Surly Darkness

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

deep dark with a fluffy tan head. aroma of coffee and alcohol. medium body and a good alcohol finish.

ABR ’08 - Pours deep dark brown with a brownish orange head. The nose is heavily roasted malt, tons of vanilla, & fresh hops. Comes across the palate as medium thick bodied with really soft carbonation. The flavor starts with overly sweet roasted malts, almost syrupy sweetness that is overpowering and there are some hops hiding in the background. The finish is almost like drinking chocolate straight. It did hide the alcohol well, but it was hiding behind sweetness . Very tasty brew; I could sip this forever.

Bottle, at BA Throwdown #2, courtesy guerde. Pitch black pour, very thick creamy tan head, and thick white lacing. Aroma is hoppy, with tons of roasted notes, ground coffee, chocolate and cocoa, and some oily notes. Flavor has a big bunch of hops to start, with a roasted body that gives way to tons of chocolate, some coffee, caramel, and lovely dark fruits. Dry, roasted finish. Full body, very tasty, chock full of coffee which balances very well with the hops. Love this one, definitely worth the hype.

Courtesy of Geiger. Pours pitch black, with brown head. aroma of chocolate, roasted malts. Taste very sweet and thick, roasted malts, with some bitterness and notes of dark fruits with plenty of chocolate to go around. Update with ’08 version sounded a little too lighter and sugary vs. previous years. Attenuated and smoother, not for the best. Apparently, upping the qty made didn’t do the beer much justice.

GTMW 08 - Pours very dark brown with a beautiful tight orange / brown head. The aroma has heavily roasted malt, lots of vanilla, fresh hops and some earthiness ~ good start. Medium thick body with extra soft carbonation. The flavor starts off with overly sweet roasted malt, almost syrupy sweetness that is overpowering and there are some hops hiding in the background. The finish is almost like drinking straight sugar. It did hide the alcohol well, but it was hiding behind sweetness & I’m not a fan of that much sweetness in a beer. This is obviously loved by many, I’m not one of them. Disappointed.

Cask at the Great Taste of the Midwest. Opaque bubbly tan head. Rich woody malt aroma. Creamy as you’d expect from the cask. Chocolately with nice roast coffee hints.

First stop of the GTMW ’08 - on cask. Pours just a shade lighter than pure black, with a nice tan head. Aroma is beautiful...the melding of hops and dark, chocolate and caramel malts...some slight notes of coffee and dark fruits also became evident as I took this in...I can’t imagine any beer more destined to be on cask than a good imperial stout. Flavor is also beautiful, and much better than I expected it to be. I"m not sure what percentage of this is due to the fact this was on cask, but the hops did not overwhelm the stout characteristics...lots of chocolate, rich caramel malts, with a good dose of bittering hops to balance everything out. I kept noting a nice dark fruit accent lying in the background which was just amazing. Palate is great as well...smooth and velvety. Although I’m sad I haven’t yet tried this on regular tap / bottle, the cask version was downright phenomenal...one of handful of rare/hyped beers that exceeded my expectations...great beer Surly!

Great Taste of the Midwest 2008

Rather than wait until 2:30 PM to slam it before racing off for another tapping I found this at the start in the Real Ale tent. Since I’m not sure how that changed things I would love to sit down with a regular pint at some point to compare. Unfortunately you don’t get that luxury at a five hour festival.

Aroma / Appearance - The deep black body had strands of lacing and a tan head that are typical of a high gravity imperial stout. Oak, black coffee, rich truffles and raspberries meld into a balanced mixture. Somehow still light on the senses that the hoppiness did not seem out of place I enjoyed this aroma greatly.

Flavor / Palate - The creamy full mouthfeel is just what you would expect from a world class imperial stout. The chocolately hoppy conversion soon fills the mouth with a rich coffee like texture. Better than the barrel aged version that was on tap last year I think this is an imperial stout best enjoyed before the hops begin to fade into the background.