Surly CynicAle

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

16oz CAN pours out a light amber topped with a nice white head. Aroma of nice spice and fruit. Very nice beer from a can. Thanks footbalm for this one.

Thanks to footbalm for this one - Hazy golden-orange with a medium white head. Aroma has some citrus and summer fruits, a bit of grain, and a large helping of pepper, coriander, and earthy spices. Flavor is sweet & earthy with a nice dose of pepper, coriander, and similar spices, A bit of fruit and other sweet flavors go well against a bit of earthy-floral hops. Nice feel, but I would tone down the pepper just a bit to make this one an all-day beer. Innovative and interesting - another good one from Surly.

Cloudy deep orange pour with tangerine juice hues. Thin off-white head, mostly diminishing. The aroma is quite fruity - mostly tangerine and peach, light orange and dried apricot. Yeast is moderate, adding berry notes to the fold. Also noted are grass, touches of grain and alcohol. Nice aroma, though nothing like a traditional saison; I suppose I was hoping for less refinement and more countryside essence. Very perfumy, lavender and chamomile mostly. The flavor is less perfumy and fruity than the nose indicates. The difference in flavor sways toward boldly toasted grains. Bitterness is mild to moderate, sweetness is medium, acidity just relevant enough to cut through some sweetness and chase away any stickiness. Palate is boring, with medium carbonation and light-medium body. Finishes lightly to mildly bitter and bready. Decent, drinkable and acceptable, though other than a refreshing poolside quaffer I don’t see much reason to keep this one around.

Courtesy boboski. Pours a cloudy, glowing orange with a small white head. Interesting aroma, spicy, earthy, almost grassy hop aroma. A little bit floral. The taste has a profound bitterness to it, hoppy, with a good amount of spice. Pretty refreshing, the bitterness hangs around all the way into the aftertaste. Some grapefruit citrus from the hops definitely makes its way into the flavors, along with a touch of some nutmeg spice. Alot going on here, seemed to taste something new with each sip. Noble effort for a tough style to do from a can.

The beer has an orange-gold color with a moderate amount of head and a lot of carbonation. It has a sweet wheaty apricoty(?) aroma. The flavor is much like the smell with the addition of bitter hops. The hops are not overwhelming.

Pours a nice orangish golden with a good rocky white head. Nice spicy nos with pretty potent floral and citrus hops as well as some tropical fruit. Nice carbonated mouthfeel with a significant hop presence, but it isn;t overwhelming and it compliments the fruits and spice well. An awesome summer beer.

A light orange pour with a very nice white head. An aorma of corriander and light fruit. A flavor to match the nose. Just more fruit in the flavor than the nose. A mild pleasant bitter that seems to push the flavor well. Carbonation as expected is aggressive. Overall a very surprising beer. Not overly fizzy and full bodied. Very good offering.

Can from theisti. Pours with a light copper color with a small head. Lots of light but cannot see through it. Aroma is malty breadiness and some faint flowery hoppiness with a growing grassiness as it warms. Taste is similar with some light sugar candy sweetness on the back end of the flavor. It’s a decent beer but just kind of uninteresting, just too plain of a Saison. Finishes a bit bitter and lightly yeasty sweet. I do pick up just faint corn/macro flavor here and there. 7/3/7/3/14

I believe that was the first batch of Cynic I had. I finally tried this again hoping for something better but did not get it. Shaker pour @ Stub and Herbs. Basically, its just not a good Saison. Its way to sweet, not lively, not effervescence and the malts and hops are way off. It does have a Belgian yestiness but its muffled but all this not to style characteristics. They could have called this an IPA as well its so allover the place. Its just not what I want when I am looking for either a hoppy beer or especially a Saison. 7/3/6/3/13