Thanksgiving morning, I woke up at my leisure, following a long second shift. It’s the kind of a job where clients dump a pile of projects on you before leaving for their holiday, and demand that it be on their desks by Friday morning, even though they won’t be. After minding the small chores like dressing and whether or not to shave, I cam downstairs, and after meybe ten minutes, finally noticed a box from UPS in the hallway. Oh, Mrs. ‘Naut said. That was delivered yesterday while you were at work. Well, I had a pretty good idea of what it was, since the folks representing Surly Brewing of Minneapolis said they had some events in Chicago they had wanted to promote. Surly being one of beer geeks’ favorite brewers not based in Chicago, I said sure.
What I did not expect was that it contained a 750 ml bottle of their brand spanking new Darkness Russian Imperial Stout. See, every year since 2007, Surly indulges their Krampus side of the holidays by releasing its wintertime RIS in 750 ml bottles silkscreened with somewhat “evil” artwork. Like a mummy, a werewolf, the Grim Reaper, or, this time, a monstrous bat demon. Either way, it is usually found among the top 50 beers in the world at both RateBeer and BeerAdvocate, cheek by jowl with our beloved Dark Lord and Bourbon County Stout variants. And as you can imagine, the scene at their “Darkness Day” is the equal of any rare bottle release.
Surly Darkness has already come out in Minnesota. On Monday, November 30, bottles and kegs will be in stores and some bars throughout the Chicago area. This year also marks the first time Surly has bottled a barrel-aged version of Darkness, which will be shipped with the regular Darkness in gold-topped bottles (the regular Darkness is dipped in black wax). This limited-edition was aged a few months in High West Rye Whiskey Barrels.
And Emporium Arcade Wicker Park, 1366 N Milwaukee Avenue, is hosting a Darkness Tapping party on Thursday, December 2. Starting at 5 pm, with the tapping of some mainstream Surly beers. At 8:00, Emporium will tap a three-year vertical of 2013, 2014 and 2015 Darkness, followed at 9:00 by three live bands: Oozing Wound, Moral Void, DIM, & Krayola.
For a more unbiased opinion, I rated the 2009 version of Darkness from a draft I bought myself at Bavaria Lodge in 2009, and wrote up on RateBeer.
To preview the current vintage in time for its Chicago release, I popped the new bottle, with the caveat that it was provided by the brewer. Still, I poured a big stiff head the color of a café au lait over a solid black body. The smell offered noted of cocoa and vanilla extract as the leading components. After going through a first third of the bottle to record the YouTube video attached, I find sticky reside around my lips, a bit of malt sugar and a maybe some hop oil. But the overall taste is very smooth for a strong beer. While there are some resins of a fresh hops harvest, the beer avoids the extra bitterness of hops, or, for that matter, the harsh malt roastiness that sometimes comes with black beers. Instead, it’s 9.6% abv beeriness is delivered with a bit of creaminess, with some cocoa and and vanilla, followed by a bit of light coffee and an edge of dried plum.
If you’re like me, you;ll be stocking up on lots of heavy beers for your holiday festivities. I recommend that this should be one of them!
