Cold Smoked Cherry Bourbon Barrel-Aged Darkness
Surly Brewing Co.

Pours a thick chestnut/mahogany with a pinky of tan head. Viscous, trace amounts of head retention & lacing

S: Rich barrel notes, dark fruit ( figs & cherries ), fades a bit once warm

T: Dark chocolate, cherries, figs, leafy hops, some barrel booze & dryness up front. Faint smokey notes, sweet cherry, dark chocolate, pipe tobacco, figs & a little booziness, a little cola as this beer warms up. Finishes with dark chocolate, boozy cherries & a bit of barrel

MF: Chewy, gently carbonated, pretty darn warming. Carbonation picks up a little once warmed up

I like the cherry as an add, but wanted more flavor across the board, higher hopes for this one

 

 

Poured from pint can into Darkness snifter.
A: Pours a thick dark black with 1 inch dark mocha head with decent retention.
S: Lots of bourbon, smoke, and cherries up front. Some dark chocolate, vanilla, and molasses too. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but the bourbon is too strong and overpowers many of the other elements.
T: Smooth bourbon, dark chocolate, smoked cherries, molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, and a touch of leather and char. Much more in balance here. The smoked cherry note is special.
M: Medium heavy body. Extremely smooth and slightly coating feel. Layers of dark sweetness with cherry blending in well. Lingers nicely on the palate.
D: A nice variant of Darkness. The cold smoked cherry note is decadent. Still, hard to beat the base beer.

16oz can. Bottom date stamp reads 'CANNED ON 10/27/23'.
Black colored body, with a red cherry back lit edge. Fizzy mocha brown head quickly fades to an interrupted cap and ring. Leaves behind partial lacing walls.
Aroma is bourbon soaked roasted malts with chocolate, vanilla, and smoked cherry.
Taste is a mirror of the nose, with flavors of bourbon soaked chocolate malts and smoked cherries. Some additional vanilla sweetness. The bourbon fades somewhat, leaving fudge chocolate covered smoked cherries in the aftertaste.
Thick mouthfeel. Higher ABV% is a warming sensation and stays away from any mouth burning. Very good carbonation.
Sweet dessert beer. Very smooth to drink, with a long flavorful aftertaste.

Pours dense, oily black with a caramel colored froth one finger deep at the top. Aroma is typical Darkness, all ABV, bourbon and chocolate. There is a bit of smokiness to this one, however. Taste reveals a bit more of this smokiness and sweet chocolate. I can't detect much of the cherry in here, though there is a smoothness and a dark fruit character at the end. Not perhaps the best of the Darkness varieties but worth sampling if you've never had a Darkness before.

Cold Smoked Cherry Bourbon Barrel-Aged Darkness porus black, with a small, long-lasting tan head. The aroma is sweet, with dark cereal notes. The flavor has big smoke and sweet cherry flavors on a rich, stout foundation. Good feel. Overall, great adjunct flavors are mixed in with a good solid stout.

From a 16 oz can canned on 10/27/23

This is a beer that pours pitch black, as expected. The head that formed was 2 finger and brown in color. Somewhat frothy looking, and actually long lasting considering the ABV. Some lacing on the glass as the head dissipates.
The aroma has a nicer cherry aroma as well as hints of chocolate, caramel, toffee and vanilla. I also am getting a bit of a smoke aroma, somewhat of a bonfire.
Taste - Woah! Damn! There's a lot of smoke in this beer! The smoke comes in waves. The cherry flavor hits in between the waves, but also adds to the smoke. The smoke and cherries really work well together. Those flavors compliment each other well. There's an undertone of chocolate, vanilla caramel and toffee.
This is a thick boy. Creamy and smooth. Very full bodied. Very slight burn on the backside from the ABV.
Damn, this is just a home run, and without the problems that regular darkness had this season. Very impressive.

 

 

 

On tap. Light tan head. Dark brown color.

This tastes like peat, char, and smoke. More scotch flavored than bourbon. I don’t hate it. Cherry is faint, which is also nice. Has a cherry tootsie roll flavor going on with emphasis on the chocolate. Roasted finish. Fun offering!

On draft at Sycamore - Columbia, MO. Poured an opaque, jet-black color with a small, off-white head of foam. It left thin rings of lace on the glass. It smelled smoky with dark cherry, bourbon, vanilla and roasted malt. Nice subtle smoke taste with sweet cherry, bourbon, oak, vanilla and rich chocolate.

 

Surly Cold Smoked Cherry BBA Darkness Imperial Stout, 12% ABV. Pours black with a half-finger light-brown head that left no lacing. Aroma is cherry, vanilla, smoke, and some bourbon. Taste is mostly cherry, then vanilla, roastiness, and bourbon, sweet up front, bitter and cherry aftertaste. Decent mouthfeel, overall very good.

I love cherries and I love smoked stuff (come back Hammerheart!), but this is good not great in my book. Smoke is pronounced on the both the nose and the tongue, but it isn't very warm…kind of distant. Actually, the nose gets better as it warms….some nice char. Cherry is present throughout, but I’m not getting anything all that distinctive - nothing fleshy, or tart, or whatever. A little nondescript on the cherry front, to be honest. This was good, but it was also my least favorite of the three variants of ‘23 darkness I tried. For a 12% beer, it seemed a little thin.