Darkness - Rye Barrel-Aged (2019)
Surly Brewing Co.

I love Darkness. I love barrel aged Darkness of all varieties and vintages. They’re dark, roasty, big, bold, boozy, and full of flavor. This one is just as good as the others. Just a bit thin, but maybe it will thicken as it warms. Love it.

Many thanks to tacosandbeer for this bottle!

A - Black pour with bubbly, creamy caramel colored lacing. Lots of thick legs on the sides of the snifter when it's swirled, very thick and very viscous looking.

S - Chocolate roast, chocolate char, spicy rye, light Bourbon, oak, and a slight bit of charcoal on the nose.

T - The spicy rye is first and foremost laying a nice foundation for chocolate roast, oak, Rye Whisky, light char, toasted brown sugar, and a tiny amount of dark fruit lingering below the malt line.

M - Thick, viscous, silky smooth, and warming in the back of the throat with some alcohol effervescence permeating up to the sinuses.

O - This bottle is impressive on all levels, just amazing and drinking perfectly right now. Wow!

 

 

Served from the tap in a snifter at Consume.

Food's here (delicious risotto and quinoa cakes, smothered in a white wine sauce, with some steamed summer squash on the side, good times), so I might as well ratchet things up to the main course, the BA Darkness. This stuff pours a straight obsidian topped by a finger of khaki foam. The nose comprises rye barrel, roasted malts, light cocoa powder, a hint of char, and a touch of rich toffee. The taste brings in more of the same, the barrel melding rather fluidly with the roasty flavors. The body's got some decent heft, with a light moderate carbonation and a mostly full feel. Overall, a very nice offering from the folks from Minnesota, something I'm glad I got to have before it high-tailed outta here. Good times.

Bottled 1/14/20; consumed on 5/22/21

Pours a dense, matte black body carrying multiple fingers of fluffy, creamy, hazelnut-hued foam; good head retention eases to just shy of a finger of silky cap along with an equally frothy, large collar and a comprehensive, chunky walling of stalwart lacing around the walls of the glass.

Aroma opens with the pure silliness of creamy milk chocolate followed by a steadily refining caramel brittle; fresh toffee brings a hint of candied smoke into boozy vanilla past the mid-point, where burnt coffee grounds guide toward the increasingly prevalent and subtly spicy rye barrel.

Taste offers caramel brittle alongside burnt sugar and a toasted marshmallow coating upfront before a tinge of rye spice counterbalances the chocolate malts clinging to the profile; raw cacao and a bittering char past the mid-palate find dark fruit esters fading with an underlying, boozy wave on back end.

Mouthfeel shows a medium-full body and a fluffy spritz of moderate-high carbonation; airy, contrasts of a pillowy char enmeshed with subdued oily textures become steadily drying over the mid-palate as a rounded warmth begins to encompass the finish, with an encroaching rye spice tingling on the swallow via a fervent barrel char finding its peak late.

Unadjuncted and at the peak of barrel maturation, malt sweetness evolves to the tone of harmonizing barrel spice, with rye whiskey imparting a charrg spice to the lush sweetness built over time; traditionally structured and faulting only vaguely, this stout is barrel-aging at its simple, refined best.

 

 

 

Big thanks to Jeff for this one.

2020 vintage. 750ml waxed and capped bottle into a Brooklyn Brewery snifter.

Nose is chocolate, molasses, dried dark fruit, brownie, cocoa powder, tobacco, and oak. Boozy. But not overly so. Chewy and robust. Beer opens molasses, sweet soy sauce, chocolate, and vanilla up front. In the back, I get layers of dried prunes and raisins with a fluffy cover of brownie and cocoa powder. Barrel is apparent in the finish with oak and tobacco. Really nice. Body is full with low carbonation. Smooth and rich on the palate and goes down with some heat with a lingering, sticky aftertaste.

Just a perfectly crafted beer. Perfect for the style.

 

 

2020 vintage. Bottled on 9/14/20.
Poured into snifter.
A: Pours an extremely dark brown with 1 inch frothy dark mocha head with excellent retention.
S: Cherry and dry dark chocolate hits first, followed by molasses, vanilla, dark dried fruit, and hints of char and dark caramel.
T: Cherries and dark dry chocolate dominate with underlying notes of medium-roast coffee, molasses, dark dried fruit, vanilla, soft char, and hints of creme brûlée, bitter hops, and whiskey.
M: Heavy body and yet the feel is so soft and velvety, the result is a lightening one. Darkly sweet with chocolate and fruit elements. Subtle hop bitterness to augment the chocolate dry and bitter notes. Surprisingly mild alcohol burn. Lingers nicely on the palate.
D: Such a well-crafted brew, year after year. Love the dominant cherry and chocolate notes. Layered and complex with subtle and yet lovely hop elements too. I’d recommend drinking it fresh!

**
10/20/20

LOOK: dark black. Thick creamy beige head.

AROMA: oak and whisky, dark chocolate, vanilla.

TASTE: Charcoal, spicy rye, .oak,sweet and bitter cocoa. Super tasty.

FEEL: smooth, a little spicy..astringent.

Really good.

**

 

 

 

Pours black with a finger and a half of caramel-colored foam. Head retention is good. Aroma is roasty, toasty, nutty, caramely and earthy malts with caramely, toffee, molasses and raisins adding sweetness. A kiss of rye adds a dry spice to the back, that brings the aroma to a close. Flavor profile is toffee, molasses, raisins, fig, chocolate and caramel with thick roasty, toasty, nutty and earthy malts underneath. Firm and robust stout base with hearty sweetness on top. Rye adds a clean cut of dry heat that seals up the flavor profile well. Mouth feel is thick with a subtle graininess within smooth, light creaminess. Overall, robust and filling with a dry rye cut, this is one fantastic depth-featuring stout.

Served in a 15.5oz Speigalau tulip from a 750mL bottle.