Age of Leviathans
Surly Brewing Co.

 

I liked this one far more than I thought I would - the primary concern for me was the raspberry; I'm not usually a fan of fruit flavors in my stouts - but they balanced this with the lactose, chocolate and vanilla to near perfection. For me anyway. If I ever see this available around here I will definitely be picking it up.

great lightly sweet stout pours dark with thivk head very enjoyable

Canned 08/18/21 for September/October release. It's still fresh.
Poured into a Maibock glass because it holds pints and has a shape that works for a differing styles.
The first thing I noticed was the aroma. Ruby chocolate. It poured a decent head, but it retains foam and lacing as I sip.
Flavor: This is a ruby chocolate stout. It does have vanilla in the mix, but the ruby chocolate taste is dominant.
Mouthfeel: It's smooth and creamy.
The finish: It finishes with some boozy back heat and a waft up the nose. Sticky sugar feel.

 

Had on tap. Shimmering black pour with a thin brown head. Dark chocolate, roasted malt, vanilla, and raspberry in the nose with plenty of lactose. Taste is way too sweet with the tart raspberry, ruby chocolate has a chalky aftertaste, vanilla and lactose just add on cloying with some smoke in the background. Feel is sneaky tart but way more sweet, thinning out the body and cheapening the textures to cloying. There is a leviathan of a beer trapped in this mess, gets covered up

This is an OK beer for what it tries to be. I get the chocolate, raspberries, and the vanilla. Not as balanced as I had hoped, but still very enjoyable. Just because it fell short of my expectations does not make it a fail. I did like this beer quite a bit and would buy it again

Canned 2021/08/18
Pours a large foamy tan 1 finger head with good retention, sticky lacing, jet black color

Nose fair roast, burnt lactose, chocolate milk, cocoa, marshmallow, nougat, baking spice, hint of berry fruit, coffee

Taste brings thick roast, heavy charred roast with dark chocolate, cocoa, bitter spicy hop, baking spice, burnt lactose and burnt marshmallow, bitter chocolate, a bit of raspberry, vanilla spice, light alcohol but smooth, burnt coffee, spicy bitter finish

Mouth is fuller bod, creamy thick milky, med carb, med alcohol warmth

Overall eh, it's OK but nothing special, not too enjoyable either

 

Thanks to Jeff for this one. 16oz. can into a Founders snifter. Shared with schen9303.

Pours pitch black. 1 finger mocha head that leaves thick lace. Solid, above average legs. Nose is semi-sweet chocolate, roasted malt, vanilla, lactose, and a fruit syrup sweetness. Decent but a bit sweet and I'm not too keen on the fruit presence. Beer opens roasted malt, liquorice, and chocolate. A touch of smoke, more liquorice, and cocoa powder in the middle. There's more roast in here than most. Some vanilla and lactose towards the middle and back smooth this out a touch. End is more cocoa, more liquorice, and more dark chocolate. Body is the worst part about this beer. Medium with moderate to low carbonation. Prickly on the palate and goes down coarse with a lingering, messy aftertaste. Too thin, too coarse, aftertaste is not great.

The taste profile here is a bit more of a throwback to traditional imperial stout flavors than the description led me to believe. Unfortunately, the body is a huge leftdown.

 

Excellent head production and decent retention. No discernible floaties or particulate.

Raspberry is prominent on the nose, but is accompanied by a rich dark chocolatey tone - like fruited chocolate, instead of fresh raspberries. Honey, toffee, brown sugar, coffee.

Chocolate and roast lead the way on the palate. I pick up very little raspberry by itself, but there is a slightly tart and fruity aspect to the overall flavor profile (not to be confused with vinegar-like sourness). It really comes together quite well. Light char on the back third.

A touch fizzy on the palate; not as smooth as I'd prefer. There's very little alcohol heat despite the huge ABV.

16oz can - review from notes

This was a gift from PC, THANKS MANG! I wish I liked this more... it is simply too sweet, and has too much going on, with added fruit(?) etc. It at least reminds me of the Surly of old, how they throw everything and the kitchen sink in... but this just didn't work. Lots of alcohol bite too... needs some age maybe

 

16oz can. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, light brown head of foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of rich chocolate, vanilla, subtle raspberry and rich toffee notes. Sweet fudge-like chocolate, roasted malt, coffee and subtle raspberry flavor.