Black Sun Stout
Three Floyds Brewing LLC – Muster, IN
6.5% ABV
Bottle and Draft / Seasonal

This is a beer where I’m glad tastes change and evolve. Several years ago Mike and I were at the Map Room in Chicago (#4 beer bar in the world!) where it was the beer of the month and got the 22 oz. bomber for $3, and I hated it. I had no care for hoppy beers, IPAs and such, and I had described it as an IPA stout, and couldn’t finish it. Now this was before the IPA revolution, and I hadn’t acquired a taste for hops this strong yet. So, it wasn’t a reflection of the beer itself so much, as it was my tastes.

Fast forward to a couple years ago and Mike had me try the Dogfish Head 120 IPA, and was blown away! From this point on, I still wasn’t a huge fan of IPA’s but definitely give them a fair try. I’m glad my tastes change, because this beer is SPECTACULAR! There is so much going on in this beer.

It pours black, with a nice tan head that ticks around for awhile and a good lace. The aroma is piney/citrus hops with hints of roasted malts, chocolate/cocoa powder and coffee. The rich hops flavor really come through in this along with chocolate and roasted malts in there as well. There are hints of vanilla, and smokiness as well. Mouthfeel is smooth with a bit of bite from the hops and carbonation. The medium body helps make this beer quite drinkable.The finish is of hops of course, but it has hints of chocolate on the end.

We have come to expect a lot from Three Floyds and this definitely didn’t disappoint. I’m also glad I revisited this beer, since my tastes have grown, and expanded, there are now a lot of beers that I would skip if they hadn’t, or I relied on past experiences. Now there are beers that I will not revisit, don’t get me wrong, I’m looking at you Fat Boy! but who can blame me on that. Anyway, I would expect Three Floyds to be near the top of all our series tastings as they are all awesome!

Brittain’s Score: 5 of 5

Overall Score: 4.45 of 5

This is day 27 of 28 - Check out the rest of our Midwest Beer Stout Reviews