The Child of Darkness: Damien

Where was Surly’s Damien for my Beers for Halloween article last year? What is Damien you ask? Damien, referred to as the Child of Darkness, is an American Black Ale. This beer is called Child of Darkness because it is made with the second runnings of the grains of Darkness, a Russian Imperial Stout. Damien is available on tap in over 100 bars around the state and liquor store shelves in 750 ML bottles.

It’s A Parti-Gyle in the USA

So, to really understand the brewing nuts and bolts of this beer, you have to understand what Parti-Gyle or second runnings means. A beer like Surly Darkness is just over 10% ABV. To get a beer to be that strong, the brewer needs to use a lot of grain.

To get the fermentable sugar out of the grain, a brewer will do what is called a mash. This is essentially putting water that is at a specific temperature range (152º-158° F) into the grains and letting it sit for a while. This process, called mashing, will extract the fermentable sugars from the grains so that the yeast has something to eat. Since the ABV is above 10, the yeast needs a lot of food to convert the sugars to alcohol.

There are still usable sugars left in the grain after the requisite amount of wort (malty liquid that you will add hops to during the boil and pitch the yeast into to make beer) when you are brewing a big beer. At this point the brewer has two options. They can either not use this grain which makes me sad inside. Or, they can do another mash to extract the remaining sugars for a brew of a beer that does need to be as high in ABV.

The Beer

Damien is an American Black Ale. The beer pours nicely with a slightly tan head in a glass. As I bring the glass up to my nose the aroma is complex and alluring. There is a fantastic onslaught of roasted malt and some piney hops. As I sip away, there is some great lacing left behind on the glass. The mouthfeel is substantial and has a great body. There are flavors of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, raisin, and plum. There is nice amount of bitterness in this beer from the combination of hops and roasted malt.

Damien is dark, complex, and delicious. If you are looking for something to add to your Halloween celebrations, look no further than the Child of Darkness.

If you liked this article and do any online shopping, consider using our Amazon Affiliate link below. It doesn’t cost you any extra and we get a small percentage of what you spend to help keep the blog going. Prost!