Surly Bender

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

Lightly roasted toffee aroma. Reddish brown pour with an off-white head. Very creamy mouthfeel. Chocolate and toffee dance and play with a delightful bitterness. The bitterness lingers. This is kind of abrown pale ale. Interesting, tasty and quaffable. Thanks Jeff.

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.

Dark brown in color with a nice fluffy brown head. Grainy, toasty malty aroma. Caramel notes. Malty sweet flavor. Caramel chocolatety notes. Sweet tasting. Full bodied. Finish is sweet and malty. Smooth. Very drinkable. Great.

Dark brown pour with brown head thick head. Nice nose to toasty malt. Flavor was sweet with a touch of hops that blended into a nice carmalized sugar finish. Medium body and great texture. Really great brown ale!

On tap at Bryant Lake Bowl. Nice to see a new brewer in town welcome! As I tasted this beer I was plagued by the need to categorize. I say plagued because idealy one should approach each beer as if it were unique and appreciate its own nuance apart from the strictures of style. But I’m human so I kept thinking "too thin to be a porter", "not dry or nutty enough to be a brown". When I finally settled on "scotch ale" I could relax and enjoy. This tastes very similar to Three Floyds Robert the Bruce. It is dark, malty and chocolaty like a scotch with a scotch’s sessionability. The hops were unique and quite pleasant and reminded me very much of the Three Floyds interpretation. Well done and a nice addition to the regular taps.

Draft @ Brewery: Dark brown, nice head and lacing. Nose of sweet fruit and cocoa, plenty of chocolate and rich cream, nut bread and dough. The flavor is rich and creamy, lots of chewy malt and chocolate. Nice finish. Good.

Tasty and well-put-together dark ale, rich enough to sip and ponder but just light enough to gulp if you want. Pours dark brown with amber-red highlights, tall and lovely tan head. Nose is lighter chocolates with some sweeter notes like cola and sugared coffee with cream. Flavor offers a nice balance of roasty, moderate sweetness and an equally moderate, sneaking bitterness. This all rides on a soft and creamy, fairly thick mouthfeel. Would be a natural match for a nice cheeseburger.

The color was medium/dark brown. The head was cream, thin, and off-white. The aroma was coffee, chocolate, caramel malt, and sweet malt. The flavor was sweet malt, vanilla, molasses, coffee, and chocolate. The palate was smooth. The finish was clean.