Surly Darkness

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

Thanks to theisti for this great beer. Thick black pour with a tan bubbly head. Wonderful aroams of raisins, chocolates, cherries, toffee and hops. Flavor is just fantastic...basically the same as the nose, but with some mocha as well. Full bodied. Just a great body that I enjoy more than Dark Lord.

My Bottom Line:
This gargantuan Imperial Stout achieves stupendous flavor nuances with its coating molasses and dark chocolate malt character blending into piney and citrusy hop elevations, all in the most luxurious body where alcohol barely tickles the palate. This is gum-licking goodness.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam tops the pitch blackness.
-Its decadent body is never obese.
-Peppery spiciness seems to stem from the gorgeous malt-hop union.
-It had been a while since I hadn’t gotten so excited by an Imperial Stout!
-This is more drinkable than Dark Lord and almost as complex as Expedition Stout. Very impressive indeed.

Bottle.

Really different - Dark fruit reminscent of brandied, candied fruit, a surprisingly potent hop profile, smooth with chocolate, toffee, roasty, smooth.

bottle. thanks bri. I was very excited to try this beer and was really disappointed. mild aroma. harsh soy, tart and sweet.

2008 750ml. Pours a strange brownish/red color ala Dark Lord. Crimson hues around the edges, looks thick. Aroma shows chocolate, fudge, vanilla, brownie/cake and pretty intense hops. Reminds me of the Yeti’s, or my memory of them at least. Fairly complex and unique aroma that lets you know this isn’t your run of the mill Imperial Stout. Flavor is sweet, thick, chocolate, just on the edge of cloying. Very rich with a sticky, very full bodied and thick mouthfeel. This might be a tad too sweet. I like the viscosity but the apparent sweetness is a tad too high. Good but not world class.

Pour is, of course, black with minimal tan head. Aroma is rich and malty with prominent hop aroma. Also coffee, brown sugar and chocolate. Flavor is not overpowering: Roasted malt, coffee, and a much larger than expected hop finish. Lingering sweetness. Different than I was expecting but tasty nonetheless. 11/1/09 Sipping on an 09 courtesy of MaSciGuy. Black, chocolaty, and really hoppy. This is really easy to drink. It’s huge, viscous, and tenacious; but strangely I wish it were thicker and even more full-bodied.

Pours a dark thick black with a nice brown head. Aroma is coffee, licorice, hops, burnt cocoa, molasses. Flavor is huge thick black chocoloate and coffee, significant hoppiness balanced out with a rich yet delicate and not cloying sweetness. I was very surprised that this lived up to the hype, great stout!

I really wanted to like this beer. It has a beautiful aroma, is blacker than midnight, and was hard to come by. But my GOD was it sweet! Way too sweet for me. Sure there’s chocolate, and raisin, and coffee flavors but the sweetness was so overpowering I had a hard time drinking the beer. Is that true to style? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll try another version of it in years to come.