Surly Furious

Canned. Beer is medium caramel-brown colored, clear. Head is average-sized, beige frothy/creamy. Slowly diminishing and mostly lasting. Moderate lazy lacing.<P>The first impression on the nose is heavy hop, malty ballast. Malty with light notes of buttered toast, toasted grain, moderate cookie and caramel; Hoppy with heavy notes of resin/pine, moderate herbal grapefruit oil, trace of lemon; Yeasty with a trace note of dish rag.<P>The flavor is lightly/moderately sweet, moderately/heavily bitter, lightly acidic with a long, moderately/heavily bitter, lightly sweet finish. Grip doesn’t let up.<P>The body is medium, the texture is watery/velvety and the carbonation is lively.

Can. Head is initially small, frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is hazy medium to dark amber. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (toasted grain, cookie), moderately hoppy (resin, grapefruit), with light notes of peach and black tea. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately to heavily bitter. Medium body, velvety/creamy texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. I can see why it’s well-liked; it’s nicely balanced for the style (very bitter but plenty of malt to back it up) and assertively hoppy in the nose but has malt character to keep it from being one-dimensional. Nice creamy mouthfeel too. A very good rendition, even if not the most appealing sort for me.

Draught, at MacKenzies, Minneapolis, June 2007. Amber colour. Rather murky. Not surprisingly, this is all about the hops. The aroma is very intense with big pine and resin, but also a very leafy, herbaceous, floral character. Perhaps a little less intense on the palate. Relatively smooth and drinks quite easily. Despite all the hops, its not an outrageous "hops at all costs" beer and comes over as nicely balanced..

Thanks to Badgerben for this one. Dark amber – chestnut pour with more carbonation than I expected and a medium foamy head. The aroma is big! Lots of powerful malt, caramel, syrup and nougat. Hops just help it along with pine and citrus. A good malt body greats you along with your first blast of power hops. Burnt malt, caramel grains (even a hint of chocolate…or am I imagining) with big pine/spruce hops throughout with citrus peal well represented at the finish. The bitterness is two fold in this one as it seems to be coming from both the hops and perhaps some tannic grain husks. Some metallic hints as well. Body is medium in general though the mouth feel is a bit more watery than the flavor initially leads you to believe it will be. Good.

On tap at Mckenzies in Minneapolis. A large hop presense on the nose. A deep amber pour with a small tan head. A semi sweet start that quickly gives way to the flavor of hops. A bit of fruitiness eases through as well as an excellent bitter finish. Very smooth carbonation and mouthfeel. An ass kicker of an IPA that is smooth on the palate and hops are all over it. Very good beer.

Can from theisti, via Zinister. Thanks! Pours a rich amber and cheddar orange with a two-finger head. Intense pine and grapefruit in the nose. Flavor is pine resin, grapefruit, and more pine in the finish. Coats the tongue like Sherwin-Williams. This is a fantastic IPA. I MUST HAVE MORE!

Pours a very dark, burnt orange. Floral hop aroma with some mild malty/cookie notes. Mouthfeel is very full with some very slight stickiness. Hops are extremely dry. A very good, if challenging beer.

Canned. Pours deep copper with khaki head and a bit of lacing. Big spicey citrusy aroma of passionfruit, fresh oranges, strawberry and fresh flowers...all of this married with sweet and sticky caramel malt aroma. Flavor is resinous hoppiness with thick, sweet and slightly salty malt flavors. Behind the strong hoppiness I sense some cookie dough-ish malt flavors. Creamy, fluffy mouthfeel. Great palate. Dry and bitter finish. A glorious and intriguing IPA.