The last few weeks have been pretty heavily dominated by Dark Lord Day coverage here on Fanbrew. That is because it was the biggest beer event that we have ever been able to go to, and we were working with a few people on a really great promotion for our website surrounding the festival.
But even with the extensive coverage we have already published about it our DLD2010 round up just wouldn’t be complete without a formal review of this years batch of the rare and world famous brew.
For those of you that are still not in the know, the Dark Lord is 3 Floyd’s take on a Russian style imperial stout and is rated as one of the top 10 beers produced in the world year after year. But if you have followed us for a while you will know that it was a beer that I didn’t particularly care for the first time I had an opportunity to try it. If you missed that article here is the link: 2008 Dark Lord Review.
The first time I tasted Dark Lord was in January of 2010 and the vintage was 2008, meaning that on top of the amount of time that Dark Lord spends in oak while fermenting it had another 2 years of aging on top of it. And for me the beer was too much, the viscosity was almost unpalatable and the beer was difficult to swallow. This year however just a few short weeks after attending Dark Lord Day I cracked open a bottle of the 2010 vintage and sat down with some friends and some tasting glasses and found out what DL tastes like fresh.
The Result? This is one of the best beers I have ever had the opportunity to drink, and it is hands down the best imperial stout I have ever tasted.
Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout
The Pour:
The Dark Lord lives up to it’s name on the pour. The heavy bodied stout pours slowly out of the bottle and fills the glass with complete darkness that allows absolutely no light to come through. The glass is topped with a dark creamy head that dissipates quickly and really show no signs of lacing or retention.
The Nose:
The nose on the 2010 Dark Lord was less complex than the 2008, maybe that was something brought out by the aging process though. Either way, the 2010 nose was pretty fantastic. The major players on the aroma where a salty “soy sauce” smell that was pointed out by all the women that were around sniffing and tasting with us, Coffee, And a little bit of sweet dark fruits. The Soy play didn’t come at me as much as it did other people. I won’t deny that there was some aroma of Soy Sauce but for me it wasn’t dominant. However I would likely attribute it to an Umami flavor that may develop in beers after prolonged aging.
The Palate:
The 2010 vintage of the Dark Lord was absolutely fantastic. I give DL 4.5 out of 5 stars and right now it holds the title as the highest ranked beer on Fanbrew. The very first thing you will notice about the Dark Lord is the mouth feel, swishing the beer through your mouth allows the heavy body of the beer to cover your entire palate. Making it nearly impossible for you not to taste all of the different flavors. What kind of flavors? Big coffee, oak, and sweet dark cherries, with that salty soy sauce kick from the nose. The beer finished absolutely smoother than any beer I have ever had and opposed the 2008 each sip made me want more. Now comes the debate on when I open the next bottle.
If you have had a chance to taste the 2010 Dark Lord RIS be sure to leave a comment below telling me what you thought of it. Specifically Robbie, Scott, Jeremy, Phil, Steve, Meam, Gaelyn, and anybody else that tried it with me. And As always, thank you for visiting Fanbrew. Please leave a comment below and subscribe to our website by clicking here, or on the email icon in the top right of the site. Be sure to visit our gift shop before you leave, follow us on facebook, twitter, or spread the word with the social networking links below.
At first I was very skeptical in wanting to drink the dark lord because of Adam’s previous review on it. I was definitely going to drink it, but I was almost afraid of the taste.
The bottle looked amazing and the wax seal just added to the aesthetics. The pour was actually really smooth and the smell was defiantly initially soy sauce but evolved the longer you smelled it. It reminded me a lot of bourbon county by goose island but less bourbon and more complexity.
http://www.unnecessaryumlaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_1877.jpg
The taste was smooth and actually drinkable, which was surprising. I expected a gross coat your throat taste. It wasn’t my favorite beer but it was good. The rarity and price made it that much better too!
What can I say, this is one of the most amazing beers that I have ever consumed(thank you again Adam). The flavors associated with the Dark Lord are outstanding but are not overpowering. As a long time fan of dark lager,bock and stout beers this by far tops the charts. The rich coffee hints mixed with the oak overtones and slightly salty but smooth finish was absolutely pleasing to say the least. A must try for any beer enthusiast who is willing to try one of the best brews in my opinion.