BCBS Darkness Dark lord Listening to a lot of what people said. Add to list also Parabola Ivan Night Tripper Stone IRS Zhukovs
I've only had BCBS and Dark Lord and BCBS is the better of the two and easier to obtain. Seems like a no-brainer. I hear 2012 DL is bad, so I'd stay away, although I think '10 and '11 are both excellent stouts.
I'd rate them: Darkness/BCBS about a tie (personal taste thing... I like Darkness plenty,) and then Dark Lord a distant 3rd, if we're talking about 2012 beer. While I don't think it's worth hunting for unless you're doing a vertical, if you were to find Dark Lord and Darkness from before 2011 (assuming it's well cellared,) that skews things. And the BADLs are also another consideration (though I haven't liked any of the 2012s I've had.) The two best Dark Lords I've had were 2011 Brandy and 2011 Brandy Vanilla Bean Dark Lord. And those were both leaps and bounds better than any BCBS I've had other than Rare. For my taste, they're right there with Rare. 2011 Darkness is good. So is 2012. 2011 Dark Lord is okay. 2012 has thus far been just undrinkable and weird. 07, 08, 09, and even 10 are entirely different from the next two years... they all taste different from each other as well. The best Darkness I've had was 08. The rest have are all pretty much a blur... but a happy blur. Remember, BCBS is not hard to get... it's desirable, but you don't want to over-pay. A lot like Pliny in that regard. The other two are a brewery release day beer and a mostly brewery release day beer. So they cost more in trade. I echo some other sentiments here that there are many beers available off the shelf, which I'd take over 2011/2012 Dark Lord... but that's not what you were asking.
I popped my only BA Black Note on Friday, and it was very good, a little lighter in body and more carbonation than was expecting, but wish I had more. Then I had a BCBS right behind it, absolutely no contest, deeper flavor, much bigger body, it just blew it away.
BCBS Darkness Dark Lord You might want to try and get your hands on a CCB Hunaphu (might be tough though). Release date is March 9.
BCBS is good, Darklord is way too sweet, a syrupy molasses dominant mess. Its almost as if they bottle primed with molasses.. one of the worst Imperial Stouts I have had in a while I think. And haven't had Darkness.
Dark Lord sucks. Go after BCBS. Then, after you trade for BCBS, be prepared to trade for more BCBS. Then, trade again for the BCBS variants. Then, you can go after vintage BCBS. Then, you can cycle back around to fresh BCBS again. So on, so forth.
1. BCBS (Fresh has always been best to me) 2. Darkness (09 was the best ive had) 3. Dark Lord (08 was the best ive had)
