Three Floyds Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

Flavors of roasted malt and chocolate. I did taste the vanilla and wasn’t overly impressed. It didn’t have that big barrel aged taste I expected. It was good.

Coffee-check, Roastiness-Check, Sweet Malt-Check, Vanilla-Nope. I get no vanilla in this vanilla Dark Lord. I also dont get any barrell aging. Not to say this wasn’t a good beer, but not great.

Apparently this was a hand-bottled sample which poured with no head as expected but also not as black as expected as it peaked a brownish color near the thin edges. Nose showed a bit of vanilla but mostly concentrated towards coffee accents. Flavors were big and bitter, lots of dark malty notes and tons of coffee, but vanilla was nowhere to be found. More I drank, the more roasty the flavors became and the more coffee grind notes came about...but vanilla? Nowhere...no chocolate, no fruit, no stuff i long for in complex strong stouts.

Sampled at DLD ’09. I was actually in line for Canadian Breakfast when they told me they hadn’t tapped it yet, so I "settled" for this one. Black pour with a medium tan head. Creamy vanilla aroma with some chocolate and coffee. Chocolate flavor with more of that creamy vanilla and a nice coffee finish. Very enjoyable.

Heaven in a glass. The aroma alone is intoxicating. Regular DL with a kick of vanilla. My only criticism would be that it’s just a tad too much vanilla. While I think the addition of vanilla actually made it a better beer, a touch less may have reached 5.0 territory for me. Would trade a night with my wife for a 22oz bottle of this!

On tap @ DLD ’09. I liked this just a little bit more than the regular Dark Lord- while the vanilla bean sweetness overwhelmed some of the subtleties of the beer, it provided a solid backbone off of which the other flavors blended beautifully. In addition to the vanilla, I tasted a little more chocolate and less coffee in this version. The beers aren’t poured with the optimal head at DLD, so I can’t quite comment on the appearance, but it doesn’t seem to lose any of the viscosity, etc. from the regular DL. Again, considering how intense the beer was, I found it a lot more drinkable than expected- the abv is noticeable, but I would not have guessed at 14%; does a good job of masking that. The burn on the way down is more pronounced than in the DL and it ends with a syrupy fullness. Beautifully done. For an approximation that is more easily available, I recommend the Barrel-aged Old Rasputin, which manages to bring out similar vanilla bean flavors.

On tap at DLD ’09. Pours a black body with a thin, creamy, dark brown head that leaves the glass with a dark oily lacing looking as if it had been stained by soy sauce. The aroma is damn near perfect. Huge sweet vanilla, but big milk chocolate as well. Lots of molasses, wood, bourbon, and floral qualities. Some soft coffee and roasts creep in more and more as this warms. This would be the perfect aroma if the hops were just a little more pronounced. Despite that, the aroma was awesome. The flavor, however, was as good as an Imp Stout gets IMO. A remarkable medley of tastes. Big vanilla, milk chocolate, wood, bourbon, and fat malts up front. Moves softly into a moderately roasty and bitter middle before finishing with an explosion of tastes. Much more of a noticeable roast and hop character balances out the big vanilla and cocoa flavors to perfection. The wood and bourbon accompany the flavors nicely and never dominate. Extremely well balanced and complex. Full bodied, smooth, and round with a lingering taste of every flavor. Overall, a phenomenal beer. Last year’s version was just a little too sweet, but this year, FFF hit it on the head. The vanilla is unquestionably distinguished, but never gets too sweet. Fantastic.

Enjoyed at FFF pub on Dark Lord Day ’09. Pours from the tap to a very brownish=black color with thin skim of a dark brown head that lingers thru mid-glass. Aroma is an overwhelmingly pleasant mix of vanilla, roasted nuts, chocolate and molasses, with just the right amount of the 14% alcohol. Mouthfeel is almost syrupy full, and the vanilla explodes in the taste. Nice, long warming finish. Didn’t enjoy quite as much as the Bourbon Barrel aged DL, but a damn good beer.