Anyone hate Dark Lord but like the BA Dark Lords?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by AlexFields, Jan 15, 2013.

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  1. Dontcounttoday

    Dontcounttoday Initiate (0) Apr 23, 2010 Illinois

    I agree with the OP for the most part. Several vintages of regular Dark Lord are well below average, while every BA Dark Lord I have had the pleasure to try has been amazingly above average. The absolute best beer I have ever tasted is a ba DL variant.

    What I find kind of funny is the statement that you see thrown around on these forums every day, "You cannot make a shitty beer better by barrel aging it." Clearly this is incorrect. This year's variants taste nothing like the much crappier base 2011 Dark Lord imo.
     
    Duff27 likes this.
  2. xnicknj

    xnicknj Initiate (0) May 25, 2009 Pennsylvania

    i don't "hate" dark lord, but definitely find it difficult to drink more than a few ounces, and i probably wouldnt open a fresh bottle ever again.

    Brandy Vanilla '11 and Bourbon '12 however were two of the better -bals i've ever had though...makes the regular beer seem like a joke.
     
  3. thegoon55

    thegoon55 Initiate (0) Oct 27, 2012 Massachusetts

    I've only had a 09 darklord, but I thought it was very good.
     
    reyes29201 likes this.
  4. Flabbyjandro

    Flabbyjandro Initiate (0) Jun 12, 2012 Illinois

    Any haters bm if you have some future drain pours of DL you would rather trade....got boatloads of black note....and I love DL for the record.
     
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  5. JohnfromPurdue

    JohnfromPurdue Zealot (548) Apr 27, 2009 Indiana
    Trader

    It amazes me that so many people hate on the sweetness of regular DL and then praise Vanilla, or Brandy, or Cognac DL. I'll be honest that I like regular DL and would choose it over Darkness any day. I just prefer sweet stouts over bitter stouts. I've had 5 or 6 different DL variants and all could be put on my short list of greatest beers I've ever had.
     
  6. denimdemon

    denimdemon Initiate (0) Mar 8, 2009 Indiana

    My memory of Dark Lord usually winds up conflicting my actual experiences with Dark Lord. I opened a 2012 with JohnfromPurdue and some other friends a couple weeks ago and while shit-talking it beforehand (Wilford Brimley like OMG LOLz), found that I quite enjoyed my few ounces of said bottle. With any overly hyped beer, there's also going to be some backlash from those who go in with unrealistically high expectations. The DL variants I've had have all been good-to-excellent but also very sweet. ...I sure didn't hesitate to throw down the $50 on a BA Vanilla Bean last year, though.
     
  7. nickMB

    nickMB Savant (1,118) Nov 17, 2009 Illinois
    Trader

    but guys its the number six rated beer in the WORLD. The WORLD, the whole WORLD :grimacing::astonished::wink:

    And the BA Dark Lord, oh ya, that's NUMBER TWO.............. in the WORLD. :grimacing::grimacing::grimacing:
     
  8. Lansman

    Lansman Savant (1,104) Mar 19, 2011 Missouri
    Trader

    From a tasting done on December 21, 2012, the results we had were as follows, from best to worst:

    2007 (Tasted like molten brownies, amazing)
    2010 (With more age, this could be as good as 2007)
    2008 (slightly oxidized, but it wasn't sweet, which was the preference of the group)
    2009 (Sweet)
    2012 (Sweet)
    2011 (Sweet)

    BA variants are in another class altogether, though of the six above, 2007 was far and away the winner.
     
  9. evilc

    evilc Initiate (0) Jan 27, 2012 California

    I've only had 2012, during a tasting with BCBS bramble and vanilla. I thought it was gross. No hype, no expectations - it was just gross. Cloyingly sweet, a total mess.
     
  10. MarkIntihar

    MarkIntihar Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Michigan

    I find it hard to believe that you had completely shut yourself off to the hype and had "no expectations" going into it, but I have no doubt that you thought the beer was gross. As mentioned earlier, the recent vintages have been pretty poor.
     
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  11. zach60614

    zach60614 Initiate (0) May 1, 2012 Illinois

    How many of you that hate Dark Lord will be at Dark Lord Day this year?
    Want to sell me your allotment?
     
  12. wsnich

    wsnich Initiate (0) Apr 26, 2010 Texas

    Yes and that makes me concerned about 2013 BA DLs. Who knows how they will taste.
     
  13. abraxel

    abraxel Initiate (0) Aug 28, 2009 Michigan

    Interesting, I would have expected molten brownies to be, oh, I dunno, incredibly sweet :wink:
     
    CityofBals likes this.
  14. nickMB

    nickMB Savant (1,118) Nov 17, 2009 Illinois
    Trader

    i only go to DLD for the opportunity to buy 50 dollar bottles and to complain about it.
     
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  15. MarkIntihar

    MarkIntihar Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Michigan

    Kind of a "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" kind of thing?
     
    crushedvol likes this.
  16. stupac2

    stupac2 Pooh-Bah (2,031) Feb 22, 2011 California
    Pooh-Bah Society

    What I want to know is why so many people write "darklord". It's clearly two words!

    I've never had a BA DL, hope to fix that at the Firestone Invitation and see for myself what all the fuss is about, but since the whole "I hate DL but BA DL is the shit" thing is so widespread it makes me pretty curious what some other really big BA stouts taste like un-barreled. I'm thinking Black Tuesday, Parabola, ones like that. Hell, even KBS is a different recipe from FBS, right? It might just be that to make a good BA stout you need a "bad" un-BA stout.
     
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  17. Lansman

    Lansman Savant (1,104) Mar 19, 2011 Missouri
    Trader

    Valid point, but somehow it works, and it works very well. Also, if there are any 2007 Dark Lord bottles that people think are too sweet for their taste, please let me know. I'm sure something can be worked out. :slight_smile:
     
  18. abraxel

    abraxel Initiate (0) Aug 28, 2009 Michigan

    I remember reading an interview with someone from a brewery with a well-regarded barrel program (I forget which one, it may have been Goose Island), and he said that for one of their great BA stouts, the base stout tastes incomplete, like there's something missing, and that's by design, because the beer's not done until it comes out of the barrel. I think he was explaining why they didn't ever sell the base stout.

    That gave me a lot of respect for that brewery (if only I could remember who he was...), since they're not just taking an existing beer and throwing into a barrel to see what happens, they're designing the beer from the ground up with barrel-aging in mind. I think that's a pretty ideal approach, and it seems like that's what GI, Founders, FW, and The Bruery do, at least, and that's a pretty damn good track record.
     
  19. stupac2

    stupac2 Pooh-Bah (2,031) Feb 22, 2011 California
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Could be GI, but isn't Night Stalker almost unBA-BCBS? It's dry hopped (or something). That one is another interesting one since my recollection is that it's pretty unremarkable compared to BCBS. Of course, it's possible the dry hopping is messing things up, but I believe the bottle I had was pretty old, I'd have expected that to fade.
     
  20. MarkIntihar

    MarkIntihar Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Michigan

    I do believe that was Goose. Nightstalker is indeed dry-hopped Cook County Stout, but even aged it's not like it would completely revert to the base, there would still be something funky going on with the old ass hops, I would think.

    I actually quite enjoy fresh Nightstalker, haven't had one in a while.
     
    Casedogg43 likes this.
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