Surly Coming to Colorado

Not gonna touch $17 month old 4-packs of Todd with a 10 foot poll.

$4 single I may touch with a 1 foot poll though... For science.

 

Since when do we measure polls in feet?

 

This might be old news, but it's on tap at Cedar Creek Pub.
This is my first ever Surly, and I don't get it. It's not bad tasting, it rides the hop edge for me for an imp stout. Frankly I taste little difference between Darkness and regular everyday Yeti.

 

As a MN transplant... I think Darkness is living on its ~2011 reputation. It has been passed by many times over at this point (its a borderline shelfie in MPLS). On the other hand, BA Darkness still holds up pretty well imo

 

Here's my theory, people local to Surly drink darkness and go "holy shit this is amazing". People in Denver do the same thing with Yeti. Darkness gets distro here and people say exactly what you said. I said the same thing about toppling goliath, morning delight and king sue may be the best the midwest has to offer, but it's just another beer here. Just like hopslam. Just like Clown Shoes.

 

I agree with this to a large extent... I also just think beer is in a different place than it was in the heyday of Darkness and Hopslam, etc. They are still very good beers, the competition has just gotten much, much better. Two of my close friends in MPLS skipped darkness bottles entirely this year, which says something about its status even there.

 

This conversation has piqued my interest because I thought non-BA Darkness was one of the best beers I've ever had. I wonder if I would still think that.... Part of me thinks yes because nobody seems interested in selling big non-BA stouts anymore, but part of me wonders about the hype factor.

I also liked the BA version I tried a while back too, a 2014, I think. But since there are so many good BA stouts, it didn't stand out in my mind like the normal version.

I guess I'm gonna have to investigate by drinking more.

 

The vast majority of stouts (BA or otherwise) are coasting on a reputation garnered when craft beer was mostly regional. Most non-IPA and non-mixed fermentation beers tend to.
I've done enough blind line-ups where everything is perceived as being "mostly the same" outside of 1-2 all stars and 1-2 duds. Darkness falls into that grouping.
Yeti, for better or worse, is instantly recognizable. It's probably the hoppiest (common) big stout out there and that brown head is impossible not to notice. That doesn't mean it's better, but nobody mistakes Yeti for anything else. Darkness is very much a middle of the pack stout people confuse with a dozen others.

 

Still only seeing the same 2-3 offerings from Surly around here.

Cheers!

 

RIP Surly

 

My OC has a couple Surly cans on the menu. The Citra is in the "seasonal" section and Coffee Bender actually made the core menu. They clearly think they'll be around for more than a few months Looking a whole lot like Surly might be the next "we wanted to try it not to buy it - just send us your RARz" distro.

 

I found/bought Darkness and Barrel Aged Pentagram a few weeks ago. Haven't had time to try either. Will report back.

 

Nice to know.

Cheers!

 

Donde? Been watchful and haven't seen shit.

 

Darkness is middle of the pack? You’re not worthy!

 

Guess not. I don't think it's even close to bad, but I could probably list a dozen big stouts I'd prefer over it. At least half are year-round or at least biannual shelfies.

 

I just want that metal as eff bottle art.

 

Saws some $17/4packs today... along with the bender, furious, Citra, and something else. Couldn’t find a date anywhere...

Opted for n00b and narwhal 6ers - pretty sure I won

 

Tipsy's Liquor World.

 

Came and went at Davidsons.