Surly Darkness

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

Serve in Snifter

I am going to update my scores on this one. I just recently had an ’08 courtesy of Deuane and I liked it a lot more than the ’09 below. I have included my old scores at the bottom of the old review. Cheers! --- Thanks to whoever brought this to the Inaugural "Imminent Liquidation Bottle Share" Event. 2009 bottle poured into a taster glass. A - Pours deep black with a small half finger tall tan head, dissipating down to nothing at all, leaving light lacing down the glass. S - Some sweet chocolate, a light does of hops, dark roasted malt, earthy wood, lactose sweetness, and some light smoke. It has good overall balance. Not the best I have smelled but far from the worst. T - Lots of dark roast up front giving way slowly to a mix of light hop bitterness, sweet chocolate, dark roasted coffee, light smoke, and some astringent wood helping to dry the pallet after consumption. Finish is dry with some lingering roast. Not exactly what I was expecting. I may have to get a bottle of this for myself and revisit this one. M - Heavy body and flavor with moderate carbonation. A bit too thin in the feel for my liking with some lingering dark roast in the finish. D - Drinkability was not too bad. Well this was a bit of a letdown. I am not sure if it was just this bottle or what but I expected a lot more. I will have to get a bottle for myself to make sure.

Bottle from my friend Chrille, it was the vampire (’10). It poured a pitch black and slow moving liquid with a small brown head. Intense flavour of chocolate, coffee, nuts and some dried fruits. Very nice and complex.

GTMW. Black with huge orange-tan head. Deep roast, coffee, mild dark fruits. Very refined roasted malts, touch of dark fruits, toffee, and coffee. Smooth, but with sufficient malt grittiness. Some hop and roasted malt bitterness. More reserved sweetness which makes this RIS a bit more drinkable than beers like Dark Lord, but not quite as complex as those beers. Delicious.

thanks plovamd for sharing, pitch black, smooth brown head.4 roasted malts, coffee, booze, blended, nice. 8 flavor is woody, roasted malty, vanilla, mild, great balance.

Bottle, kindly shared by Plovmand... Thx ! ;) pours pitch black with nice tan head.... the aroma is caramel, cherry, dark fruits some coffee... the flavor is soooo nice well made ! dark fruits, raisin, toffee, caramel..... sweet finish.... very nice ! love this !

Bottle 2010 edition. Pours pitch black with a creamy forever lasting tan head. The aroma is hard roasted malt, chocolate, alcohol, coffee and dark fruit. The flavour is loads of dark fruit, hard roasted malt, raisins, coffee, ripe fruit and has long sweet finish.

2010 bottle shared at a tasting. Opaque black with a nice rusty beige head. Interesting, unique bitter cocoa hop aroma. Creamy, thick chocolate body that remains quite drinkable. Underlying soapy bitterness. Really quite mild and drinkable for an Imperial Stout. Some chocolate syrup in the finish. Cocoa richness. World Class, though I remember the 09 being hoppier.

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.