Surly Bender

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

Date: 11/04/2006
Mode: Can
Source: Tasting, Bend Brewing

clear dark brown, short lived tan head, dry chocolate malt aroma, very rich chocolate malt flavor, light bitter finish,
-------- /> Date: 01/24/2007
Mode: can
Score: 3.1 to 3.2

creamy body, otherwise the same rich dry chocolate and light bitterness, an excellent beer to cellebrate national beer can day

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

16oz can from the new roommate Megan (what’s better than a roommate that brings you beer back from their weekend vacation?!?!). Dark brown almost black color with large, creamy tan head. Aroma is caramel and light pine hops, and chocolate. Flavor is nice roasted malt, med sweet, pine hops, light chocolate, quite a lot of flavor. Very nice body to balance out flavor, ful bodied and creamy. A very good beer.

16 oz. can/draft. Pours a darkish brown body with tinges of red and a tan head. Aroma is malty and sweet with maybe a bubble gum-like scent. Smooth medium malty body. Ends a little too watery and thin. A decent brown ale.

16 oz. can via trade with franksnbeans - Pours a dark brown color with a one and a half finger thick light tan head. Nice lacing. Aroma is caramel malt with a light cola scent. Flavor is toasted caramel malt. Fairly smooth with a slight maltly aftertaste. Palate is thin. An easy drinking Brown. Thanks Jacob.

12 oz can via skyview (thanks for the bonus!). Pours a near black with ruby red highlights and a chunky tan head that leaves mass amounts of spider lace webing on my mug. Nose is all about the malts with some subtle chocolate and berries. Tastes like it smells with a watery mouthfeel and a thin body. I assume this is filtered and a porter? Whatever it is, it is a bit boring, bland and thin, but otherwise is great!!..or not LOL.....

Can from Brewso. Pours a fairly clear, dark cherry color. Its really a borderline deep ruby-purple hue. There’s a decent off-white head that quickly dissipates to a thin, patchy film. Small amounts of spotted lacing dot the glass. The aroma is of dark roasted malts, burnt caramel, cocoa beans, and the slightest hint of dark rum. The flavor is very malty up front, with caramel and cocoa showing strong. There’s also a bit of oakiness and some lightly smoky, Scotch Ale type flavors. A decent amount of herbal hops add a nice bitterness that balances this brew almost perfectly. Medium body that goes down very smooth, with a lingering burnt caramel aftertaste. Awesome brown ale!

Can from brewfiend, poured a dark brown-mahoganey color with a 0.5cm thick head, thinning fairly quickly to a thin covering. The lacing was decent, though, spotty rings all the way down. The aroma was roasty cocoa, caramel, and bubblegum. The flavor was rather porter-like, roasty to slight ashy dry chocolate, some caramel, slight bubblegum, lactic/milky notes with warmer temperatures, finishing quite silky dry, much like an oatmeal stout would. Upon reading the description a few minutes later, indeed, the oatmeal wasn’t just an impression, it’s really there, neat stuff. Certainly, this beer defies a brown ale or oatmeal stout style, could certainly be an oatmeal porter in my mind. Mouthfeel isn’t as fully as that achieved in an oatmeal stout, but the oaty dryness and silkiness is indeed there. Good stuff, Surly, and thanks much, Brad! Re-rate of second can at the end of the month: Not much of an opinion change: oatmeal porter, firm roastiness more noticeable this time.

Thanks Brewblackhole for this one! Pours a dark brown color with a nice tan head.Aromas of chocolate,caramel,and cola.Nice hop bite in the front,than the vanilla,coffee and cola like taste took over.Not Bad!