Surly Brewing Co.
Brooklyn Center, MN
Available: MN, WI, IL
Surly Brewing Co.’s founder selected the name for the company from the answer to the question “How do you feel when you go into a bar and there is no good beer?” Answer: you get surly, and say “Let’s go to another bar that cares about decent beer.”
ABV: 5.8
ABW: 4.62
Color: N/A
Bitterness: 43
Original gravity: 1056
Deep chestnut brown and heady in the glass. The aroma gives up some chocolate, caramel, vanilla and toasted malt. The mouthfeel and body are medium, fading a bit at the end, as the roasty notes and drying bitterness take over. The flavor has more bitter cocoa character than the aroma suggests, with some nuttiness, coffee and caramel poking through. Overall, a pretty pleasing beer offering complexity and low gravity. Described as oatmeal brown ale by the brewery, it teeters closely to brown porter, given the gritty, dark malt dominance in the flavor. The groovy tall-boy can will make many converts with its portability and session qualities.
Glamorous, dark red ruby. Elegant rich and mousy head sustains and captures the essence of experience. Flavor and aroma continue journey. Gentle, yet distinct aroma of American hops combined with complexity of roasted and caramelized sweet malts. Somewhat dry finish conspires with soothing body. I and the beer become one. Enjoyment intensifies as the beer elevates from fridge temperatures. A nice after bite suggests I’m hungry. Feeling surly, that I am.
K. Florian Klemp is an award-winning homebrewer and general hobbyist who thinks there is no more sublime marriage than that of art and science.
Author of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and a Beer Examiner at www.examiner.com, Papazian is a leading voice in beer and brewing.
