Three Floyds Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

tap at taste of the midwest - Poured black with small brown head. Aroma - Just wonderful sweet vanilla scent along with smokiness and rich chocolate. Flavor - Amazing rich vanilla taste, sweet chocolate syrup and smokey charred wood flavor. Palate - very heavy mouthfeel with little carbonation. Finish is smooth and has nice alcohol burn. Overall - Outstanding beer!!! I prefer this over regular Dark Lord, has a better overall taste. This is more of a desert beer for sipping!

Pours black with a brown head which leaves some nice lacing, once gone. Smells amazing...VANILLA...lots of it! Some malts and milk chocolate in there as well. Tastes exactly like DL + vanilla which is a wonderful combo! Mouthfeel is perfect, an awesome beer to swirl around and savor. I would go for this again and again (I did so @ DLD)...awesome/epic beer! My #1 RIS.

# 1300. 2008 Vanilla Bean Dark Lord on draft at the brewpub at 2009 Dark Lord Day. Pours a pitch black with a small light brown cream head. Beautiful aroma of vanilla on top of all of the Dark Lord aromas. Taste of creamy rich vanilla bean on top of all of the Dark Lord flavors. Simply amazing !!! I can honestly say that this was the most enjoyable beer I have had to date. Perfect all around !!!!

4/25/2009: 3F Three Floyds Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord is thick, sticky and black. It just sticks to the plastic glass and has pretty much stained it! This beer has a really sweet aroma with rich caramel maltiness underneath TONS of real vanilla. The flavor is very much like the aroma. It is very sweet with caramel, vanilla, and a pretty high level of alcohol and just a hint of bourbon. It has a mellow and milky texture and goes down smooth, but sticks to everything else. Overall, this beer is really, really good, but almost too sweet.

Draught at Dark Lord Day 2009. Rating #103 for this beer.

On tap at the Great Taste of the Midwest (8/9/08): Pours a viscous opaque oily black with a thin-lacing dark tan head. Aroma of rich sweet dark caramel and vanilla with some fresh oaky notes. Body starts extremely thick and viscous with good dark caramel maltiness, rich raisiny complexity, and a slightly drier full vanilla and dark chocolate finish. A great dessert beer.

The pour is rich and black with some nice brown head, just as you’d expect from Dark Lord. I get mostly vanilla and coconut with just a bit of coffee in the nose. I get more bourbon in the flavor than anything. Full and rich body as usual. Dry roasted finish.

100th rating of this beer. Nose is coffee and cocoa. Color is dark brown with red hints. Flavor is sweet with soy-sauce peeking out. Not as much of the coffee/cocoa in the mouth. Sweet, but not too much vanilla sweet. Good, but not world-beater.

Hand bottle. Pours an opaque black color with no head. The aroma was of mocha and milk chocolate. The taste was simple and subdued, with roasted coffee, chocolate, biter-sweet dark chocolate and black walnuts. The mouthfeel was full, smooth and malty with fair carbonation. Overall: Just a trace of vanilla, and a very mellowed-out character. Good, but not great.