February 28, 2007
Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week": Three Floyds' Black Sun Stout
It wasn't our intention at the beginning of the month to feature three stouts in succession, although the timing, in hindsight, turned out to be fortuitous. Thick beers, particularly stouts, are a great way to keep one from freezing his ass off when the world around him is sent headfirst into a deep freeze. Besides, we're close enough to St. Patrick's Day to have our appetite whetted for a good pint of stout. Additonally, Goose Island Clybourn's annual "stoutfest" makes a perfect cap for a busy weekend on the go. We end February with a truly devastating selection from Munster, Indiana's supreme Kings of Hops.
Three Floyds Black Sun stout is everything the label says it is. Of the three stouts we've featured this month, Black Sun is the closest to a traditional Irish stout, albeit one with all the characteristics we've come to expect from Three Floyds. You want a lot of mouth-puckering hops? They're here. You want a sweet finish of caramel? It's here. You want a palate with layers upon layers of complex flavors? Again, it's here. Black Sun is all that and the proverbial bag of chips.
Flavors on the palate include dark coffee, smoke, black cherry, chocolate malt, and heavy roast barley malt. Head and carbonation on this beer is light, at best, with minimal lacing on the glass. The color of this beer — a Spinal Tap-ish none more black — literally swallows light whole (as the picture to the right attests: that's an LED mag lite we're holding up to the glass). Black Sun pairs well with beef stew, smoky chilis, corned beef, and Shepherd's pie, in case you still aren't properly lubricated for the Ides of March.
Three Floyds is commonplace enough in the area to find at your larger liquor stores, like Sam's, Binny's, Archer Liquors, and Kenwood Liquors. The flavors of Black Sun make us wonder how this would taste as part of a black-and-tan or half-and-half; any enterprising drinkers who've tried it in these methods should feel free to drop us a line. Black Sun also makes us eager for a road trip to Three Floyds' Munster pub for a glass of this and other selections. For now, we'll be content to simply name Three Floyds Black Sun stout Chicagoist's "beer of the week."
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I took a trip to Three Floyd's brew pub this past weekend for some libations and tasty, greasy foods. (I live in Indiana, so it's not much of a trip.) The first thing I tried was their BA (barrel aged) Robert the Bruce - aged in bourbon casks for a year, it was pure mouth-happiness. I then switched to the Black Sun and was stunned by the, well, stout-ness of it. It's everything I've ever wanted a stout to be, served swiftly from a nitrogen tap.
While you're at the Floyds, maybe you can ask why they seem to prefer having people serve Black Sun on nitrogen, instead of carbon dioxide. The hoppiness gets muted due to the finer bubbles. Do a side-by-side comparison and you'll see. Your review is spot on, though.
love the pic of the light. that there stout is a black hole.
Indeed it is, erin. I wished I taken a picture of the shock on my face when I saw that.
Bertp: I would guess that the reason Black Sun - and most stouts - are served on nitrogen mixes, as opposed to CO2 is specifically because most drinkers expect those bubbles, and the cascading effect that stouts are known for. The hop flavor is much more prominent on this beer served from the bottle.
I am just glad Mayor Daley won, so that small business owners such as the liquor stores selling this fine product have an ally behind them in city government. Otherwise, the city council would probably force them to pay the clerks $25 an hour plus benefits, and this product would cost $20 a bottle!
Yeah, the same Mayor Daley who's been waging war on taverns and liquor stores for at least a decade.
Yes my friend, thank god for Mayor Daley. Those loafing liquor store clerks are much better off being payed $7 per hour, keeping the cost of this tasty brew down to around $6 per bottle... oh wait, now that I think of it, those clerks can barely afford to drink the yuppie swill they sell you on that salary!
...being PAID $7 an hour. And while not great, its better than the $0 an hour they will get if they had not job.
Good to see you calling out Chicagoist writers as yuppies for drinking this stuff. They sometimes have trouble coming to terms with it.
Now, I am off to Banana Republic/J Crew in my BMW 5 Series (CTA is for losers). I need to buy some khakis and a black leather jacket so for my weekend out at Barleycorn and the Hangge Uppe. Too bad they didn't close down Double Door to put a BR in there, but I take comfort in knowing that my condo displaced some affordable WP housing units. Made spending my trust fund more palatable.
"Now, I am off to Banana Republic/J Crew in my BMW 5 Series (CTA is for losers). I need to buy some khakis and a black leather jacket so for my weekend out at Barleycorn and the Hangge Uppe. Too bad they didn't close down Double Door to put a BR in there, but I take comfort in knowing that my condo displaced some affordable WP housing units. Made spending my trust fund more palatable."
Aping off of the lptrixie.com lingo *NEVER* gets old. Sigh. Can someone please come up with an interesting rebuttal other than this sort of lazy, God-forsaken tripe? Thanks.
Wow, like a true Daley voter, you have your head firmly buried up your ass. I guess we should all get down on our knees and thank Da Mayor for keeping the unions from trying to raise our standard of living and stick it to the aristocratic bloggers who are the true oppressors!
Thanks for picking a local beer this time around. Chicagoland has a lot of local beer that deserves to be highlighted.
Nice choice Chuck!
Been drinkin' Three Floyds since day one. ( damn, it's been TEN YEARS already)...
You know, the attempts at class warfare that break out here over beer never cease to amaze me.
It's just beer, people. Really. I'd rather read constructive criticism about the quality of my photos (and I'm working on that, btw).