Surly Bender

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

16 ounce can. Dark ruby color with a full, wispy light tan colored head. Light chocolate and grassy hop aromas. Very light chocolate and roast flavors, with hints of hazelnut. Smooth with a nice finish. Better than most brown ales, but still as a beer, it’s just ok.

16 oz can. Sea salt and orange zest aroma. Wispy. Moist and fresh. Oat dust and lemon juice. Restrained. Pours a touching florid mahogany, with blood red fringe and a soapy tan head, creamy. Nice lacing. On the tongue, a robust kick of malty sugars and roasted malt. Begins with a salty sea oat sweep and then slides into a coarse and grainy tooth of grain, orange peel, toasted almond and sweet honey. The oat brings in great character to this brown. Not overly hoppy, in my opinion, a nice balance with some floral and resin bitterness in the back end. A rather quaffable and delicious brew. Nicely constructed.

Pour was a brown with a tan head. Aroma was quite hoppy for a brown with seom nots of caramel and chocolate. Flavor was more of a roasted malt with some chocolate and roasted nuts. A decent brown.

I love this beer. Nicely malt aromatic (bread from the oven, toasted walnuts) with a good hop tinge (a bit of pencil shavings, plus some pine). Looks good, nice head. Medium-bodies, perfect for style. There is some nice oat/chocolate sweetness but never too much and it blends great with a bit of fuggley/funky, plus PNW citrus. Nicely integrated and holds together when warm. I would drink this very regularly if it was availble to me. Great extra from Iowaherkeye.

Can courtesy of fly. Body-ultra dark brown body with a lasting beige foamy thick head. Nose-raisin and rich. Taste-fig, big raisin, dark rich fruit, mysterious, oriental, light soy, light unami, caramel, scorched malts, light char/burnt, barley, oatmeal raisin cookies, very rich without being too sweet, very light chocolate powder, very light acid that works quite well. The fig/raisin dominates almost in a Belgian strong kind of way, and works very well. Damn solid brown ale that almost crosses the border into an American Strong Ale. Very nice.

Can from Grimreeser. Thanks Chad! Pours brown with a tan head. Aroma nuts, milk chocolate, and wet grains. Medium bodied with the thin british texture (but not watery). Initial flavor of tea, nuts, caramel, and tobacco. Subtle herbal and spicy bitterness that carries through to the finish, which has more notes of tea. Moderate amount of residual sweetness. Very good beer in a style that is usually boring.

Can from tytoanderso - thanks, Tyler! My second Surly brew and it’s another impressive one, particularly given my relative disregard for the style. Perhaps it’s the oats that give this beer so much character, but there’s a real smoothness and heft to it, not so much from traditional malting (at least that doesn’t seem so prominent in the taste) as from chewy, biscuity qualities. Nice liveliness from some hops too, with a sweet bourbon-like finish.

Can from hellomynameis. Brown body with a large, light tan head. The aroma is toffee, vinous and herbal hops. The flavor is lightly sweet, caramel, herbal, cereal, milk chocolate and raisins. Medium body is soft and creamy with light carbonation.