Surly Barrel Aged Furious

Cask at Darkness Day: Lightly orange-amber pour with a large, creamy beige head. Massively thick sheets of lacing. Nose is rather sweet and fruity, mostly citrus. A bit of the tea is present, but comes through much more in the taste. Nicely rounded citrus and malty notes compliment the tea and oak notes. Nice.

On Cask at Firkin Fest. I liked the balance between the citrus hops and the medium honey/tea characters. I was a little thrown back finding out that the brew had tea in it but it surprisingly mixed well. Good brew.

On tap at Firkin Fest March 08. Pours a hazy thick honeyed amber with large amounts of thick honey colored head. Aroma is citrus vanilla hops. Flavor is definite citrus hops, has a spring like fresh note. Medium bodied.

On tap at Firkin Fest. Hazy orange, big foamy head. Hops are definitely present, but the barrel aging seems to have mellowed it out to the point of improving the beer somewhat. The dry oak adds a really nice touch to this beer. This was probably my favorite Surly beer at the Fest.

pours thick, cloudy apricot, foamy tan head. nose of kitty litter and grapefruit. flavor was hoppy and citrusy, and i didn’t detect much of the cask conditioning. smooth medium bodied. a good ipa. really good, but not my favorite at FoBAB ’07.

Oak-aged Tea Bagged Furious. Hazy orange with hints of red and a whiteish head. Massive citrus hop nose with a light bitterness to it. Smooth and hoppy on the body.

Winterfest 2008
This was a cask conditioned and tea bagged version. The aroma on this beer is just lovely. Top notch! Sweet tangerine and mango entice the senses. The cask muddles the flavor a little, and the carbonation is low, but very smooth on the palate. I have to admit, in general I prefer non cask beer, but nonetheless I think this was the best beer at the event. I had to dock 1 pt. but only because this was a cask version. I’d love to try the non cask version.

Cask conditioned at the St Paul Winterfest ’08 in downtown St Paul, Minnesota as Surly Oak-aged Tea Bagged Furious. Pours a semi-hazy orange amber brew with a thick off-white head that has some excellent retention and thick lacing. Aroma of sweet tangerines from the infused simcoe hops, with some biscuit malt character and a touch of caramel and light tobacco. Taste is quite smooth and creamy compared to the regular Surly Furious with a semi-sweet tangerine with light biscuit caramel malt and some toasted dry malt. Finish is just as smooth and creamy as its flavor with a lingering mild and bitter aftertaste is slowly disappears long after the finish. Of all 37 beers I’ve tried at the St Paul Winterfest, this has to be the finest beer I have tasted this evening.