1 year anniversary of Friday Night Beer!!!!!!!! Yep, it’s been one year since my leap into the beer blogging world. In the past year I have met some great people and tried many good beers as well as getting deeper in the brew community. I went on a road trip to Munster, Indiana for Dark Lord Day, I got a gig at Summit Brewery as a tour guide plus lending a helping hand at Flat Earth Brewery a couple times. I’ve hooked up with some quality people for trades met with them for some tasting and even just to hang out. In the beginning I had a Beer of the Month post which I eventually decided to scrap. I still have a section for home brewing which I have yet to begin and in the past few months my posting has became less often than when I started but all in all I’ve been happy about what I have done here. So now it’s a new year for the blog. I hope to keep doing what I’ve been doing but maybe changing the style of my posts. Or do any of you have suggestions? What did you like and what didn’t you like. I am open to criticism so don’t be shy. And speaking criticism, here is my review of Surly’s Darkness.

I got a lot of people shaking their head and wondering how could I have given Dark Lord a C-. In hindsight it was more of an opinion grade instead of a quality of the style grade but still I felt it was too much. Darkness on the other hand, though still very extreme, is a bit more approachable version of the style, but not by much. You won’t get many people liking this except for the real beer enthusiasts and even then you might only get about 75% liking it. I am part of that 25%. Imperial Stouts or Russian Imperial Stouts are good only in small quantities and even then, to me, keep in mind this is just my opinion, they tend to leave your palate abused or in some cases they get harder and harder to swallow the more you drink. Darkness had these same qualities to me but I enjoyed it much more than the Dark Lord. I am not sure if it was the fact that this was my first stout of the season or if it is much tamer than the DL but I am thinking it’s a combination of both. It had a lovely brown head with an aroma of chocolate notes. The taste may not impress me but the smell sure does. The initial flavor of the beer was welcoming, a nice roasty chocolate flavor with a nice hop backbone, but after while it left and filmy texture in my mouth, the downfall has begun. Maybe it’s just me and my insistence of drinking the whole bottle. Maybe I would enjoy these more if I just stuck with 8 ounces. My last glass was still OK, the smell was still as awesome and the initial sips were great but as usual, towards the end it was like I was choking it down. Maybe I am not a beer connoisseur, just a beer lover and I am not satisfied with just one small glass. Either way I am going to give Surly some credit and commend them on this fine brew. It may not be what I look for in a good beer but the hard work and dedication that they put into this deserves more credit than I can give them. Three Floyds, I will review next years DL with a more open mind.

Surly Darkness

B