Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week": Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Dec 26, 2007 5:00PM

As the old saying goes, "Leave 'em wanting more." So we shall by wrapping up this "BotW" for 2006 on a high note, with the beer that we consider the best we've tasted this year.

One of the biggest mistakes we made in 2007 was skipping Three Floyds Dark Lord Day in favor of risking possible food poisoning at Kiki D's Carnitas. That we did not come down with salmonella was of little solace, especially after a subsequent trip to the Three Floyds brewpub in Munster, Indiana netted us two bottles of the prized beer. We opened one as soon as we returned home; the other is in safe keeping.

If a beer lover described his dream stout, Dark Lord would be the realization of that dream. None more black (and considering Three Floyds also makes Black Sun Stout, that's saying something!), Dark Lord teems with the flaors of raisins, chocolate malt and coffee, courtesy of our friends at Intelligentsia. This beer borders between a stout and a liqueur with its thin and fast-dissipating head. Chilling Dark Lord would be the wrong thing to do. The flavor profile of this beer is so complex and constantly evolving that you should sip this at room temperature. We repeat: Dark Lord is a sipping session beer that does not need to be chilled.

Dark Lord also makes fifty-two beers in fifty-two weeks. It looks like a lot, untilone takes a look at our stats at 365 Beer and sees that we've sampled 357 different beers in 2007, with six days to go to make it an even beer a day. Considering we set a modest goal there for one hundred beers, we impress even ourselves. Anyhoo, go find yourselves some Three Floyds Dark Lord, Chicagoist's final "Beer of the Week" for 2007 and also our 2007 "Beer of the Year."

Photo via Part Time Pro Bono Baker.