Dark Lord Vintage Question

I think it needs time so I would go older for certain.

 

I think the general consensus will be go for the 2014. Everyone complains that the 2013 was super sweet.

 

2014

New coffee. First time I've considered DL pretty good.

I honestly don't know how I feel about aging them anymore. Seems like it would just lose the roast from the coffee and thin out with age. Possibly oxidize.. leading to that whole "soy sauce" thing everyone cries about.

 

I always recommend people try a beer fresh before tasting it aged

 

Is "both" an option?

 

Aren't they all super sweet? Had a 2012 that was crazy sweet. Thought he 12 was better than the 13 I had as well. Now with the new coffee used I wanna try the 14 though. Maybe more roasty and a little less sweeter.

 

The 2012 was the sweetest one.

 

Having tried 2009-2014 I would have to say this year's is easily my favorite. Agreed, 2012 was definitely the sweetest.

 

I feel the same way about Huna.
The 2014 is by far the best I had at a vertical. Maybe we shouldn't be aging these beers after all.

 

If you've never had DL, get the 2014 and drink it fresh. I've had 2010-2014, all fresh and aged, and 2014 is among the best. 2012 and 2013 were not great fresh, but have improved in time.

 

They are all super sweet. As a more general rule I prefer them aged around 2 years. Although I haven't tried this years.

 

Was able to taste 2009-2014 DL about 2 weeks ago. Basically tasting notes go like this:

'14- drinking well, the coffee is actually noticeable in this one, as is some burnt malt character that helps cut the strong sweetness a good bit. Still very sweet, but this is already significantly more balanced than some of the other vintages. As others have said, the new coffee supplier could very well be a gamechanger.
'13- Very sweet, not getting much coffee at all in it; a little burnt malt but this is overwhelmingly sweet.
'12- Way, way, way, too sweet. Straight up sugar bomb. Easily my least favorite and in my opinion, the least drinkable.
'11- Lots of burnt/charred malt, roast coffee, not very sweet at all. It was a nice surprise, but I would still prefer it to be a bit sweeter to help balance out the bitter coffee & burnt malt flavours.
'10- Perfect combination of bitter coffee, roast and burnt malts, and the diabeetus. This is what's drinking the best right now.
'09- Way over the hill. The diabeetus has receded a ton while the coffee flavours are incredibly stale with oxidized cardboard flavours. Noticeably thin. But I'd rather have this than 2012.

My order of personal preference: 2010 > 2014 > 2011 > 2013 > 2009 > 2012.

 

Had some '11 over the weekend and it was drinking great!

 

Just cracked a '14 and its the first time I've enjoyed DL....every other time I've had it they had been at least 6+ months old already