Surly Darkness: value for money / value for time & trouble

Not to mention $4 pours at Whole Foods when you can catch it on draft there.

I personally am a big fan of Darkness but the price certainly is too high for bottled Darkness and most of Surly's Bombers (many of which are just okay beer for $20).

 

Serious question... how many of you just skip buying bottles of darkness?

 

Some people find it or be overhyped and overrated considering the price and that it can be difficult to obtain.

Not me, I think it's great but everyone has their own tastes

 

:raises hand:

I'll buy it whenever I see it on tap, but the 'hunting' for an overpriced 750ml is outdated.

 

I still bought a couple of bottles even though I think they are overpriced. I had to....

 

I buy it every year, I trade all but 1. It's not worth $20 but is great trade bait.

 

This is the first year I didn't buy a bottle. Had it on tap a few times instead.

 

$15 for a 32oz crowler. We only charged that much because we sold the 750's for $18.99 (standard margin on our bottles). If we had done our standard crowler margin (which is higher than our bottle margin but much lower than a bar margin) they would have only been $8 or something insane. We thought that might irritate people that had bought bottles for $18, plus it flew at $15/people were happy to get it.

 

I sort of get the arguments against.. especially for those of us that live in the Twin Cities, its not that hard to find on tap (frequently its priced pretty reasonably. One of my buddies found pints for $5 at a bar in St Paul this year). Having said that, I always find myself chasing down a few bottles when October rolls around. I do think its better than most of the other stouts mentioned so far... Obviously the threshold between whether that makes it chase-worthy or not is subject to individual taste.

 

I like Darkness, but am not a fan of the format.

As far as alternatives, Expedition is excellent this year, CW BBS is a great value and new to me is On Fleek. It's a different taste than what you might expect from a IS, but I enjoy it. It's also pretty big at 13%.

Not a fan of George Hunter myself, not bad, but forgettable.

 

I enjoy Darkness and only first tasted it a couple years ago when I moved to the Twin Cities. It is definitely a great stout and one that I will often order if I see it on tap at a reasonable price. Surly in general gets a lot of hype here which I totally get because it is kind of the "go to" brewery for a lot of people in the twin cities. For that reason it gets the hype and people willing to pay whatever the sticker price. Spending 20 on a bomber is kind of the tipping point for me (excluding rare releases) and if I am buying it, it better be good. I think that Darkness is worth the price tag and more recently has not been as difficult to find and does not require you to attend the release day to get a few bottles.
I will say that I enjoy several other beers at a more affordable price. Even More Jesus by Evil Twin is available in 4 pack 16 ounce cans for about $12.00. I also think that Big Bad Baptist by Epic is an awesome barrel aged brew that I have seen sold for 11-15 dollars a bomber around the twin cities.

 

Seems odd that you reference a blind taste test where Darkness gets second place. I could see your point if it was not even top 20. It is also highly rated on both sites. Therefore, being at a higher price point makes sense to me. Additionally, the unique bottle art each year is a selling point.

I just did a 2011-2016 vertical on Friday with a bunch of buddies and the '11 and '12 were drinking fantastic. I will continue to buy bottles each year as it is very good and as CLevar mentioned, has value to me in sharing well-made beer with friends.

To each their own, but ultimately it is great for us to have the option of buying Darkness locally. Darkness Day is also a great way to spend time with friends and meet new ones.

Just wanted to throw a little love toward Darkness to balance things out a bit