8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Sample, brown bottle, bottle 731/854, trade with Adam Conway, my Dark Lord variants tasting at my place, savoured on October 26 2018; eye: black, opaque, minuscule ring of brown head, slight lacing; nose: vanilla, pineau des Charentes, anise, coffee, chocolate, maple, light spices, molasses, hot pepper; mouth: vanilla, pineau des Charentes, anise, coffee, chocolate, maple, light spices, molasses, hot pepper, light astringency, alcohol warmth, finale in chocolate with presence of alcohol, full body, average carbonation, rather sweet, lightly alcoholic texture; overall: fine FRANÇAIS Échantillon, bouteille brune, bouteille 731/854, échange avec Adam Conway, soirée de mes variantes de Dark Lord chez nous, savourée le 26 octobre 2018; œil : noire, opaque, minuscule anneau de mousse brune, très légère dentelle; nez : vanille, pineau des Charentes, anis, café, chocolat, érable, léger épices, mélasse, piment; bouche : vanille, pineau des Charentes, anis, café, chocolat, érable, léger épices, mélasse, piment, légère astringence, chaleur d’alcool, finale en chocolat avec présence d’alcool, corsée, carbonatation moyenne, plutôt sucrée, texture légèrement alcoolique; n résumé : bien

8.1

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a nice large dark brown foamy head. Aroma of Pineau des Charentes with some molasses and black chocolate notes are also perceptible in the aroma. Taste is a mix of dominant Pineau barrel notes with huge amount of residual sugar with some very light molasses and black chocolate notes. Body is full with syrupy notes and good carbonation with some alcohol showing. Very enjoyable and surprised the Pineau worked as well even though the end results is quite sweet.

8.2

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

A deep dark stout with a thin dark brown head. In aroma, sweet chocolate malt with loads of alcohol warmth, light licorice, grapeskin, intense and rich. In mouth, a nice chocolate malt with treacle, maple, licorice, alcohol warmth, molasses, alcohol warmth, very intense. Bottle at GRMs dark Lord tasting, Oct 2018.

8.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9.5

One of the countless one-off variations on the iconic Dark Lord, aged on French barrels - I was informed that those barrels used to contain armagnac, but apparently it was Pineau de Charentes. I am a bit flabbergastered that this beer, coming from such a much debated brewery, has only one single rating so far - big thanks to Bart for adding this as an encore to the Bourbon County tasting in the Struise shop. Virtually no head, apart from some minuscule, beige, loose bubbles on the edge which quickly vanish; black robe with deep burgundy, hazy edges. Strong bouquet of chocolate liqueur, cognac, dried thyme, old red wine, parsley, burnt brown sugar, vanilla-like oak, soggy rye bread, coffee grounds, toast, cola, liquorish. Soft sweetness of raisins and dried fig in the onset, residual brown sugar as well, subtle underlying berry sourishness, thick black olive-like umami edge, soft carbo, very thick and ’fat’, oily mouthfeel. A deep, mouth-filling texture of nutty, beefy, caramelly malt bittersweetness follows, gaining some toasted bitterness towards the end but staying rounded and emphatically sweet in general, beautifully adorned with vanilla-ish wet oak tannins, a subtle hint of sweet dessert wine (which must be the Pineau), a spicy hop punch unmatched with the malt sweetness and a whole lot of heating, brandy-like alcohol. Long, thick and viscous, this is again a beautiful Three Floyds stout, with all the properties of the regular Dark Lord cleverly matched with the sweetness and booziness of Pineau; the wood and the added wine-like flavor do not disturb the overall balance at all, but impose a layer of complexity on an already complicated beer. Unexpected encounter with something I never heard of, very nice surprise indeed.

10

Holy crap