Surly Darkness

Brewed by Surly Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

Serve in Snifter

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2010. A deep black pour with a brown head and nice, sticky lacing. The aroma is mostly light chocolate with some faint coffee. The full body has a smooth and creamy texture with perfect carbonation for the style. The taste begins sweet with some raisin flavor, then it briefly turns bitter before returning to sweet with a slightly warming finish. The finish has a slight coffee flavor, which I typically don’t like, but this is light enough to actually be appealing.

UPDATED: MAY 28, 2012 2010 bottle shared with and courtesy of big daddy tcane houricane, storming through billies, ya herd? Pours a black body with nice chocolate brown lacing. Aroma is sweet chocolate, dark fruit, cherries, molasses and light coffee. Taste is sweet chocolate, coffee, cherries, toffee and caramel.

2010 bottle shared with derivative James. Pours black with a fluffy cocoa head. Aroma was chocolate, toffee and raisins. Taste of cocoa, coffee, cherries, raisins, plum, toffee and caramel.

Bottle from Arom trade. Aroma had an element of soapiness, although there were clear notes of coffee and cocoa. Flavor was same with a bright, wide palate which lingered. Honestly, as it warmed, there was a clear separation between the Dark Lord and Darkness, Dark Lord being the clear winner. I really liked the Darkness for what is was, an excellent beer. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

750 ml bottle from the Broker, 2011. Very good; some soapy-ness. Drinking this next to Dark Lord may have been a mistake.

Tried this beer on a whim and was very pleasantly surprised. Very smooth and goes down quickly. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

2011 Bottle. Pours a pitch black color with a tan head. Aroma is surprisingly hoppy, I get grassy almost juicy hop notes, also lots of sweet milk chocolate, dark chocolate, roasted malt, coffee, tobacco, liquorice, vanilla, molasses and some dark fruits. The flavor follows the nose and is kind of grassy too, but I get lots of sweet milk chocolate and dark chocolate, vanilla, coffee, roasted malt, tobacco, liquorice, molasses and the dark fruits. The body is full with creamy mouth feel. Overall a pretty tasty Imperial Stout.

Originally reviewed: 1/14/10. Vintage 2008. Poured into a snifter. Wow, this is dense. Glugs out of the bottle thick and slow. This is the blackest beer I have ever seen. Held up to the light, nothing is coming through, not even at the edges. Oh man, what is this going to do to my stomach? Big warm chocolatey scents burst out of this beer. Wow! Slight sour note on the finish. Little soy sauce. The body is my favorite part of this beer. I want to wrap myself up in this and go to sleep. This is the smoothest, creamiest beer. Carbonation is present, but it is overwhelmed by such a buttery creamy mouth. Man. The flavor reminds me of a melted chocolate bar in a drink. Seriously. This is pure chocolate. Mild tartness on the back end, but it is sweet and creamy. Bitterness is low. Slight smokiness in the aftertaste. Geez. This is good. Drinkability is very high as the alcohol makes itself a ghost in the flavor. I’m feeling its presence a bit, but I can’t detect it in the flavor. In all honesty, I didn’t think I was going to like this beer. Even though it is so highly rated, I thought I would find it too much. It showed me a thing or two...

Bottle. Tried ’10’ and ’11 side by side. The 11 was considerably better so I will rate it from that. Dark pour, little brown head. After trying the ’10 and being disappointed I take a big swig of this. WOW completely different. Dark chocolate with a dark fruit tasted deep inside. The hops bring this beer together. It adds a bitterness the only complements the chocolate and malts. Unique, but very tasty.

Vampiro version. Sometimes beers are so good theres little to say (but I’m gonna try anyway). Scrape away all the hype and you have an amazing beer here. Just fantastically made and presented (in the wax bottle) it’s an amazing treat. BIG nose of cinnamon,vanilla,coffee, plums,prunes,figs,dates,sugar,molasses, chocolate, straight cocoa. Big dense pour. Flavours are really well integrated, just layers folding on top of each other. All the flavours on the nose are present in the mouth. Not rich and very drinkable for the style. This leads me to the only perceivable weakness I can see (and it’s not really a weakness) - it is a tad thin, compared to other beers in this style. But this lends to the drinkability and in that sense it reminds me of speedway stout. But this is a singular, original beast and better than I had hopped for. This is a beer that deserves all the hype - truly a beer geeks beer....really hope i can get another bottle of this!

Pours jet black, very thick, mocha head. Aroma of roasty malts and hops. Smooth and easy to drink. Very tasty ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone