Surly Two

(Bottle, thanks Guerde and OSLO!) Pours dark brown to black with a light brown head. The aroma is of sour cranberries with (chocolate/dark bread) roasted malt in the background. Undertones of raspberry vinegar, honey, vanilla covered green apples, mouldy basement, wood, coconut and butter. The flavour is light sweet, light bitter and medium acidic with notes of tart cranberries, roast, wood, vanilla, butter, vinegar and hints of fruits. The mouthfeel is astringent and tart. Dry finish. Medium bodied. More interesting than fantastic. Still one of the best fruit-flavour stouts I have tried.

Sampled at the ’09 RBPTE, courtesy of treyrab. Light fruity hops with cherry aromas, cranberry and mint?, a bit of oxidation and mild malt sweetness. Dark brown-ruby murky body with spare light brown head. Medium body with lively carbonation and a chalky astringent after. Fairly tart with good acidity and only light sweetness and bitterness. An interesting beer.

Bottle courtesy of Immy at Immy’s Backyard Throwdown. Pours brown in color with brown head. Aroma roasted malt, coffee and fruit. Taste sweet, chocolate and fruity with bitter finish.

Dark brown with a big tan head. Big old fruity aroma. Cranberries are there, of course, chocolaty and full of dark malt. Sweet, cranberry, big. I’m not sure what I should think of this, it’s not really imperial stout-ish, but I don’t know how else to really think of the flavor combination.

Sample at the 8/9 Pgh tasting, thanks to Treyrab! Smell is big and volatile. Dark with a big foamy head. Big heavy alky beer taste impressions. Cranberries in there fer sure. Comes across like an impy stout with fruit in there. Some creamy carbonation in ther. Has many of the attributes that I find in wine. Thanks trey!

Sample at the 8/9 Pgh tasting, thanks to Treyrab!
Dark brown with a small tan head. Nose shows significant malt depth, the heavy cranberry and imperial stout chocolate balanced nicely. The flavor is even more impressive, and though quite sweet, the incredible malt depth is never lost behind the sweet fruit and chocolate notes because the cranberry imparts a soft tart balance. Decadent stuff and among my favorites of the day.

Sampled from a 750 ml brown bottle this beer poured a black-brown color with a trace of a tan head. The aroma was tart, tangy, sweet and malty with noted cranberry. The flavor was tart and bitter with a strong cranberry presence and a light, sweet and malty undertones. The finish was long, bitter, tart and had lingering cranberry. Fairly thick in body. Nice.

Had this one at the RB Pittsburgh tasting. One two punch with FFF’s Apocalypse Cow in the "this shouldn’t work this well" category. Good looking beer, nice black liquid with eggshell-ish head. Aroma was a bit of an odd mix that had me worried. I’m a chocolate purist however. Flavor works much better than I thought it would, and may even get me to try a chocolate covered cranberry..one of these days.