22 oz bottle shared. Dark pour with decent head. Aromas of fruit and berries. Flavor was much tarter than the aroma. More cranberries and some other tart fruit as well. Pretty darn tasty

750mL bottle #165, courtesy of MeLikeBeer, poured into a snifter. Pours a dark brown with ruby hints out of the bottle and settles in as an opaque black in the glass. The tan head is huge and shows great retention and leaves sheets of lacing. The aroma has lots of tart cranberries with a strong balance of dark roasted malts and some sweet dark fruit. There is also some chocolate and a bit of wood as well. The taste didn’t quite live up to the aroma for me. The tart cranberries didn’t meld with the malts and chocolate as well as the aroma suggested. It starts with a slightly bitter/sour berry taste that gives way to a toasted malt backbone. The finish has tons of the sour berries in it. The mouthfeel is smooth but probably a little thin for me. It’s a bit dry as well. This is one interesting beer from the folks at Surly but the taste just doesn’t quite come together for me. Nonetheless, big thanks to Brent for sharing this rare bottle.

<b>Sampled GABF 2008</b><br /> Quite a dark, concentrated amber-brown color that is topped by a tan’ish frothy head. This is very strongly aromatic, with lots of Bourbon-like notes &#40;vanillin, coconut, a hint of butterscotch and some light spicy oak that kicks in towards the finish along with some nose burning alcohol&#41;. There is a touch of non-descript fruit character underneath the strong barrel aromatics; definitely a bit too dominated by the barrel character though.<br /><br /> This beer is lightly tart somehow and not nearly as sweet or rich as I was expecting. There is a spicy oak and alcohol burn that is fairly evident in the finish and is more dominant than the other barrel-like notes that I noticed in the aroma; there is a touch of butterscotch here though. The beer is actually quite astringent, with a quite noticeable tannic quality to it in the finish. The body is a touch thinner than I was expecting, though it certainly makes it more drinkable. The noticed tartness adds / accentuates some flavors of tamarind, tart raisin, cranberry and sour prune &#40;this last a product of the tartness and some rich malt notes&#41;.<br /><br /> This is not bad, but certainly not quite what I was expecting; the tartness and barrel character seem to mix in odd ways at times and it is missing the malt richness that could carry both notes a bit more. I had no idea while drinking this beer that it had cranberries in it, but the tartness certainly makes sense now.

GABF 08. Cool ass brew from the Surly boys...glad to see it was a bit thumped up in the abv dept. Not overly complex, but enjoyable and another surly winner.

Sampled at the 2008 Great American Beer Festival. This was a standout for fruit beers at the festival. I really liked the intrigue and creativity put into this beer. Pours a black center with brown edges. Not much carbonation. Sweet brown sugar, cranberry juice and cherries blend well in the aroma. The flavor is sweet and tangy with cranberries, yet manages to stay very balanced with the dark grain bill. Finishes with a lingering sourness. Nice.