Surly Barrel Aged Darkness

Formerly brewed at Surly Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

GTMW 2007. Full glass. The beer pours to a murky black body with a large brown head that lasts. The aroma is chocolate and is quite strong. A nice pervasive pine hop is blended with brown sugar and bourbon. The flavor is a strong chocolate and pine hops with a bourbon and charred wood with maple syrup. The flavors are quite complex. The palate has a moderate sweetness and a creamy full soft body. Slightly alcoholic, but it was oh so good.

ABR 2007. Mnnn. bourbon.... mmmnnnnn.. darkness. A nice combination. The usual suspects in a bourbon aged beer, but well done and more hops survived from the darkness than I anticipated. Almost chewy mouth feel.

On tap at the 2007 GTMW: Pours a completely opaque with an airy rich dark brown head. Aroma of heavy sweet dark chocolate and caramel malts with a big, fresh grapefruity hoppy presence and some mild bourbon oaky notes with a touch of vanilla. Body starts full, sweet malty and viscous with lots of dense dark chocolate caramel and fresh resiny grapefruity flavor hops toward a sticky, bittersweet warming finish. Good balance of oaky bourbon throughout. A smooth, flavorful and enjoyable, dense, barrel-aged imperial stout.

Tap @ GTMW 2007. Opaque and black without a doubt, as a cola foam head floats on top. Aroma is beseechingly beautiful. Bourbon, dark chocolate rum, midnight chocolate morsels, decadent chewy fudge bricks and highly influential Godiva caramels all line the nose. Flavorful heaven achieves enlightenment. Mocha espresso grist gets chalky and sooted upon unsweetened chocolate brownie bricks. The bourbon hums with a blackened whiskey and rye accent in the distance. Succulent espresso grinds get stirred with bitter mocha shavings for quite the bitter balance. Chewy body that’s incredibly thick upon chomping, eliciting salivation for more, more more. Thick oily fluid dances darkly with blackened chocolate, charcoal and burnt rye chips to extinguish the finish.

On tap at GTMW. Poured black with a short cap of loose cap of deep beige head. The aroma picked up huge doses of dark chocolates and fainter espresso with milder pine and citrus hoppage tagging along with bourbon, vanilla, and charred oak as accents.. strong nose on this, and absolutely decadent!.. thought the barrel integration was very well done (perhaps a short stay in there??).. with more bourbon sugars as it warmed up. The flavor had deeply-roasted chocolates and bourbon char at the core.. some sourness from the oak worked OK, but was a tad distracting.. long, toasty dark chocolate finish with a kiss of bourbon at the very end. Heavier-bodied on the palate with very good roast and the OK sour accents.. left a solid impression as it left the mouth. Great stuff, but I enjoyed the regular Darkness a bit more.

GTMW 2007. Poured an opaque black color. Lasting brown head that seemed to have an faint orange glow. Rich, enticing aroma of milk chocolate, vanilla, molasses, and bourbon. Sweet, thick, smooth, and oily on the tongue all at once. Tasted of dark chocolate, bourbon, and burnt caramel with ample roasty bitterness and some mild acidity at the end. I’m already trying to figure out how I can get another taste of this.

draft at abr..........AND WOW its good honestly i like the fierce hops in the regular stuff. but. this aged stuff is so complex and thick. cant ecev describe it.

Tasted at FoBAB ’07. Pitch black, nice medium tan head. Vanilla, bourbon aroma with lots of roasted grain. Slight bourbon flavor with nice pine hops, dark chocolate, roasted grain, vanilla. excelent balance. Medium to full body, creamy though almost syrupy. Pretty amazing, great bourbon and stout balance, started off the festival with a great one.