750ml bottle shared by footbalm
Appearance: Pours black with a small tan head, no lacing left in the glass
Aroma: Toasted malts, smokey and nutty
Taste: Thin mouthfeel, smokey and metallic flavor
OK

Nice big smoke nose and flavor. A little peppery hot and rough through the finish.

Courtesy of Blazer06. It pours amber with hues of copper and brass to go along with an off white head. The aroma is light bacon with a sense of roasty malts and trying to move into a plastic sense. The taste is pretty full and rich with sweet malts, crystal malts, some roast and tasty bacony camp fire goodness. It stays smoky bacon to mild smoky burnt notes into the finish to go along with some ripe sweet cherries.

9th October 2008. GABF. Sweet and malty with a touch of coffee. Just a little smoke. Very palatable!

7 ounce handbottle from StFun (thanks, Josh!) - nice handbottling job, too - still very well-carbonated - pours dark brown - intensely smoky aroma, with quite a bit of sweetness behind it, like smelling a campfire while someone is roasting a marshmallow - a bit of smoked meat as well - a bit of bitter black malt up front, followed by charred wood, dark chocolate - thick smokiness - a bit of doughy character, some yeastiness - some oak character on the back end - lingering campfire qualities - quite a good smoked beer.

Muddy dark brown. Lightly smokey nose with some chocolatey/fudgey overtones. Soft body. Fudgey on the palate, with a slight smoke finish.

Cask @ Darkness Day in my brand new Darkness tulip. I was told this was aged on in cedar barrels. Each of the beers served there came in 3 forms, tap, out of the bright tank, and cask. In hindsight I should have not tried a smoked, barrel aged, Baltic porter on cask, but either way here we go. I was watching the de-bunging of the cask and got one of the first pours. Its completely black, nothing but blackness. That includes any semblance of a head or lacing, again completely nothing after just a few seconds after the pour. Aroma is smoke (lightly sweet, lightly BBQ) which I like. Behind that is an oily astringent licorice, I don’t like that. Taste has more of that licorice astringency with the smoke on the back end. Mouthfeel is lightly oily and of course very undercarbonated. It seems where well structured I just needed to try it NOT on cask. I will definitely give this another go around if I come across it on tap. 7/4/7/3/14

Had this out of the bright tank at Darkness day, one year later. Was really hoping to love this but I was again disappointed, not a bad beer but nothing special. The smoke is there, its not really backed up with anything, just some watery dark malts and light licorice.

Re-rate out of the bottle, shared by Dansting. Same slightly disappointing beer, smoke, dark water malts, not backbone. 7/3/7/3/15

Surly could have done a lot more with this. The smoke is very light, but it is there in the aroma and flavor. The flavor is also lightly sweet with a touch of fruit, but this is quite dry for a Baltic porter. I would like it to be a little sweeter. As it is, it seems to fit the Scotch ale style well with the dry malt flavors, some earth, and lack of hops. Smooth palate, very easy to drink.
Earlier Rating: 10/1/2007 Total Score: 3.9
A good beer, not the ABR highlight I was hoping for. This is one of the most lightly hopped beers Surly has brewed, and is more traditional than some of their products in a style that doesn’t rely on massive hops for flavor or aroma. But it is still more heavily hopped than any other Baltic porter I have tasted. The aroma does have roasted malt and just a touch of soy sauce. A thick, black beer with some carbonation. Flavor is medium sweet malt, some roasted character, and a hint of red wine. Unusual finish for the style and the hops do show themselves much more at the end.