The Darkness
Beyond the Pale Brewing Company

The DarknessThe Darkness
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From:
Beyond the Pale Brewing Company
 
Ontario, Canada
Style:
Oatmeal Stout
Ranked #164
ABV:
5.6%
Score:
87
Ranked #17,510
Avg:
3.85 | pDev: 8.57%
Reviews:
12
Ratings:
43
Status:
Active
Rated:
Nov 04, 2023
Added:
Dec 01, 2012
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  4
You think you've tasted a robust stout? Think again! The Darkness is an incredibly dark and creamy beer that will overwhelm the palate with loads of dark chocolate and coffee flavours.

30 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Molson2000:
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Rated by Molson2000 from Canada (ON)

4.5/5  rDev +16.9%

Oct 24, 2014
More User Ratings:
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Reviewed by taxandbeerguy from Canada (ON)

3.84/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
255 ml can served cold into a tulip. LCBO purchase as part of the stout mixed pack from Beyond the Pale. Canned August 20, 2023.

Appearance - Dark chestnut brown in color with a finger and a half of light tan head that looks soft and fluffy. Pretty decent staying power.

Smell - Roasty notes with a dense bittersweet chocolate aroma and a couple of underlying sweet marshmallow notes.

Taste - Initially not mush then a semi-sweet chocolate runs through followed by roasty and then a touch smoky flavors at the end. A touch of charcoal. Fairly bitter at the end but the taste peters out sort of quick.

Mouthfeel - Medium full in body, medium-light carbonation, quite quaffable and very smooth keeping the trend with any good oatmeal stout.

Overall - A rather solid stout, nothing out of the ordinary but quite tasty on the whole and well worthy of inclusion in the winter sampler pack.
Nov 04, 2023
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Reviewed by CAMRAhardliner from Canada (ON)

4.03/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours opaque black with a rocky, everlasting tan head. The aroma is of fresh roasted coffee beans, cocoa powder, leather. The taste is roasty with loads of pungent black malts and molasses. Herbal, leafy English hops in the back. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with high, prickly carbonation. The finish is lightly bitterness with lots of dark chocolate and espresso notes.

A nice Oatmeal Stout with loads of complexity. Very dry. Worth a try.
Dec 18, 2022
 
Rated: 3.87 by DaPan from Canada (ON)

Jul 19, 2022
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Reviewed by TheHammer from Canada (ON)

3.9/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
Appearance: If you are calling your beer the darkness, it had better be opaque black, and this one fits that bill. It produced two fingers of ample head that retained quite well as well as laced. A little bit more on both fronts would have earned it the five, but little to actually complain about here.

Smell: Burnt malt, mild coffee and a touch of dark chocolate make for a solid stout nose. Warming however is recommended here as it took some time for it to come out. The potency could be a bit better, but it as it warms I seem to be getting a slight chestnut note to it.

Taste: Starts with mild sweet malt with a hint of chocolate that turns right into the coffee, dark chocolate and a slight dry bitter nut taste at the end that reminds me of the one time my aunt made this yellow walnut cake recipe, but something was wrong with the walnuts. I know that doesn't sound appetising, but here in a bitter stout it works.

Mouthfeel: Starts out very creamy in texture and ends with a dry snap which only partly carries on into the aftertaste. Sadly that dry note builds on itself and overstays its welcome at the end of the beer. Transistioning is good, and the aftertaste is a good mix of what the beer has to offer but is quite mild, as that dry snap cleans the palate nicely.

Drinkability: On the heavy end of medium body, which would be fine for a porter, not quite there for a stout. Thankfully, that clean palate, exceptional settling down and smooth ride make up for that fact here.

Final Thoughts: It was only fitting to drink a stout on today, international stout day. I was originally going to crack open a bottle I saved from last year today, but instead opted to open this in solidarity with my friends from Ottawa, of whom today likely marks a dark day for their soccer team, in the hopes to take a bit of darkness of their backs. Either way though, this is a great well done stout that borders on the truly exceptional. Thumbs up.
Nov 08, 2019
 
Rated: 3.69 by kier from Canada (ON)

Jul 16, 2018
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Reviewed by thebeers from Pennsylvania

3.74/5  rDev -2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Black with thick, creamy head that leaves heavy lacing. Coffee and roasted malt in the nose and taste. Touch of dark chocolate. Dry, Irish Stout-like finish. Medium to heavy bodied with fairly strong carbonation. Not bad.
Sep 24, 2017
 
Rated: 3.84 by talbotjf99 from Canada (QC)

Feb 17, 2017
 
Rated: 3.85 by Simon212 from Canada (ON)

Jan 28, 2017
 
Rated: 3.77 by jrenihan from Canada (ON)

Jun 09, 2016
 
Rated: 3.78 by spinrsx from Canada (ON)

Nov 07, 2015
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Reviewed by biegaman from Canada (ON)

3.75/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
There's no two ways about it - 'The Darkness' is an apt name. How better to describe a beer that's black and, well, just black. Even its head is dark enough to look less like foam and more like a shadow to that inky, opaque liquid. I would be scared... if I wasn't so excited to drink it.

Dark chocolate. Coffee. Roasted malt. First impressions are strong ones. And the right ones. The more I become acquainted with it, however, the more I try to peel back those patent, easily observed notes and dig deeper into the aroma; there's something else in there that's tough to pin down precisely...

Blackberry? Peat? Possibly. It's smoky and yet subtly sour. Fortunately the taste sheds some light; it is thin and overly dry, mostly grainy and lacking in those rich, developed flavours initially noted on the nose. I'm not an expert on brewing but my palate is good. I suspect what's to blame here is over-attenuation.

"Attenuation" refers to the yeast’s consumption of fermentable sugars in the liquid. When we say a beer is "over-attenuated" it essentially means the yeast had a little too much of a feast and left the grain tasting 'spent' or 'cooked' (dry, plain, thinned out and devoid).

Having noticed the abundance of thick, cake-y sediment at the bottom of the growler it's possible yeast autolysis is also at play here (that's when yeast cells are digested by their own enzymes). This would explain the fruity esters as well as the rubbery note that I equated with peaty scotches.

Mind you, there is enough chocolate cake and coffee bean flavours that the vast majority of people - certainly everyday consumers - won't be able to find a single thing wrong with this roasty and robust oatmeal stout called The Darkness. But as demand for Beyond the Pale continues to outpace supply, the brewery has to keep a watchful eye on quality control... this isn't the first time their beer has been 'off'.
Oct 08, 2015
 
Rated: 4.7 by kevinlater from Canada (ON)

Sep 05, 2015
 
Rated: 3.54 by CanadianBeerBlogger from Canada (MB)

Aug 12, 2015
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Reviewed by Phyl21ca from Canada (QC)

3.76/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Growler: Poured a black color stout with a large dark brown foamy head. Aroma of dry bitter roasted malt notes with nice underlying bitter coffee notes. Taste is an easy drinking mix of roasted malt with some bitter coffee notes with light black chocolate. Body is about average for style with good carbonation. Enjoyable with nice drinkability factor.
Apr 16, 2015
 
Rated: 3.42 by MatChar from Canada (QC)

Apr 12, 2015
 
Rated: 3.75 by GoHabsGo from Canada (ON)

Mar 15, 2015
 
Rated: 3.72 by nullbort from Canada (ON)

Feb 08, 2015
 
Rated: 3 by Franck from Canada (QC)

Oct 05, 2014
 
Rated: 3.9 by Coronaeus from Canada (ON)

Sep 30, 2014
The Darkness from Beyond the Pale Brewing Company
Beer rating: 87 out of 100 with 43 ratings