocolate, coffee, malt, bourbon, expresso, and a small bit of brewed happiness. The flavor was as good as I’ve had in an imperial stout. Many are overpowering in taste but this is just where I want it. It leaves my mouth coated in it’s chocolatey ice cream flavor that makes everything else taste like it, which is awesome. I was highly impressed with this one day brew. This alone was worth drying to Munster from Cincinnati.

On tap at DLD; the best beer I had that day and I liked it more than the original and vanilla bean versions. Poured dark black; thick; not much head. Aroma of chocolate, roasted malt, oak, fruit, vanilla alcohol. flavor was similar. Tasty and complex. Perhaps a bit more roasted elements in the flavor; toasted caramel and perhaps some coffee. Mouthfeel was very sticky and oily. Very good.

(Bottle, thanks to SQNfan) If Marsiblursi cannot come to Dark Lord Day, then Dark Lord Day has to come to Marsiblursi. Pours compact dark brown to black. The aroma is fat with oak/bourbon up front bringing tones of vanilla, coconut, light smoke and alcohol. In addition, lots of malt roasts with dark chocolate and chocolate ice cream as the most notable but there is also some room for coffee/espresso. Sweet sugary and dark fruity with tones of molasses, maple syrup, rum raisins and prunes. Hints of raspberries, nuts and celery. The flavour is medium to heavily sweet, light to medium bitter and medium to heavily roasted/burned. Bourbon, vanilla, coconut, dark chocolate, rum raisins, burned caramel, some coffee, mint-ish alcohol warmth, molasses and light smoke. The mouthfeel is extremely fat and oily yet smooth, soft and velvety with a balanced sticky ending. Aftertaste of bitter chocolate, coffee, bourbon, hop bitterness and molasses. Full bodied. Extreme but well balanced. Wow!

Well, my original rating was wiped by not being logged in. I’ll try again later. Dark, thick. Loads of bourbon and acidic oak. That doesn’t sound good. I’ll fix I promise.

On tap at DLD. A nice treat after waiting in the cold for hours. Poured pitch black with zero head and enjoyed in a small plastic cup, just the way it was meant to be had. Smell is rich sweet, sticky molassesy malt with a light bourbon and alcoholic vanilla aroma. Taste is rich, semi sweet, chocolatey, dark fruit fig like flavor with some soy sauce like quality too. Rich oily mouthfeel and light carbonation but a sufficient amount. Really good stuff.