Surly Bender

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

Thanks to hellomynameis for this beauty. It pours dark reddish brown with a frothy yellow head. The flavor has inklings of cocoa powder, nuts and a touch of coffee. It’s very tasty.

I’ve been wanting to try some Surly brew for awhile now. I guess I didn’t realize that it was canned, but that’s okay. After all, it’s "Beer for a glass, from a can." I think the can factor adds a bit of uniqueness to it. I’m pretty open-minded anyways and always enjoy something different... Bender is just about the color of Dr. Pepper (dark brown with ruby highlights). It has a puffy caramel-colored head that slowly fades to a similarly-colored veil. There is some scant lacing. The aroma is like chocolate cake with a nutty and earthy quality to it. The flavor is roasted malt, nutty caramel, and some cocoa and slightly burnt in the finish. There is also a mild to moderate bitterness and a slight sourness (part way through) in the finish that balances the sweet, earthy flavor well. I think that the finish and lasting flavors are actually better and more impressive that the initial flavor as are the final few sips with the hop sediment to give it a little extra kick. The body is medium to full and is soft and creamy on the on the palate (must be from the oatmeal used). Overall I think Bender is a really nicely done brown ale that’s pretty comlex for the style and is probably one of the better ones out there. No harm done with the can either. Very good stuff all around! 16 oz can (5.1% ABV, 45 IBUs) from buckybeer. Thanks Mark!

Can. I can’t remember the last time I had a microbrew in a can. A brown color with a light brown head. A semi-sweet malty, toasted caramel aroma with nuts. Earthy, gritty, and malty flavors are push through this beer. A good body with a lasting malty aftertaste.

The Surly Brewing Company had intended from the start to create beers without definitions, that went beyond stylistic boundaries. With their initial releases, they have shown this ambition and realized it well. though we call this an American Brown Ale, it’s much more than that, and seems like a porter at times, which is how the brewer described it as, an Oatmeal Brown Porter. And why not? Burnt sienna body, a crisp mahogony hue, with ruby crimson feet. Warm cocoa-toned head, like a cappocino topping, lasts long into the life of the pint. Aroma is lightly nutty, slightly sweet, some caramel/toffee notes, then reveals itself dry and roasty. Earthy, open, inviting. I like it. The brew boards the palate with confidence and lets loose an array of flavors. Malt is the main ingredient here, and some compelling ones were put into play, several caramels, some chocolate, (to make it more of a brown porter than a robust one) some Belgian Special B (yum, I’m reminiscing on some favorite dubbels at times), and aromatic hops. Chocolate is here, nuts, and toffee, sweet for a second, then dry again, and toasty. The oats add an excellent amount of texture and grit to the mouthfeel that makes every sip something to savor. Body is medium to full, but it’s that texture that makes it memorable. It’s smooth, but substantial, with a long, memorable finish, the flavors echo with every drop that rolls back over the tongue. Here’s a brown ale you can drink, and which makes you think. Rather than pass the time in between gulps of a light, uncomplicated sweetish brown brew, it grabs your attention and your palate and makes you wonder a bit about it, and ponder on what makes you like it so much. It’s an excellent introductory brew for this upstart, as people can reach for it again and again over a night at the bar,("another Bender", you say to the barman, and pretty soon you’re on one!) and still ponder on it’s quality and taste, and come back for more the next night.

Very deep brown, nice head. Aroma is faintly of nuts. Flavor is lightly nutty and leafy, pine hops on the finish. Hoppy for the style, which is nice.

20070625 Big ol’can thanks to Dodd. Mahogany hints on mostly black. Pretty stuff with lofty white head. Aroma is cocoa, roasty dark bread, light lactose, bourbon-like woody hints. Nice session brown reminds of a dunkel, maybe a lighter Hell Hath No Fury. Great palate and finish. Light bitterness.

The beer poured a dark brown, but not a lot of head by the time I got my pour. The beer had nice coffee tones with a pronounced hoppy flavor and hints of cocoa.

Can from jrob_21 - thanks!. Big hoppy nose with Cascades and some must, a lot of roast/toast malt with heavy waves of bitter chocolate and nuts. Caramel. Dark mahogany pour with a unique orange-brown head that creams and rocks itself deliciously. Taste is - yessir - heavy, thick chocolate malt and prickly Cascades, has enough Black Sun in it for comparison, but then veers off in its own direction, with silky, syrupy oatmeal strands, caramel, and cocoa. Bitter and nutty. Finish and after have a slightly acidic fruity tang, otherwise dry and rindy. Thinnish, flattish body. Cocoa reminds more of a porter than of a brown ale. Robust session actually worthy of everyday drinking. Layered, complex, delicious!