Three Floyds Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

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

Great Taste 2008. A highlight of the day, especially since I missed DL Day this year. I’m continually impressed by the beers FFF pulls out at the Great Taste. Stellar lineup again this year. One finds this beer first and foremost to be chewy; the viscosity blows away just about anythign else I’ve had. Then the vanilla and Intelligentsia coffee shine through with semi-sweet chocolate, cocoa powder, butter, and vanilla. Excellent stuff, finishing somewhat on the sweet side.

Black body with a thin tan head. Viscous body. The aroma is sweet vanilla and dark chocolate. Complex vanilla and subtle oak. Very good. Sweet and rich thick palate. The vanilla also adds a rich complexity and rounds out Dark Lord. Super good!

Jet black pour, thick tan head and thick lace. Rich barrel’d aroma lots of bourbon lots of vanilla a bit acidic. Great flavor depth chocolates lots of vanilla bourbon oak, coffee.. very nice beer.

On tap @ DLD. Pretty much the same as the oaked dark lord at least appearance wise. The vanilla character came out on the nose and a bit too much in the flavor giving a bit much in the sweetness department. Body is similar, finish is of course, sweeter.

On tap at DLD ’08. Heavy, thick - reminds me of ’04 darklord.....well, almost. Quite a bit of vanilla. Very sweet as well. Mouthfeel was huge on this with notes of the "normal" Dark Lord tastes of intense bittersweet chocolate and coffee. The extreme vanilla notes do give the impression of increased sweetness. However, taken in small doses, I thought this was a great sipping beer.

On tap at DLD ’08. Pours a chalky dark brown color with zilch for a head. Aroma is huge vanilla, chocolate, oak. Flavor is again huge vanilla, almost chocolate milk-like, some roast, dark chocolate, light oak. Palate is full bodied, mild to non-existent carbonation, finished, super sweet and heavy. Vanilla seemed to be a bit much, sticky-icky sweet, over-the-top. Glad I got to try it but not one of my favorites.

On tap at DLD ’08. Nearly black with a smallish head. The aroma is pretty darn close to the oak, in fact it was hard to tell them apart, but this one had a little more vanilla. Smells good, really good. The body was thick as all get out, it was tempered a bit by the oak, but the vanilla actually blew the pretense that this is anything close to a balanced beer. The vanilla reminded me of the woeful lack of attenuation and this beer was a sticky sweet mess that I could hardly drink. The flavor was vanilla dominated and it accentuated the high residual sugars, there was the rest of the typical DL flavors, but the vanilla was the straw that broke the camels back. Thankfully for several people sitting by me, I could not drink more than a few sips of this before I sat it down and went to something else.

Might as well put my entry in on this beer. Okay, so my tasting conditions were not ideal. I had very little to drink during the day, but I had a raging sinus infection so I kept having to clear out my nose before each quick sniff and taste. Here is what I got most out of the beer: Under-attenuation. Wow, this is so milky and thick. I am pretty unimpressed with the body. Anyone can under-attenuate a beer, and this seems almost sickly. Taste: Okay, so the taste is amazing. Thick chocolate milk, loads of creamy vanilla, dark chocolate. This is overwhelmingly flavorful. It works, but only so much. Appearance is still and murky brown-deep black. Aroma, sweet vanilla, alcohol. Rich and decadent. I love the aroma on this. Overall, a solid beer, very solid. World-class even, but I am still not sold.