Beer O' Clock -- Fall camp

This is how we spend Friday nights here during football seasons, at least for the home games.

I write about the beers I enjoy and have tried. Maybe you can use the suggestions for your tailgaters or just for the heck of it.

I'm breaking in the new season with a rarity -- a Dark Lord.

It's a Russian Imperial stout from Three Floyds, the Munster, Ind., a wonderful, little place that I visited with friends Kelly Plumber (if you're 40ish and went to college in the early '80s, you might remember the Drednex) and Brian Jones (the only Cardinals fan in the world I can stomach).

I wrote about my trip to Three Floyds in March on the old blog. I've checked and, yes, the scotch eggs took three years off my life. Totally worth it.

On to the Dark Lord and Dark Lord Day . . .

If you want it, good luck. It's available one day a year -- Dark Lord Day. This year, that was April 25. Kelly and Brian braved the flying discs and Dungeons and Dragons types (watch the video, male-female ratio is off and I'll leave it at that) for a bushel of the D Lord. You can only get four bombers per ticket.  Each bottle is $15 and you need to bring cash.

Three Floyds is a micro-micro brewery. They don't care if they appeal to the masses. Their beers are over-the-top and you either love them or hate them. As one of the Floyds says in the above, if you're into Miller Lite, don't bother.

And if you're not into Russian Imperial stouts, don't bother with the Dark Lord. It's titanic.

Dark Lord rates an A+ on 569 reviews at Beeradvocate.com. It's 13 percent ABV, which is just about perfect. One is all your going to need.

My favorite Russian Imperial is Old Rasputin. Dark Lord replaces it, but it's just so hard to find. I know I can buy Rasputin in East DBQ.

This poured thick and as dark as motor oil. We'll go ahead and call it 10W30 with bubbles (thank you, @josephacampbell). The head is sort of coppery and thinnish. No huge, frothy mug o' beer here. It's a Russian Imperial. They don't bubble up.

The nose is a powerhouse -- molasses, chocolate, toffee, caramel. The scent is distinctly molasses. Toward the bottom, it's toffee with coffee undertones.

This beer is stretches the limits of what beer is. This is more of a dessert you'd get at a four-star restaurant. In fact, it's all I'm going to eat tonight. I had the vintage 2009 with the white wax. I have another. The bidding . . . never mind, there's not going to be any bidding.

The C+ reviews mention too much thickness and oiliness. Also, some cherry undertones that I just didn't catch. This beer has haters on Beeradvocate. I love Russian Imperials and this one is at the top in my opinion.

This from KCHopHead on BA, an A review: "The mouthfeel was my favorite part of this beer. It seemed to linger at the roof of my mouth and pushed it's way to every creavis and hit every taste bud. It has been the most interesting, complex mouthfeel I've had yet. I just wanted to let it sit there for a while before I gulped.

Drinkability, more like eatability. You are not going to pound a bottle of this without hurting yourself. Seriously though it was fun to drink."

And here's one from calise1122, who gave it a D+, describing the appearance:

"tobacco spit, jet fuel, darkness..."

So, hey, not for everybody. Did I buy the hype? I don' t think so. I like what I like.

I need to thank Kelly and Brian for picking this up for me. I owe them big time. I'll try to stuff a 30 pack of Stroh's into the mailbox tomorrow.

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