Surly Bender

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

From a can. Pours with almost no head. Not viscous at all. Deep brown, barely allows like through. Smells like malt, coffee, burnt toast. Delicious, rich, and complex. Flavor is malt, barley, coffee, and molasses. The best part of the beer is the way it fills your whole mouth. The flavor is greatly enriched by chewing the beer and allowing every part of your tongue to taste it. One glass lasted an hour and a half and was enjoyable all the way down. Here’s hoping Surly begins to take off. Can’t wait to try Darkness this winter.

Poured from can into Nonic Imperial Pint. Very dark ruby-brown with an inch thick tan head that very slowly recedes, leaving fine lacing down the glass. Aroma of sweet caramel, citrus hops, some roasted malts. Slightly sweet caramel, roasted malts, oats, slight coffee and chocolate, and a very nice citrus hop counterbalance. Finishes on a moderate bitter note. Low carbonation, rich medium body, dry body. Very smooth for such a low abv beer. At 5.1% abv, this is the ideal year round session beer in Minnesota. It is also the best Brown Ale (whether English, American, India or hybrid) that I have had.

This is a tasty beer. Lots of bite and nutty at all. Much better as an oatmeal brown than those nutty ones. Don’t get any negatives from the can either. Excellent.

One pint can, contents poured into Sam Adams Specialty glass. Appearance is a clear, deep brown hue with amber highlights, big thick brown craggy head mostly sustains, thin spotty lacing. Smell is a nice mix of malts including sweet cocoa, roast, toffee, coffee, and caramel, tones of nuts and surprising amount of grassy hops, slight alcohol, very aromatic. Taste is amazing and follows the aroma, roast and cocoa malts initially intersperse with grass hops and ride a creamy milk backbone, midway comes tones of strong oatmeal, caramel, and vanilla, finishes dry and bitter. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied, creamy smooth texture, mild to moderate carbonation. This is probably the most flavorful brown ale I have ever had, the oatmeal, cocoa, and hops are all so well-balanced that i wish i had better access to Surly beers, looking forward to more of their beers very soon.

This beer poured a lovely dark brown and immediately had a hint of banana esters. It was lightly nutty with some chocolate and caramel notes. Overall it was an excellent beer and the best I’ve ever had out of a can.

Poured a two finger head into my pint glass. Color is a deep amber -- not quite opaque. Smell: first thing I get is British hops. Next is roasted malt. nice. Taste. Pretty typical for a good american brown. Oh wait... incredible mouthfeel.. must be the oatmeal. very silky smooth. I don’t want to swallow. Drinkability. I had one and I’m wanting more. I guess that rates at least a 4 in my book. A very nice brown ale. This is my first Surly and I’m impressed. I have more in my fridge to keep me waiting in anticipation. Serving type: can

Dark brownish color with foamy tan head. Quite a unique flavor including roasted hops, malts, chocolate, coffee. Surprisingly balanced beer; full of flavor and slightly bitter. Excellent beer.

Pours dark brown with a finger high tan head. Descent lacing. Sweet malty raisin nose with hops. Sweet then coffee and chocolate followed by a nice semi dry hop finish. Not at all what I was expecting. You can taste the nuances of a traditional brown ale in there somwhere the complexities are truly amazing. So smooth!!