Surly Bender

Brewed by Surly Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

Canned thanks to a trade. Brown brew with a big fluffy and creamy tan head. Smells of roast malt, some coffee or toffee smells as well. Tasty beer, even if my better half said "I thought you didn’t drink beer from cans." Probably one of the best browns I’ve had to date. Darn glad I have a few extra for camping season.

Pint served at Poor Phil’s in Oak Park, IL. Brown pour with a little ruby tint through the glass. Showed a tan, foamy head, with some nice, bubbly lacing. The nose was roasted malt, with ground coffee and cocoa, nutty and earthy tones and a little toffee. The flavor added to these some malt sweetness and a nice, medium hop bitterness to balance. Nice, flavorful Brown. To be expected from Surly.

Canned. Much more complex and flavourful brown than is typical. Dark brown pour with a medium offwhite head than dissolves into a ring with a little lacing. Aroma of roasted caramel malt. Flavour has some coffee, hops, chocolate and a quick finish. Easy drinking.

The aroma is wonderful, raisin, fig, hint of licorice and molasses. The color is dark brown with a touch of red when held to the light. The head is of white, mostly diminishing with good lacing. The initial flavor is bitter a little watery, then you flavor of raisin, roasted coffee, pretty good.

Draft. Clear brown with no head. Aroma: Roast malt with some caramel. Sweet flavored. Simple easy drinker, but not very complex.

Thick and sticky, gotta love this one. Quite different than the DIPA/RIS school I have been used to, perhaps that contributed to my positive image of this beer. Very close to a porter, but not. This may very well be the most difficult beer I have had to review. I’ll put it this way, it’s good.

Almost a reddish brown pour. Miniscule off white head. Smells, surprisingly floral, some pine with some malt and molasses. Light/medium body with a healthy dose of carbonation. Flavors of malt molasses and brown sugar. A surprisingly strong coffee note to me, would be curious to see how much more the coffee Bender has. Finishes real clean. Drinkability is not a problem for this one. Somewhere between a brown and a porter I guess. My friend did not like this one, I thought it was excellent.

Poured from tap with a dark brown and ruby red color with an off-white head which left good lacing behing. Aroma is light caramel malt, lots of hops a light dark fruit scent, coffee and some chocolate. Stars out with a bitter coffee and chocolate maltiness which then moves into a sweet prune, kinda raisin flavor and ends with a bitter roasted malt bite as well as some bitter hops. Good mouth feel to the beer as well a a moderate carbonation rate. Overall is a pretty good beer.