Surly CynicAle

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

I find Surly’s take on this style to be an excellent summer session beer. The fact that it’s available in a can has made it my go to beer all summer long.

A great session saison but be careful. Went great with BBQ ribs and potato salad. Sweat, spicy, and delicous. Go Surly.

Pours a clear amber copper color with about an inch of tan foam. Okay head retention, good webby lacing. Spicy and a light saison funk in the nose. Quite tasty with flavors including dry spices (corriander and pepper flavors), orange, slight barnyard funk, and black tea. A somewhat floral hopping throughout becomes more noticeable in the finish, lending a gentle citrus touch. Lighter than medium body, well carbonated, smooth and refreshing.

16 oz can. Pours a slightly hazy yellowish gold color with a big white lacy head that laces very well. Aroma is of yeast and pepper. The flavor is excellent! Very floral with apricot and a hint of "grassyness". This years version is just as wonderful as I remember it (despite a new recipe!) One of my favorites from Surly.

Freshly tapped at the Blue Nile. appearance: hazed amber in the glass, clearer near the foot, under a good, staying 1/2" cover of beige-toned foam. A duskier look than other saisons I’ve sampled, but what’s wrong with that. Aroma: nice spices, and sleek citrus. Very fine. Tickles the nose with ethereal pleasures. Lively hop play. Gorgeous. Taste: a phenomenal blast on the palate, that sits and lingers deliciousness in the mouth. Hops, yeast, and spicy malt combine to deploy just the right amount of spicy notes and light fruit. (Lemon and lime with a side order of orange.) Dries near instantly, and demonstrates perfect balance, almost never showing sweet, not too hoppy, not too hot, nor too spicy, just spreading this ingenious, beautiful, utterly satisfying flavor. Light bodied, like any saison should be, but so substantial in flavor, so sophisticated...tea-like, at times, broken up by hop happiness, and a malt character that takes turns at juicy and peppery. Exquisitely drinkable, massively enjoyable. Also, I find myself admiring a certain sublimity I don’t often encounter in other saisons, Belgian-brewed or otherwise. Lordy, it’s lovely! One of the best beer names conceivable, and one of the least apt, in this case. I can’t imagine any cause for skepticism, Surly has done it again!

Much thanks to hopdog for passing this can onto me. Pours a hazy golden orange with a medium creamy/bubbly white head...exactly what a saison should look like! Aroma of that same great citrusy hops that I have come to expect from a Surly beer. But it’s not a hop bomb...the saison qualities are still there. Fruity (apricot), honey, floral, spicy saison yeast notes, some light peppery and bready malt. Flavor of honey, peppery saison spiciness, floral and citrusy hops, a touch of some hop bitterness, bready dry maltiness. Surly does it again! Now if only they could start shipping those cans to PA.

RBSG 2007 Tour at Surly – Gold, creamy white head. Nose held notes of florals, ginger, and spicy black pepper. Flavor pulls out floral and grassy tones that equally balance on a wave of peppered honey and ruby red grapefruit. Medium bodied, medium carbonation, softly bittersweet, spiced finish. A near perfect refreshing summer saison…

The gravitational forces of weather (hot) and culture (beach) pull even the most die hard high gravity fan away from the more complex offerings of a big belgian, barleywine or imperial stout. Summer is about wheat beers. Even Three Floyds could not help but nearly undermine their claim of "not normal" by putting out Gumballhead as their summer offering. And then there is Surly. Their claim to defy stylization has not made total sense to me until their release of Cynic. This may be so far the least publicized revolutionary move in the craft ale industry: a saison in a can, for summer. As with any revolution its componant parts are borrowed from the wisdom of others (Oskar Blues introduced the can, and U.S. brewers have mimicked some of Belgium’s best with distinctly American flair). The unique move here is to take the can, fill it with a refreshing, and endlessly drinikable interpretation of a saison and cynically refuse to make the all American craft summer ale. Wheras even the most creative breweries made beers that faded into summer, Surly refuses to cede the stage. The beer is not a part of the experience, it is the experience. rerate summer ’08- I’m not sure if its the recipe tweak but this is an irresistable summer saison- tons of flavor- cocoa, flowers and sweet malt. My absolute go-to summer beer.