Surly Darkness & Barrel-Aged Darkness Coming To Chicago, IA, MN & WI

Darkness will soon descend upon the Midwest.

Darkness is our massive Russian Imperial Stout, bringing waves of flavors; chocolate, cherries, raisins, coffee, and toffee, finishing with a non-traditional dose of aroma hops. We first started brewing this huge beer back in 2007, the same year Beer Advocate voted us the best brewery in America. That might or might not be a coincidence, but the myth and hype of our darkest brew has followed us ever since, drawing thousands of craft beer fans from all over the country to stand in line outside of our original brewery in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, every Halloween for Darkness Day. We decided our Russian Imperial Stout deserved a day-long beer release party, heralded by metal music turned up to 11.

Darkness is regularly included in well-trodden ‘greatest beers on the planet’ listicles that litter the Internet, and while we’re always psyched for our beers to receive accolades, we don’t subscribe to a definitive list of the best beers ever. But if it’s good enough to stand in line for, in a industrial park on a chilled Minnesota dawn, then it’s probably worth cracking open a bottle and seeing if it’s worth the hype.

Barrel-Aged Darkness Cometh

This year we’re also bottling Barrel-Aged Darkness. Yep, you read that right, Barrel-Aged Darkness. This super limited-edition version was aged a few months in High West Rye Whiskey Barrels at our Brooklyn Center, Minnesota brewery, and now it’s ready to drink.

High West is a distillery in Park City, Utah. The barrels used this year were fresh from the distillery and had not been used for any beer prior to Darkness – some will call these “first use” barrels, meaning that this was the first time they were used for beer; in distilling terms, these would be “second use,” as the original use was for the whiskey. The barrel character is very pronounced and comes across as oaky, spicy, and highly aromatic on top of the core Darkness flavors. This massive beer comes in at 12% ABV.

When can you get Darkness?

Starting the week of Monday, November 30, both Darkness and Barrel-Aged Darkness will begin arriving in Chicago and Iowa. Darkness has already arrived in Minnesota but Barrel-Aged Darkness will start hitting the North Star State the week of November 30. Then finally, starting the week of Monday, December 14, Darkness and Barrel-Aged Darkness will hit shelves in Wisconsin.

Oh, and Surly Nation – help each other out in your quest for Darkness. If you find a bottle, let us all know on the Twitters with #SurlyDarkness. It can be your good deed of the day.