Surly Bender

Likely my first Brown ale. Served on tap at Ike’s in the Minneapolis airport. Went nice with my steak dinner. Nice caramel taste.

Can, courtesy sdeth. Pours a dark caramel red color, big white head, creamy white lacing. Caramel malt aromas, brown sugar, toffee, fairly strong and aromatic overall. Big roasted caramel malts pound the tongue. Sugar, chocolate. Some hops in the finish. There’s some coffee in there, too, albeit off in the distant. Bright, thin-bodied, but satisfying, and very easy to drink. One of the better browns around.

Poured a reddish brown color with a small, light tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of caramel malts, roast, cocoa, nuts, and brown sugar. Taste of caramel, brown sugar, citrus fruits, some pine, light roasted malts, and a bitter hop finish. Thanks Tom!

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.

Somehow I’ve never tried this one. Near black pour with a medium sized light tan head. Aroma is chocolate and a bit of hops. Flavor is heavily malted, lots of toasty malts, molasses, coffee, chocolate, vanilla. Finishes creamy. This was pretty darn good for a brown, I usually don’t like that style.