Rich, slightly clear brown coloured body with a light violet glow when held up to a light, all around 75 per cent opaque, with a super-large, incredibly dense (like lightly whipped cream), light brown head, at least eight centimetres tall! Aroma of very strong and bitter coffee (both brewed and bean notes) with a touch of chocolate and earth in the nose, with a dash of earthy and umami notes as well. Medium-bodied; Rich and dense malty mouthfeel with seemingly a bunch of lactose and milk chocolate notes, with a solid hit of earthy malts, deep nuts like pecans, walnuts and a light hit of cherries at the absolute end. Aftertaste is robust, very rich, clean, creamy, earthy, nutty, chocolatey and deeply flavoured by the coffee, with a lot of bitterness noticeable and showing some good complexities from all the strong flavours. Overall, a very nice, rich, coffee-flavoured beer that hits all the right notes, but is still fairly easy-drinking and complex. Very nice and definitely worth the wait - hopefully it helped keeping this in the can for the two years, the flavours were melded well, there wasn't any real astringency and the body was still very nice, especially for a beer with this alcohol content; However, a downside was the extra carbonation here - quite deep. Overall, a great beer to have and one that I'll try to be finding more of when I'm in a spot that sells Surly products, just to keep one or two around and see if the age has anything to do with it! I sampled this sixteen ounce can, purchased from Whole Foods in Omaha, Nebraska on 06-February-2018 for US$2,99 sampled at my house here in Washington on 01-May-2020, a bit more than two years after purchase.

Tap @ Mikkeller Bar Aarhus. Pours reddish brown with a medium offwhite head. Lots of coffee, light earthiness, roasty, bitter, chocolate, cocoa, light fruity. Taste is roasty, coffee, bitter, cocoa, light citrussy. Delicious!

16 ounce can into tulip glass, canned on 9/23/2019. Pours crystal clear deep ruby red/brown color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Thick foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roasted coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of vanilla, toffee, dark fruit, smoke, char, wood, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malts, coffee, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast notes; with big strength. Taste of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roasted coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of vanilla, toffee, dark fruit, smoke, char, wood, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery, char, roasted coffee bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roasted coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, brown bread/crust, vanilla, toffee, dark fruit, light smoke/char, wood, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, coffee, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast flavors; with an awesome awesome hop/roast/coffee bitter/sweet balance; and no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering hop/char/coffee bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, and fairly crisp/sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5.5%. Overall this is an amazing American brown ale. All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, coffee, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and fairly crisp to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish. Nicely soft, and not aggressive on hop/roast bitterness. Amazingly rich and balanced dark/roasted malts and vibrant fruity/nutty coffee complexity; with solid earthy hops, and restrained fruity yeast. Mild residual sweetness with crisp dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and amazingly spot on style example. One of the best American Browns I've had. Significantly better than the base beer, but not as soft/silky according to my notes from 4 years ago.

Can from Total Wine & More in Leesburg, VA Aroma: coffee, chocolate, caramel Appearance: dark brown with a tan head Taste: medium sweetness, medium bitterness, Palate: medium body, creamy, average carbonation, long finish, Tasty

Pours a deep, dark brown, with mid-sized, fluffy, tan head that lasts. Aromas of coffee and roasted grain. Flavor is coffee, roasted grain, some chocolate, a very slight sweetness. Very smooth-drinking beer with just a touch of bitterness in the finish. Good stuff!