Surly CynicAle

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

Bottle. Pours a yellow orange with a thick foamy white head. Aroma is good an unaffected by the canning, belgian yeast, honey, peach and orange. Some hop character in the finish. I enjoyed it.

A- Pours a nice golden yellow hue with a huge 2 finger head that just wont quit with lots of visible carbonation. I found myself thinking "now this is how a beer should look"... and I don’t think that very often. S- Smell is fairly mild yet earthy, spicy with hints of belgian yeast. T- Taste is much different than I was expecting ... not your average saison. Light with an earthy character which finishes with quite a bit of hops and something distinctly lageresque about it that I can’t put my finger on. M- Fairly thick with just the right amount of carbonation. D- This is clearly a very drinkable brew. Perhaps a bit different than something I would session but I liked it none the less.

July ’07 tasting. 16 ounce can provided by theisti. Aroma is spice (clove), pepper, and a mild earthiness. Taste is spice/clove, pepper, and maybe a touch of banana.

Additional notes. The color is nearly gold, which places it on the dark side for a typical saison. The color means a fair amount of specialty malts were used, not something I typically enjoy in the style. There is a profound pepperiness to the beer, with all the heat you might get eating a peppercorn that has not been crushed well, as well as the pepper flavor. It seems like the beer improves after a few minutes, maybe it is purging some of the more funky volatile yeast byproducts. The beer is just a bit on the harsh side, it might be the hops, it might be the yeast, but something is amiss. It also seems like the beer is much smoother when it has a chance to warm. Right out of the fridge, it seems a bit too aggressive, but after a bit of time the fruit comes out a little more in the aroma and the thickness given by the oats becomes more apparent. This is a good beer, the best saison out of a can that I have ever tried, but I have to disagree with the brewers choice of specialty malts, they add too much to the beer, and I am not keen on the yeast selection and/or the fermentation process. It tastes alot like Safeale T58, with all the pepper. Score stays the same, but I fear I overrated it the first time around. Thanks for the can Tim.

Orange pour with next to no head or lacing. Weak peppery aroma. Loads of coriander and pepper, dry mouthfeel and very mild fruity sweetness. Overall decent, but just not that enthralling.

Pours a hazy orange with a thick white head. Aroma is zesty citrus and malty sweetness. Flavor has a nice earthy funk to it mixed in with a bit of bitter hops. More citrus fruits like lemon and orange peel as well. Finishes slightly dry and bitter, nice carbonation that fits well. Nice! Thanks to DJ for just handing me this at work because I claimed I needed a surly fix!

elgaucho provided can. poured cloudy yellow gold, nice white head. aroma of subtle fruit and air. teh taste is sweet, with a trace of grapefruity bitterness. kind of a spicy finish. bit too sweet for me.

Courtesy of Quake1028. Pours clear deep gold with copper core and weak off white head. The aroma is pretty big to start with sweet malts mixed with lemon, candi sugar, peach, sweet apples and some mild earthiness. The taste is nice and fresh with both sweet and tart notes coming from such things as candi sugar, tart lemon, apples and mild yeast spices. Seems to end with a tasty mild malt roastiness.

Courtesy of Monger. Thanks again, James. Orange pour with reddish hues throughout the heart of the body. Soapy looking head, loosely constructed and about 2 fingers thick. Spotty drip lacing present once the head recedes, which takes a good while. Nose of coriander, citrus zest, clove, mandarin oranges and nectarines. Still tastes pretty damn fresh almost a year after canning. Spices dominate in the flavor department, coriander and clove are the main ones I can detect, but I am sure there are more. Also has a lot of citrus fruit and zest going on. I don’t get any black pepper or really peppery spice of any kind though. Medium bodied, very nice mouthfeel, I’m going to think that is thanks to the oats that were used. I love that they do that with their beers, it makes a Saison or a Brown Ale that much more unique and fun to drink. Finish is lengthy, some hoppy spice, lemons and a bit of perfume/floral spice.