Surly Bender

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

Can from theisti. Great clear brown with thick, lucious tan head. Light chocolate malt and hoppy nose. Velvety mouth feel...flavors of caramel and cocoa....some cream on the finish, along with some bitterness. Best beer from a can I’ve ever had...until I try Furious I suppose. Thanks theisti...it rocks!

Can.

Pours very dark for a brown ale. Really super nose of carmelized sugar and roasted oats, plenty of chocolate malt. Flavor is a bit more confused --- heavily hopped for the style, intriguingly but ultimately unfortunately, a bit nutty in a gently sour brown ale way, but with way more hops driving it through. I’m pleased -- especially by the aroma -- but it’s not quite a slam out of the ballpark.

Poured a very dark brown with mahogany hints when held up to light. Off-white head is nearly two inches thick and shows some retention and great lacing. Smell is of roasted malts, oatmeal, and a bit of coffee. There is also a subtle brown sugar or molasses sweetness. Smells are all very subtle and the nose is not overpowering. Taste starts with the sweetness up front with molasses, caramel malts and some nuts. This flows into a coffee and oatmeal taste that gives way to the hops which are much more present than in the aroma. The finish is crisp with a slight hop bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, extremely smooth and creamy with moderate carbonation. This is one hell of a sessionable brown ale and I could drink it all night long. Extremely well balanced and easy going down. Highly recommended!

Above average brown ale mainly because it presents more body and more flavors than most brown ales. The body is a dark brown underneath a small, but fizzy brown head. The aroma is slight, but what is there is malty with roasted grain and a bit of chocolate and very lightly hoppy. The flavor, though, is moderately sweet and lightly bitter and full of malt character raising tastes of caramel, nuts, toast. The finish is citrus hops. Medium body. Lively carbonation.

12 oz glass on tap at the galway tribes (frankfort, I’ll). Pours an extremely dark brown, slightly hazed, with ruby highlight and brown moderatr head that laces. Aromas are heavy on coffee and brown roasty malts up front, coffee and tobacco mix in. Initial is very chocolatey and tobacco, mixes well with a touch of smokiness, coffee, and overall very welcoming malt profile. Light bitterness, but the malt really steals the show. Flavors are spectacular, balanced, quite yummy. Complex. Another kudos to the fine people at Surly Brewing. Cheers

Shared by Butters at DLD. Caramel malt aroma. Dark brown body with light head. Medium palate. Medium malt presence with some hints of caramel, and a bit of a bitter finish.

pours dark dark brown with nice tan head. the nose was sweet air. the taste was slightly hoppy, but mostly smooth chocolate and coffee. it had a full mouth feel, but seeemed oily. overall, i didn’t detect much hop punch here, and was mostly dominated by smooth sweetness, which may sound luscious to many people. i prefer a sharp hop hit to get my attention and keep my interest.

Thanks to HawkEye19 for this beer. Poured mahogany with a fizzy off-white head. Aroma of piney earthy hops wtih a bit of fruity sweetness. Flavor is surprisingly dry and hoppy up front, with notes of earthy grassy hops. Flavor shifts a bit to a light fruitiness with a bit of molasses... not as chocolatey as the can advertises, but more reminiscent of a doppelbock. In fact, as I drank this, I couldn’t help but wonder how close I’d come to the taste if I mixed a slightly above-par session IPA with a decent doppelbock. The sweetness came out more as it warmed, adding layers to the complexity. I imagine that if I had drunk this cold, I would have gotten nothing but dry bland hops. Became very complex and tasty as it approached room temperature, but the somewhat one-dimensional introduction to it I got when I poured it at cellar temperature kept my overall impression only mildly above par. A beer I will have to revisit as I go through the four-pack.