Surly Bender

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

16oz can. Deep brown with very faint tannish foam, poor retention and no lacing. Very nice nutty malt aroma with some notes of hops. Very smooth flavor, malty without being sweet, very nice subtle bitterness.

Can from allendodd. Thanks loads! Pours a very dark brown with a foamy tan head. Aromas of chocolate and treacle. Medium body with frothy carbonation. Flavors of citrus/resin over nicely roasted malt. Treacle too. Very smooth brown ale. But with lots of flavor. Finishes with a nice level of bitter on the rear tongue edges. Good beer.

Can thanks to footbalm: Pours a barely transparent dark mahogany with a nicely-lacing frothy tan head. Fresh green piny hoppy aroma has some roasted malt and coffee notes along with sweet caramel toffee. Body starts with a lightly sweet earthy dark caramel maltiness and crisp piny bittering and flavor hop balance. Palate has a fizzy dissolved carbonation and a smooth oatmeal finish with some lingering bittersweetness. An interesting hoppy brown ale.

RBSG 2007 Tour at Surly – Dark brown, creamy off white head. Toasty vanilla aromas sit a top faint caramel and chocolate molasses notes. Flavor is well balanced tones of all the above. A touch of light hoppiness keeps the soft sweet toasty notes in check. Medium bodied with a pillow soft carbonation. An easy drinking brown…

A dark brown appearance with beige head. A chocolate, nutmeg, and toffee aroma. The flavor is quite sour with a lot of nutty and caramel notes. A sweet finish. This was a nice brown ale especially from a tall boy can.

Very good, very fine, nitro-like creamy, dark cream-coloured head, slightly irregular over very dark brown beer with some faint red-brown highlights. Dry hoppy nose, bit of coffee, creamcake hinting at underlying sweetness. Whiffs of liquorice and caramel aroma’s. Again a combination of dry hops, coffee, oatmeal (indeed) and the typical burnt-sourish flavours of stout. Two things surprise me: the effortless going-over from on stage in the taste to the next: very good balance, as well as the accuracy of the commercial description on the can (not the above). Retronasal a lot of caramel. Velvety, creamy MF and full body. Nice oatmeal stout. Thanks, Dave.

Tap at Barley Johns. Brown Coloring with Good White Head. Nice Hop Aroma Detected Initially...Toasted Malt, Not Too Dry...With Age Seems to Round out a Bit More..Soft Chocolately-ness....Light Oats and Hops to Really Round This one Out. Big Flavor for a 5% Brew. Easy to Critic With Great Waters, Town Hall and Barley Johns Brews so Close, but Surly Promises to be a Heavily Enjoyed Brewery in our State.

Can out of the cooler while camping Labor Day weekend. Pours much darker than a "Brown Ale". Flavor is much more deep than the style. Bready, malty, chocolate and a slick mouth feel. Quite nice and another great effort. Update 2/8/2008 - Can pours dark black with a decent head and lots of lace. The aroma is yeasty, dark chocolate, roasty, lactic, and coffee. The flavor is roasty, very dark chocolate, ale fruit notes - increases as it warms, some light hops, nutty (oats?), and vanilla. The palate is rich and slick. Overall, much better than when camping. I like it. Good session.