     Darkness 2008 (Surly Brewing Company)
Here it is in all it's ridiculously dark glory. The big, bad-ass, super stout known as Darkness. This one hails from back in 2008 and has been kept chained in the dungeon without light of day for all that time. It's definitely angry and ready to be unleashed. I've been looking forward to seeing what this beer is all about for quite some time. From the Surly site: This massive Russian Imperial Stout brings waves of flavors; chocolate, cherries, raisins, coffee, and toffee. We add a touch of hops to make this delicious brew even tastier." The wax is off so here we go... Pour - super dense, rich and thick like motor oil as it drains into a glass leaving a relatively thin velvet-y head. I got a kick out of how viscous this stuff was and the "legs" it left inside the glass as it poured. Damn, this is not for the faint of heart. Be warned.
Aroma - big bready, malty, chocolatey, licorice-y, caramel-y and overall molasess-y. Some alcohol heat comes through in the nose as well. This just smells like it could cause cavities or cause a person's blood sugar to spike.
Taste - MALTY MALT MALT! Wow, this is like drinking malt extract with licorice and brown sugar mixed in. This is borderline cloying its so sweet and dense. I guess you need a literal ton of malt to brew a beer of this magnitude and it certainly does taste that way. Some flavors that I thought were oxidization were just caramel malt and alcohol heat. Even after 18 months in the cellar this is still hot. Brown bread dough soaked in rum and then mixed into a potent stout should sum things up nicely. If you like malty brews this is going to please you, if you want more than strong and dark you might be a bit let down. I need to have some of this fresh to see what those hops (85 IBUs!!!) might do for this brew.
Overall - sweet, very sweet. This is a malt lover's dream and a little more one-sided than I had hoped. It almost reminded me of a super-strong Baltic Porter as it had some licorice and anise notes that were very similar. In the end I'd say it lived up to the hype when it comes to the strength and complexity but was not as drinkable as I had hoped.
Would I buy more of it? - I was fortunate it enough to receive this bottle from a very generous beer loving friend in the Midwest. If I lived within a few hours of Surly I'd certainly make the pilgrimage each year just for the fun of it.
Availability - Once a year around Halloween.
Vintage - October 2008
Note - Surly changes the label and the color of the wax each year for their release of Darkness. Also, apparently the 2008 release is known as "a syrupy mess" so it is not surprising that I found this one almost cloying at times. I really look forward to the 2009 release I've got on the shelves and plan to open it sometime soon. Cheers!
Posted by Russ Labels: Russian Imperial Stouts, Stouts, Vintage Beers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
