Darkness - High West Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged (2015)
Surly Brewing Company

Darkness - High West Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged (2015)Darkness - High West Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged (2015)
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From:
Surly Brewing Company
 
Minnesota, United States
Style:
Russian Imperial Stout
ABV:
12%
Score:
100
Avg:
4.52 | pDev: 6.42%
Reviews:
59
Ratings:
369
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Feb 10, 2024
Added:
Oct 26, 2015
Wants:
  116
Gots:
  115
No description / notes.
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Ratings by Josh012012:
Photo of Josh012012
Rated by Josh012012 from Minnesota

4.65/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

Mar 09, 2016
More User Ratings:
Photo of Jaycase
Reviewed by Jaycase from Illinois

4.15/5  rDev -8.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
A: Black as night. Slight amount of khaki colored head. Lacing is minimal
S: Chocolate and cherries predominantly. A small amount of oxidation (cardboard) in the background.
T: Flavors of chocolate, spiciness from the rye whiskey barrel, vanilla char, toffee and cherries
M: medium mouthfeel, some slickness to the feel
O: Given its age, I was impressed with how well this was drinking. While I imagine some of the flavors have muted with age, overall the flavor is still quite good from someone who has not had this beer before. The aroma seems to have been most impacted from the age but not overly so at this point. While I think it would it have been preferable to drink earlier, I'm still content with it today.
Feb 10, 2024
 
Rated: 4.6 by rbrefbeerman from California

Jul 18, 2023
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

4.13/5  rDev -8.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Bomber at share. Black, smooth pour, thin beige head. Aroma brings roasty malts and a hefty helping of bourbon booziness. Taste is roasty, bitter, mild sweetness, chocolate, anise, currants and more whiskey.
Jan 01, 2023
 
Rated: 4.5 by Eziel from Ohio

May 30, 2020
 
Rated: 4.17 by Dharmelink from Wisconsin

Feb 17, 2019
 
Rated: 4.45 by TheHopsman from Nebraska

Jan 12, 2019
Photo of aleigator
Reviewed by aleigator from Germany

4.36/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Ba darkness 2015 rye on 181127

Pours almost completely black in color with no prevailing head at all.

Offers a unique, bakers chocolate enhanced smoked oak presence, soaked into peppery, yet mellow appearing Bourbon. Offers a rustic caramel touch, melting into vanilla ice cream and old hazelnut hulls.

Has almost no carbonation left, a lighter to medium mouthfeel to it, with a bigger, warming to boozy, well balanced body.

Tastes of sweet milk chocolate, enhanced by spicy licorice, which gets toned down by cream and dried fire wood. The oak then developes an intriguing bourbon zing, gently feathered by chocolate, producing a long lasting, unique spiciness, highlighting the rye barrel very well. This offers dried plums and hard liquor grapes in the finish, cocoa nibs and soft milk chocolate, together with a great, warming oak profile.

This packs an amazing complexity, while not making any compromises as far as its balance goes. An intense chocolate spiciness gets mixed up beautifully by the profound bourbon barrel, exhibiting an old school, world class stout, which got successfully elevated to the next level.
Nov 28, 2018
Photo of Sabtos
Reviewed by Sabtos from Ohio

4.49/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
The barrel treatment here really worked well, adding maple wood accents and dark, dry charred oak to the wonderfully sharp, rich dark roasted malt. All kinds of chocolate and nutty notes are enhanced by the barrel, and one major beneficiary is the vanilla character that was already somehow present in the 2015 base.

I finally got my paws on one of these and wow was it worth it. This is a massively different, more enjoyable BA Darkness than the 2016 version. Considering the 2015 regular was my favorite, that's no surprise.
May 23, 2018
Photo of mrbelvebeer1
Reviewed by mrbelvebeer1 from Illinois

4.44/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Look: Dark as fuck. They should have named this beer "darkness". Oh. Wait...
Smell: Is that olives? Ok, i know there are no olives in this beer, but it has a hint of it on the nose. Probably the tart cherries giving that smell.
Taste: Wow. There's a lot going on in this beer. If there was any chocolate or coffee in this beer, it's gone. The cherries and raisins have dominated over the lesser flavors.
Mouthfeel: Viscous, like an imperial stout should be.
Overall: This is definitely one of the more unique imperial stouts i've had. Definitely recommended.
Apr 21, 2018
Photo of Jeffo
Reviewed by Jeffo from Netherlands

3.71/5  rDev -17.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Got this from claaark13 a while back.

