Surly Darkness

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

2007 bottle. (Fresh) Dark coffee color, minimal head. Sweet nutty aroma. Big thick body, but not heavy. Oh so smooth and creamy. Smoked nuts, iced coffee, dark chocolate. Deep full roasted malts. A bit of hops on the back end, but the malts really take over on this one. Well worth the hype. Seems that many locales are already out of this beer, so get it while it lasts!

Dark thick creamy and on tap oh how i love my RIS and this did not disappoint,lived up to hype and wish i could find some closer to home.CHEERS!

On tap at Café Twenty-Eight served in it’s own glass. A beautiful silky, creamy brown head that I wouldn’t mind eating by itself. Aroma: Good pine/grapefruit hop presence, malty goodness, and coffee, and a bit o’ chocolate. I was in love with this beer before I even tasted it, and half expected that it couldn’t keep up with the standard it had already set. It did. The taste starts with delicious malts and sweetness and finishes strong with coffee and a fair amount of hops to dry it out a bit. So flavorful. The mouthfeel was phenomenal; it was like velvet in my mouth. I looked hard for a fault, but didn’t come up with much. Perhaps a little more really dark malt character would have been nice? That’s just speculation. January 20, 2008 Aroma: It seems alcohol has taken over where the hops used to be (tap version) in this beer, which is a bit disappointing. A lot of chocolate, some dark fruits, and a hint of coffee. A little buttery. Taste: A lot of chocolate (slightly chalky). Not quite as smooth as the tap version either, but still quite nice. Finish is long and smooth w/ a chalky residual.

draft at the maproom (2007 vintage).....appearance: as drewbeerme would say "looks pretty black to me" and black or close to black it was. topped with a creamy/frothy tan beige head.....aroma: an assertive hop-heavy nose comprised mostly of pine with traces of chocolate malt that barely pierces through. totally not what i was expecting. as the beer warms, more darkfruit, chocolate, and roasiness becom.....taste: creamy, buttery, and full mouthfeel that coats the mouth. loads of piney hops that remained very smooth. as it warms, the chocolate and dark fruits intermingle a bit more and reveals another level of complexity to it.....overall, this beer totally surprised me. i liked the ba version a little bit more but this is a fantastic impy stout.
this years vintage lacks the vibrant hops that the 07 had to offer. overly sweet to me with an abundance of chocolate and brown sugar.

An amazing Russian Imperial Stout. Had it on tap at Map Room in Chicago. Smells great and tastes amazing. Seems like a lighter stout compared to Dark Lord. Much more fruit tones and much less coffee than Dark Lord. I love that I can get it on tap a couple of blocks from my home

Tap at Mill City Cafe and Blue Nile. A truly beautiful aroma. Clear hints of chocolate, coffee, nuts with hops and alcohol hiding in the back. Black pour with a very frothy and tasty head. Outstanding flavor without too much of an overwhelming coffee taste. Flavor and palate complement a great sipping beer.

Sampled at the GABF 07. Foamy, chocolate, coffee, and a warm burn as it decends down. Pretty good sample of a impy stout.

Multiple 12 oz. goblets of Darkness at the Bryant Lake Bowl A lot of hype over this beer, and after all it is well worth it. Darker than hell with little head until you swirl it around a bit to create a creamy caramel foam. An aroma of vanilla, espresso, and chocolate. The taste of overwhelming velvety coffee and chocolate malts followed by an impressive hoppy essence that I have never experienced in a stout of this stature. A smooth, tingling alcoholic presence that puts me in my place after abusing my new-found freedom of Darkness at my near disposal. The mouthfeel is smooth, thick, and creamy with the drinkability of milk after 2 dozen blazing hotwings. WARNING! DO NOT ABUSE DARKNESS! I WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING FEELING LIKE SOMEONE TOOK A LOUISVILLE SLUGGER TO THE SIDE OF MY HEAD!