Vertical Tastings: Worth the Effort?

Well assuming you listen to United We Drink, follow anyone using #FlaBrew on twitter, or simply keep tabs on the DosBeerigos Facebook Page; you are well aware that a vertical of Dark Lord took place the other night at my birthday gathering.

Yep 2005 - 2010 of this rare beer was sampled amongst some of my closest friends and family members.

This leads me to the week long question.....are vertical tastings worth it?

Assuming you collected all the bottles yourself, a 6 year vertical would take, well 6 years. That's a long time to wait to drink some beer, wine, hell anything. If you did not collect the bottles yourself then you would have to try to piece the vertical together (this was how I obtained my bottles).

Trading for the bottles can lead to almost a wild card of how the beers were aged for such a long time. Were the conditions ideal for cellaring (a dark cool place)?

This week we will take the adventure of the vertical one day at a time. I may have some fellow tasters chime in on their experience tasting the beers.

Let us start with 2010........well honestly my opinion on this one hasn't changed in the few months

Three Floyds Dark Lord 2010

Dark Lord 2010
Three Floyds Brewing Co.
Munster, IN
15.00% ABV

C. Black
H. Clear on the corners
N. Boozie (Rum and Bourbon), Sweetness, and a hint of Espresso

KirkDiggler;
A: Smells of booze, but don’t know what kind. I got Notes of Rum and bourbon, sweetness, and finally warms to espresso.
A: Pours black w/ chocolate colored head. Quickly dissipates, leaves no lacing.
F: Sweet and fruity up front w/ slight umami and soy sauce notes. I believe that cantaloupe was also used to describe at this point. If it wasn’t cantaloupe, it was some kind of melon on the back end.
M: Oily and slick, goes down smooth w/ a slight alcohol burn. Finishes boozy
O: I’m now a believer that the hype is real. #DLD2011, here I come!! Definitely buy enough to drink through the ages. 25 year Dark Lord? Yes!!
Score: 4.625

The Ferm; Well the only other time I have had Dark Lord was at the release party for Hunahpu's. I was pretty intoxicated but was able to remember how good I thought it was. Well 2010 stood up to the hype, slapped the hype, then defecated all over it. This is a perfect Russian Imperial Stout, that is anything but hype. Everyone that sampled this bottle with me was amazed by the complexity of the beer, just as I was. The mouth feel was oily and creamy on the tongue. The flavors progressively changed with warmth, though one flavor of Cantaloupe stuck with me for a bit. Simply put; Darklord is Complex as HELL!!!
Score: 4.99

Overall: 4.8075

Where have you been?

Not much happened this week in the area of Beer News. Although, unless you were living under a rock, you should have known that National Beer Day was this past Tuesday. The reasoning was because it was the start to the end of Prohibition. Yes it was a joyful day for all, or at least most.



Also in other news, a Denmark brewery had its employees strike after they took away the ability to drink on the job.  Over 800 employees of Denmark's Carlsberg Brewery went on strike Wednsday after being told that they can only drink "free" beer during lunch, and not while working. The coolers were removed from around the brewery, pushing 250 of the 800 to walk off the job entirely.

OK, Seriously?  I think that Carlsberg needs to do a lot more than just take beer away.  It sounds to me that their employees have a serious drinking issue.  Isn't being drunk on the job a sign of alcoholism?  Maybe they should put their entire staff on Celebrity Rehab 48.....I lost count after season one, that show sucks.  Get back to work people we need you finish making your beer.

And Finally in other news I got a sneak peak at the Three Floyds 2010 Dark Lord  Bottles last night (thanks @WBCTilly).  Check it out!  This years color is going to be GREEN!  YESS!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="548" caption="GREEN WAX!"][/caption]

Well thats all for today.  Miguel, Cerveza Chica, and Myself are heading to Vine and Barley this evening to see if we can score some Brooklyn Dark Matter and Brew Dog Paradox on tap!  Check this place out sometime! Vine and Barley