From a 750 into a Darkness snifter
Vintage: 2015
Aged in Rye whisky barrels

APPEARANCE: Pours our clear dark brown and yields a two finger, looser looking, crackly light tan head with lousier retention. Clear bistre brown body with piles of carbonation for the style. Head recedes to a full cap. Swirly wisp and ring remain leaving touches of lacing down the glass as it empties. Far too light in color, unfortunately.

SMELL: Bold nose with plenty of barrel character, including lots of bourbon, oak, sweet cream and vanilla, toffee and butterscotch aromas. Boozy and barrel heavy.

TASTE: Piles of bourbon, wood and booze up front. Strong enough for sure. Toffee and butterscotch at the swallow with a bold and persistent finish of toffee and butterscotch sweetness, sweet cream and vanilla, milk chocolate, hints of coffee bitterness, as well as plenty of bourbon, wood and booze all over it. Bourbon soaked cherries with dark chocolate as well. Pretty flavorful and strong.

PALATE: Medium body with slightly higher levels of carbonation. A touch prickly carbonation perhaps, could definitely be creamier, enough weight though, goes down fine with a decent burn and finishes sticky on the palate. Plenty of heat lingers.

OVERALL: This is solid stuff at this point. I never had this vintage out of the gate, but the 2014 barrel aged version managed to kill off the hop character of the base beer while failing to deliver much in the department of barrel character. This one is not quite the same. While the hoppy stuff that makes Darkness so unique isn’t all that prevalent, the barrel component is much bolder and more impressive than the 2014. It works here. There’s more than enough going on and it’s definitely enjoyable and interesting. The look seems is rather less than impressive and the feel could use a little smoothening out, but the rest of the experience is good stuff. Thanks again, claaark13! Always a pleasure.
Apr 11, 2018
 
Rated: 4.36 by Grackos from Florida

Jan 06, 2018
 
Rated: 4.06 by Norvelljeff from Iowa

Jan 01, 2018
Photo of Buck89
Reviewed by Buck89 from Tennessee

4.44/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Poured into a snifter. An opaque dark brown color with a sturdy and resilient tan head. Whiskey, vanilla, and cocoa on the nose. This was phenomenal: well-balanced bourbon, oak, vanilla, and chocolate with a phenomenal feel - not too sweet but not thin. Unbelievable how well this is dialed-in without too much booziness. Much better compared with the 2015 version.
Dec 24, 2017
Photo of Radcpa
Reviewed by Radcpa from Washington

4.52/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
After aging for years, this is excellent. Very dark appearance with slight tan head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is a solid malt with whiskey. Taste is very smooth malt with whiskey that has a solid feel.
Dec 13, 2017
 
Rated: 4.94 by Chrispy_Creams from Minnesota

Oct 28, 2017
 
Rated: 4.37 by IrishColonial from Texas

Sep 20, 2017
 
Rated: 4.43 by billab914 from Virginia

Sep 17, 2017
 
Rated: 4.04 by Rhettroactive from Virginia

Sep 17, 2017
Photo of WesMantooth
Reviewed by WesMantooth from Ohio

4.51/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
2015 "bat" edition 750ml bottle poured into a snifter. Actually consumed and reviewed on 12/17/16, but I had listed it under regular Darkness.

Fairly viscous looking black with a moderate dark brown head that retains a solid ring for quite awhile.

Outstanding aroma! It smells like rye, whisky, chocolate, dark fruit, tobacco, leather, and charred grains.

Spicy rye flavor and a bit of alcohol up front, followed by a bitter bakers chocolate, some sour cherry, raisin, oak, tobacco, ashy/burnt grains, some brown sugar, and a stong lingering rye bread and piney bitterness.

It has a very solid, almost oatmeal like, chewy body. Among the more viscous barreled beers I have had for sure. Reminds me of a Parabola.

My biggest knock is that this beer is a little too bitter. Not in the moment necessarily, but a very resinous, lingering hop flavor. Other than that, it is world class, and the best rye stout I have had.
Jun 28, 2017
Darkness - High West Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged (2015) from Surly Brewing Company
Beer rating: 100 out of 100 with 369 ratings