Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Lord Imperial Stout - Three Floyds Brewing Co. & Brewpub

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BA SCORE
100
world-class
-
336 Ratings

rAvg: 4.59
pDev: 8.93%
Reviews: 161
Hads: 175

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
Three Floyds Brewing Co. & Brewpub

Indiana, United States

Style | ABV
Russian Imperial Stout | 15.00% ABV

Availability: Spring. on-tap (125), bottle (27), growler (7), cask (2).

Notes:
Dark Lord aged in bourbon barrels for one year. Recently has used a blend of barrels from Heaven Hill, but has also been Woodford Reserve and others in the past

Formerly known as Oak Aged Dark Lord.

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Reviews

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Reviews by iadler:

iadler

Minnesota

4.65/5 rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Bottle brought to the recent tasting courtesy of exitmusic00. Thanks homie.

A- Pours a standard DL pitch black with a thin mocha head that leaves minimal lacing.

S- Similar to last year's Bourbon DL with loads of earthy bourbon upfront, oak, dark chocolate, caramel, roasted malt, dark fruit and wood with hints of vanilla and molasses

T- Again bourbon is prominent, but is smooth and complex with notes of dark fruits including raisins, fig, black cherry as well as roasted malt, vanilla, oak, molasses and some roasted malt.

M- Low to medium carbonation. A little hot, but the abv is still hidden fairly well.

O- A superb bourbon aged RIS that I consider to be a tad better than last year's DL PVW treatment. The bourbon is so smooth and well integrated into the base beer. It's incredible what barrels do to DL. My favorite treatment of the '12 varieties .

Serving type: bottle

07-27-2012 23:13:12 | More by iadler

More User Reviews:

haknort

Illinois

4.75/5 rDev +3.5%

05-19-2013 03:33:16 | More by haknort

smartassboiler

Illinois

4/5 rDev -12.9%

05-18-2013 22:30:28 | More by smartassboiler

Jeffo

Netherlands

4.38/5 rDev -4.6%
look: 3 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Thanks to a few people we were able to put together the entire vertical and almost all the BA variants. Lots of fun gents!

From a 750 into a snifter
2012 vintage
Bottle 197 of 685

APPEARANCE: Just like all the rest of them. Pours relatively clear for an imperial stout. Produces a small, one finger medium-looking head that quickly fades to a wisp and ring. Black body in the glass with some carbonation evident. Only a ring remains until the end and leaves no real lacing down the glass. A little too light a pour and an average head at best.

SMELL: Pretty bold nose of bourbon barrel, oak and caramel notes. Some sweet cream and light vanilla from the barrel as well. Hints of molasses and dark chocolate from the base Dark Lord as well, but this is more about the bourbon barrel, thankfully enough. Pretty nice actually. Impressed.

TASTE: A bit hot up front perhaps, but the bourbon barrel, oak, vanilla and sweet cream from the barrel is very enjoyable. A big and persistent finish of sweet molasses, caramel, a hint of dark chocolate and some bitter coffee from the 2011 base beer, as well as lots of bourbon and oak flavors from the barrel as well. Lots of barrel flavors, meshing well with the normally overly sweet Dark Lord base beer. These two players compliment each other surprisingly well.

PALATE: Slightly lighter than the base beer, but still big enough. Just like the other DL variants as well. Medium body with medium levels of carbonation. Creamy enough, goes down fine and finishes rather sticky on the palate. A bit of a burn and some heat lingers.

OVERALL: This was the first BA DL we drank, so it basically just went downhill from here. Surprsingly enjoyable and well balanced, this is more proof that Dark Lord is better in the right barrels. I'd go as far as suggesting FFF just bourbon barrel age the whole batch and charge $40 a bottle. Much better use of Dark Lord. This was the second place finisher for me, just behind the PvW version and ahead of the Cognac variant. Lots of good barrel flavors that mellow the overly sweet base beer, but also allow the enjoyable parts of Dark Lord to play a role. Good stuff. Cheers for the fun day gents!

Serving type: bottle

05-15-2013 13:29:01 | More by Jeffo

woodchopper

Illinois

4.75/5 rDev +3.5%

05-09-2013 20:17:37 | More by woodchopper

mjohnson17

Illinois

4.75/5 rDev +3.5%

05-07-2013 19:44:49 | More by mjohnson17

coffygrinder

Illinois

5/5 rDev +8.9%

05-07-2013 10:24:22 | More by coffygrinder

KevinmusPrime

Kentucky

5/5 rDev +8.9%

05-03-2013 16:32:37 | More by KevinmusPrime

wsnich

Texas

5/5 rDev +8.9%

05-02-2013 15:49:02 | More by wsnich

CuriousMonk

Virginia

4.75/5 rDev +3.5%

04-29-2013 21:00:13 | More by CuriousMonk

Zaphog

Michigan

4.75/5 rDev +3.5%

04-29-2013 18:01:31 | More by Zaphog

baybum

Pennsylvania

4.75/5 rDev +3.5%

04-29-2013 16:44:02 | More by baybum

Auracom

Illinois

4.44/5 rDev -3.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

2 oz. of the 2011 Bourbon variant on-tap at DLD on April 27th, 2013. Thanks to Wes for giving us his second glass, otherwise we'd have missed out entirely.

A - Basically identical to the regular version. Perhaps a tad more of that rich oil coating.

S - Plentiful bourbon whiskey melding over raisins, fudge, batter, pencil shavings, and sherry.

T - Dense oak that's been super-saturated with bourbon (albeit slightly generic). Deep cocoa, honey graham cracker, molasses, prune, and massive raisin.

M - Medium-heavy body, carbonation low enough to not be immediately detectable, dry finish.

D - Few base beers change as much in a barrel as Dark Lord. I certainly appreciate the transportation and would never decline a taste.

Serving type: on-tap

04-29-2013 16:20:37 | More by Auracom