Wasn’t expecting to snag any of this but stumbled upon it on tap at the Triple Rock last night. Gotta say, pretty damn good. Lives up to the hype for sure and I might have to consider Darkness Day next year.
I hear about this beer all the time, i would really like to try it someday…but no surly where i live.
Didn’t get any this year, just not willing to jump through all the hoops to get a few some. I’ve had it on tap (and have a couple bottle of last year’s squirreled away) and no doubt is a good RIS.
I’ve taken to making my own annual event of a RIS, I have a bunch of friends over and brew a batch some time near Christmas. The batch ages in secondary for 9 months, getting bottled some time in Sept or Oct. I only allow for 1/2 of what I’ve got to be consumed each year (24 - year 1, 12 - year 2, 6 - year 3, etc). I’m only on my 3rd year of it but it is fun doing a vertical tasting of ones I’ve done and people bring over other commercial Imperial Stouts they’ve purchased and we kind of make an event of it. Has turned out to be pretty fun.
I was thinking of doing something like that this year. Having a big beer brew day, splitting the results between friends, saving a bunch for yearly tastings.
As for the darkness, I just stumbled upon it at the bar unknowingly. I asked the bartender for a Surly. He says “Furious or Darkness?” to which I obviously replied Darkness! I had a buddy who went to Darkness Day and bought all six bottles allotted to him but I just wasn’t ready to wait in line overnight for that. Maybe next year though after getting a taste of this years.
I’ve looked for a good clone recipe to this. Does anyone have one?
I haven’t seen any recipes but they do list their ingredients if you want to take a swing at it. I found the belgian Dark Candi Sugar surprising.
Darkness
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.
STYLE: Russian Imperial Stout/American Double Stout
MALT: Pale Ale, Golden Promise, Crystal, Dark Crystal, Oats, Black, Chocolate, Roast
SUGAR: Belgian Dark Candi Sugar
HOPS: Columbus, Amarillo, Simcoe
YEAST: English Ale
OG: 29° Plato
ABV: 9.8 % v/v
COLOR: 55 ºSRM
IBU: 85
AVAILABILITY: October
I had a couple of bottles but I sold them 
At least tell me you made some money on that transaction. If not the sad face is indeed necessary.
At least tell me you made some money on that transaction. If not the sad face is indeed necessary.[/quote]
I sold them for 80$ each and bought my new mash ton with it. 
Wow! People are dumb. Or just have way, way too much money. That beer was seriously good but I would not pay $80 for one…
People get all crazy about the rarity of it. I agree it is good but I’m not paying that much either. That said I still like one-off beers like this as it seems to keep people excited about craft beer. I’m a fan of what Kristen did with his Berliner Weiss over at Pour Decisions, he hand numbered his bottles of the regular version and the brett version. Know it is silly but I rather enjoyed seeing my bottle number in such small batches (200 and 60 respectively I think).
There is a 12 pack for sale on CL in MPLS. 500 dollars…
That’s absolutely stupid. But if someone is that dumb, then congrats to the person that takes advantage.
I agree. Everything has a price is the old saying and in this case it did for sure. I can always trade for more.
Someone with some time on their hand could probably replicate the recipe. The ingredients are listed there, you just need to play around with beersmith to till you get what you want.
I had a buddy go to Darkness Day and bought the six they allowed him too. I believe he said it was $109 which means about $18 a pop so a twelver should hypothetically run $218 at cost… Wow. Add on rarity, stupid rich people and laziness that should cost in my mind maybe $300. $400 tops.
Did that craigslist search found several bottles at $40 a piece putting a hypothetical twelve pack at $480.
How does this look
10 lbs pale two row
10 lbs golden promise
1 lb flakes Oates
1 lb british crystal 50-60
.5 lb roasted barley
.5 lb chocolate
.5 lb black
1 lb dark belgian candy (on edit)
2 oz Columbus at 60 min
1 oz Amarillo at 10 min
1 oz simcoe ( leaf) at 10 min
Yeast 1028
1.119 og
1.030 fg
Mash efficiency 67%
Didn’t get a mash temp
Didn’t I see Belgian Candy Sugar in the earlier post? How does that fit in?
I’ve never had it, but if someone wanted to donate I would reverse engineer it.
Oops. 1 lb dark belgian candy
