Midnight Manhattan Darkness (2021)
Surly Brewing Co.

Surly Midnight Manhattan Rye BA Darkness Imperial Stout, 12% ABV. Pours black with a 2-finger tan head that left foamy lacing. Nose is cherry and orange zest. Taste is cherries, zest, and rye, slightly sweet and slightly bitter. Decent mouthfeel, overall excellent.

Update: as this warmed, the zest bitterness got overpowering, wasn't digging it, so drain-poured. Adjusting taste/overall.

16 ounce can into a snifter. Canned 11/15/21, had 1/16/22.

Pours a dark brown, opaque, with a brief quarter inch foamy head and light specks of foamy lacing. Aromas of rye whiskey, malt, vanilla, chocolate, some cherry as it warms, light orange peel. Flavors are much the same- rye whiskey, malt, chocolate, orange peel, vanilla, light cherry. Smooth, a very good full body, appropriately carbonated.

Thought this was pretty good. As expected, the base with rye barrels is great, and the orange peel shows pretty well. The cherry is fairly light, but it’s noticeable.

Poured from pint can into Darkness snifter.
A: Pours an extremely dark brown hue with 1-2 inch bubbly dark mocha head with good retention.
S: Strong cherries and orange peel with underlying dark chocolate, vanilla, and a hint of cream.
T: Cherries, dark chocolate, molasses, orange zest, vanilla, and a hint of cream. Definitely on the sweet side.
M: Heavy body. Thick, viscous and slightly oily feel. Darkly sweet with fruit sweetness…yes, lots of sweetness.
D: I’m usually disappointed by these Darkness variants. This one isn’t half bad, but still prefer the base beer.

 

 

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 cherry, orange peel, roasted coffee, dark chocolate and toffee. Nice cherry and orange flavors with chocolate, coffee and charred oak taste.

I salute the Manhattan...the drink, not this.

Midnight black with a billowing brown head, spotted lacing. Nose is rough as it gives off gasoline with saturated sweet cherry and orange zest with some smoked earth. Taste is better with booze replacing gasoline, cherry is still so sweet and orange is crushed by the earth, roasted malt, smoke, and dark chocolate of the base stout, no balance that darkness is known for. Feel is boozier for the style and series, but still plenty chewy, dark, and robust despite the gimmicks, but again the sugar adjuncts just feel wrong over time. Cough syrup darkness

Pitch black, minimal head.

Big whiff of malt, slight notes of whiskey and cherry in the nose

Malt, rye, a bit of the cherry, sugar note at the end, no alcohol. On the sweet side, but not crazy.

Nice and smooth.

This was an interesting take. Was it worth what I paid for it? No.

Darkness BA - Midnight Manhattan pours black, with a very small, lacing head. Aroma has lots of dry sweet orange notes, hints of oak. Flavor has lots of rye, some oak, lots of sweet cherries, hints of orange peel, dry. Good body and feel. Overall, a great Manhattan stout, great fruit flavors, on a big stout, very enjoyable.

16oz can. Can bottom stamped 'CANNED On 11/15/21'.
Black colored body. Three finger mocha brown head upon pouring. Settles back to a puffy froth. Leaves partial strings and walls of lacing.
Aroma is chocolate, rye whiskey, graham cracker, and a little orange and cherry.
Taste certainly introduces the cherry and the orange, sort of like mixing a barrel aged stout with cough medicine. Has the base swirl of chocolate, vanilla, and rye whiskey barrel. The cherry/orange last into the aftertaste.
Very smooth mouth feel, slightly heavy. Alcohol burn is kept at a minimum. Okay carbonation for its type.
Interesting mix with the cherry and orange, and it does give a hint of the cocktail. Not too sweet, and balanced a little by the rye. Sort of an outlier in the Darkness pantheon but okay as an exercise. Quite easy to drink. The nose, taste, and mouth feel work well together, but the overall expression will not win any rewards.

It's like Darkness has been spiked with Sudafed. By far the worst variant ever and just straight-up gross.

 

 

 

 

As a longtime fan of Darkness, this is a pretty big disappointment. It’s got the hops and notes of Darkness but the orange and cherry notes come across as too medicinal. Overall the orange is too forward for my taste.

 

 

Pours a dark mahogany color with a tan head some nice lacing. Smell is roasted malts chocolate and barrel. Taste is good its a BA Stout that is a $14 stout thats wrong ...NO. Not tasting so much the "classic" Manhattan Coctail here more just a BA Stout - barrel ,chocolate, vanilla whiskey, some cherries maybe orange peel, Mouth feel is and average stout, While this was easy to finish in no way should have been $14