Tiramisu Funeral Bar
Surly Brewing Co.

Straight up blackness, solid, lasting cream-tinged head. Utterly impenetrable.

In the nose: Soft and creamy. Incoming cocoa and espresso. And here comes more of the sweet stuff: molasses and vanilla are touching down. Nice stuff, so far.

In the mouth: It's all coming together, the cocoa and molasses leading the charge, coffee just behind, quickly caught up and left in the dust by vanilla and lactose. It's tasty stuff. Medium bodied, easy drinking despite the high ABV. Delicious and decadent. Alcohol comes shining through. Time for teddy-bye.


I've heard all kinds of criticism about this beer. That it's "too sweet" is one, but I think it's just sweet enough. If you didn't want a sweet strong stout, you should have left this on the shelf. Yeah, it's sweet, but it's supposed to be, and I'm liking it. It's got what it takes. I wouldn't have more than one in a row, but that's not the point of these beers, is it? One a night, after dinner, just before bed.

 

 

 

 

Pours a thin mahogany color with a tan head. Smell is coffee,vanilla sugary molasses. Taste has sweet coffer cake start infused with vanilla and brown sugar and molasses. A thin and sweet mouthfeel a 8oz serving i plenty, was not getting any tiramisu taste but was not bad to try.

 

Pours a surprisingly thin, tawny color before assuming a more properly chestnut tone in aggregate, capped by a robust head of khaki foam. Aroma is unexpectedly hoppy, with pine and citrus announcing themselves in equal measure, augmented by cocoa, coffee, and roasted malt. The presentation has left this stout snob a little reticent, to be sure...

The taste elicits similarly ambivalent feelings courtesy of piney hops and burnt coffee grounds that tread on a timid retinue of lactose and chocolate. Alcohol isn't exactly mellow, either. Medium-light body and fine carbonation take this brew another step away from stoutdom as we know it.

Overall, this beer is an oddity—great concept, great brewer, anomalous end result. If this had been marketed as a black IPA, I may very well have had a different impression, but as is, I can't help but be disappointed.

 

 

$4.99 a can, 1/29/18. Crane snifter.

Brown pour, dark brown body, beige head of 1/2 finger.

Not much on the nose, some grassy hop, dark malt, and slight marshmallow.

This does not taste like Tiramisu, but it DOES taste like a funeral. Seriously what the fuck is this shit? Dirty, piney, metallic flavors. Soap, chemical, burnt coffee pot, formaldehyde, slight burnt marshmallow. Absolutely disgusting, bound for the drain.

Feel is okay. Creamy, slick, mild carbonation.

Overall I'm done with Surly. This was the nail in the coffin no pun intended.

 

 

 

Not Surly’s best, by a long shot. Aroma of a mass produced Irish stout plus some weird metal or soap. Taste is better, and a bit more complex, fortunately leaving behind that off smell. Rich caramel and toffee and an odd bitter hop profile are all there. Problem is they don’t jell. Like at all. Aftertaste almost of club soda, with too much carbonation. Won’t seek out again.

 

Tasted in a Rastal Teku from a one pint can on February 24, 2019. This new BC Small Batch beer is a dessert stout brewed with vanilla beans, cacao nibs, molasses and espresso roast coffee beans. Based on the Beer Hall's beloved Lutheran Funeral Bars.

16oz, canned on 01/29/19. Creamy tan head rests atop a dark brown stout. Aroma is coffee, chocolate, brown sugar, vanilla, lactose, caramel. Sweet and complex flavors; I get the tiramisu aspect; coffee, chocolate, lactose, vanilla, grain, caramel, mild earthy bitterness. Full body but could be fuller, sweet through and through, carbonation is modest, alcohol is warming but fairly well concealed. I like the idea, and I think the beer is well made; nothing bad to say about it but it doesn't have any sort of wow factor I was hoping for.