Surly Coffee Bender

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

16 oz can. Clear, deep brown with a thin tan head. Toasty nose with brown sugar fading into French roast coffee bean. Medium body but finishes a bit thin and resiny. Mild fizzy carb. Taste is burnt molasses, cola and bitter coffee. I prefer the original.

Can, courtesy mgumby10. Pours a dark and translucent chestnut brown color. A small, fading, beige colored head leaves a sudsy wash that mostly rejoins the body. The nose shows notes of rich coffee intertwined with a caramelly, nutty malt base. A good amount of lactic creaminess lends an inviting softness, taking some of the edge off of the coffee roast. Flavors follow suit, showing fantastic balance between roasty coffee and rich caramel notes, with cream and oats bridging the gap quite well. Medium bodied and silky smooth, the palate is nice, but a bit more substance would be welcomed. I’m not sure that this is significantly better than the regular Bender, but it is damn nice. Great for a brown ale.

Can thanks to mgumby. How the hell does a brown ale turn into coffee sex?!? Smell was better than the taste, but still very good. Creamy and caramelly. Extremely cool...you need this.........you do.

Starbucks iced coffee is cheaper,the price of this beer is astronomical yet the colour of the head shows a minimal use of any malts.Tastes like Todd saved all his coffee that sat on the burner all day.Same beat up 16 oz.cans as always,no date code.This brewer is now on the profit bandwagon,save ur monies for imported brews where pride is still incorporated in the brewing process.A highly over-rated brew.

Can courtesy mgumby. Ruby-garnet color. Very nice coffee flavor, with a tight central american bean tone. Nice iced coffee flavor, too, with touches of cream. Dry palate. I really like the coffee elements but on the whole it lacks depth and oomph.

Pint can my Dad brought down to me from Minneapolis. Pour is mostly clear mahogany dark brown with pretty settling that builds up a thick and lasting 3 inch light tan head. Aroma of somewhat stale coffee, pine hoppiness and roasted malt. Nice enough, though this was a pretty blah coffee nose. Taste is very much the coffee aromatics and taste at the beginning, middle is the brown ale of Bender with a pine hop bitterness to the finish. The hops are pretty understated, and the coffee dominates throughout. I didn’t mind the concept of this beer, but it really suffered from a flat, dull coffee profile. Not sure what technique they used to extract the coffee, but it ended up tasting almost like instant coffee. Palate is creamy medium, coats the mouth nicely. The finish is quite long, and features even more of the coffee. Having said all of this, it is still a clean beer that is easy to sip, just a little dull.

I had this for the first time last year at EBF. Now that its readily available I decided to stock up since it was by far the best thing Surly had to offer at the festival last year. Overwhelming aroma of a great coffee smell. If I had to compare this to anything else out there try a Starbucks double shot espresso and I think it taste identical aside from there being the added bonus of alcohol in it and the beer is not as thick. I was very impressed with it at EBF last year and still am today, this might be my new staple beer to turn to.

16-oz can. Thanks, BVC! Pours a murky dark brown with rubied highlights. Loose gray film. Big, rich, delicious coffee nose. They didn’t use the pinnacle of gourmet coffees, that’s for sure, but it still smells pretty good. Easily could have notched a perfect score with good coffee, though. Creamy medium body with coffee, brown bread, black bread, and caramel on the mid-palate. Long coffee finish.