Three Floyds Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

Courtesy Gunhaver. Pours a staining black with no head. Aroma of chocolate, vanilla, oak, bourbon, more vanilla, roasted malt, and caramel. Taste is the same as aroma. Full mouthfeel with smooth alcohol. The vanilla bean version had less vanilla than the oak aged version. Not as good as the oak aged but one hell of a fine brew.

Big thanks to Gunhaver for sharing this. You ROCK! Pours thick glass staining soul stealing darkness with no head. The aroma is rich fudge brownie, building vanilla bean goodness, smooth caramel covered oak and some very light bourbon notes. This beer emits vanilla notes that seem to sum up all the bean with rich super sweet vanilla sticky goo and earthy vanilla bean husks. Wow. The taste is rich straight up luscious organic earthy like vanilla, rich oozing fudge brownie, some caramel smothered oak and a thin background note of booze. D-Lish!

Hand bottle provided by Gunhaver A: Pours as dark as they come, a very evil flat black. No real head to speak of loss of carbonation due to the hand bottling. It is a very thick beer that literally stains the glass. S: Nice real vanilla notes. Roasted malt, coco puffs, and subtle wood from the barrel. T: Loads of real vanilla bean right from the start. Rich dark chocolate and roasted chocolate malt. Darkened brown sugar, and hints of oak. M: Very full in body, lacks carbonation which you don’t even seem to miss with this beer. D: Insane. It was a nip bottle shared between a few. Really wish I had more. It is reason enough to go to Dark Lord day! Thanks Geiger!

Hand bottle HUGE thanks to Gunhaver!!! Pours pitch black with enormous staining lace. Nose is rediculous vanilla, chocolate, french vanilla creamer, vanilla bean ice cream, cocoa puffs, chocolate chip cookies. Flavor is a vanilla blast. Very reminiscent of fresh south american vanilla extract with loads of roasty malt and sweet caramel. F’n A! amazing beer. AMAZING!

Handbottle, courtesy StFun. Pours pitch dark with some brownish highlights. Flat, but beautiful. Nose has tons of vanilla, chocolate and bourbon. Flavor is massive amounts of vanilla, sticky chocolate, molasses, big caramel and brown sugar. Simply AMAZING. Full-bodied and so balanced and SOOO good. RI-DIC-U-LOUS.

Sampled @ GTMW ’09 - Pours black with a small tan head. Smells sweet, with vanilla, a little roast, and just a little booze. Taste is smooth, much smoother than the boozy pour of regular Dark Lord we got. There’s raisins in there, bourbon, light roast, vanilla, and some decent hops on the finish. Smooth, syrupy, and excellent.

Sampled at GTMW 2009. This is the one I waited in line for 30 minutes in order try. It was certainly worth the wait. It’s everything you would expect it to be. Pours black with virtually no head. Some dark fruity notes in the aroma with only a hint of vanilla. Flavor is of vanilla infused with a dark, chocolatey, bourbony (is that an adjective?), Imperial Stout. Also, as expected, some alcohol burn but nothing overpowering. It’s really quite incredible.

On tap at GTMW 2009
After a reminder of how amazing BA Dark Lord is I was able to finally get a pour of this fantastic gem. It immediately fell into second place - I like the complexity of the regular BA version ever so slightly but this is also one of the most well rounded and rich beers out there. It makes me want to go to Dark Lord Day not to get bottles but simply to get another pint of this.

Aroma / Appearance - Vanilla mixes in well with the smoke and chocolate to form a nose that is over the top. Just a hair ever so slightly below its barrel aged counterpart this is still as close to perfection as you can get.

Flavor / Palate - The mouthfeel was rich and coated every corner of the tongue and throat as I made my way back for a few sours to cap off the festival. Vanilla, cigar ash, chocolate, and malt form a dangerous sipping beer. The alcohol is warm on the back of the throat but not so much that I would not ask for a second pour given the chance. This is what happens when you take an excellent beer and age it right.