Darkness 2009

After hearing through the grapevine that a keg of Surly Darkness was going to be tapped at Paddy Ryans in Hudson Wednesday night, we shot over over after closing hoping there might be a little left, and that's exactly what there was.  When we walked in the door, none other than head brewer Todd Haug was manning the jockey box. I'd had the 2009 vintage out of the bottle, but not on tap.  Although it has a heavy alcohol aroma, there's none in the taste, which starts out with a ton of chocolate before it moves into a smoky bitterness that's creamy smooth.  The smoke seemed to come out much more on tap than the bottle. The dark fruit flavor in the body gives it a nice balance and a long run of different sensations coming at you in every sip, but the fruit sweetness in definitely tuned down this year. When we got to bend his ear, Todd told us that with the new bottling line they brought in for this years Darkness, they hope to do some of their other age-able brews in bombers.  Hopefully Smoke will be the first, but the next anniversary beer, Four, will definitely be bottled.  They would also like to get 16 Grit in cans sometime soon as well, which I'm sure would make alot of beer geeks around the country very happy. Darkness is still on tap at some other places around the cities, so get out there before it's gone.