Grrrr, Darkness!

With the onset of late fall-early winter comes the many stouts and winter ales of the season. Perhaps the best is Surly Darkness. I had my first one of the season at the Autumn Beer Review, but needless to say it was well into the afternoon, so I must say I don't really remember anything about it except that it was good. So last Friday my wife agreed to dinner at Busters on 28th in South Mpls, which allowed me to have one in style. While I understand that the proper way to enjoy Darkness is in a Surly goblet, I also understand that most places are selling a 12 ounce pour for about $7. Being the cheap-ass that I am, the $5/pint during happy hour at Busters made it an all that much more enjoyable of a stout.

Speaking of amazing stouts, I shared an Avery Mephistopheles with Tony while camping a few weeks ago. Darkness is amazing, but Mephistopheles is beyond amazing. Ok, maybe it was only really really really really good, but at 15% for an $8-12 ounce bottle, it seemed that much better. Especially on a chilly October night around a camp fire next to the Kettle River.

Speaking of the Kettle River, I'm looking forward to the 3rd annual Sandstone Icefest the weekend of December 7th. Ok, I'm skipping the majority of the events and am only attending the final night, for the Frozen Kettle River Homebrew Challenge and Chili Cook-off. I'm not a huge ice climber, or for that matter even a small ice climber, but I do like winter camping. And besides, Surly is a sponsor.