Surly Furious

Brewed by Surly Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

Mildly soapy and oxized hop nose with a touch of diacetyl. Astringent and vegetative palate with very bitter mid-palate.

Tap, Acadia Cafe. Medium amber, light haze. Huge hop melange aroma, though clearly prominently featuring amarillo. Loads of citrus and exotic fruits, rather intense. Lean and mean. Malt character was somewhere between medium and "thinnish" and probably closer to the latter. Bitterness was solid and not overpowering, but the hop flavor, which was a tiny bit clamorous, completely overshadowed by the hop juice character of this one. Perhaps I’m not worthy, but I wanted to feel just a bit more heft and balance to my hopmonsters. But I am very excited to see someone new on the MN scene and eagerly await more releases from them.

Valley Brew tasting Feb 2007 - Aroma is alcohol and subtle hops. Flavor is citrus hops, but not as strong as others note here. Curious of cans age since my sample seems subduded. Smooth and balanced this is a tasty IPA for sure, but I didn’t get the big hops.

16 ounce can

This is probably the second best beer I have ever run across in can form. It competes in every way with Dale’s Pale Ale (except that you get 16 ounces per can instead of 12). I think I like this one a little better. I look forward to the day that Surly escapes the confines of the Twin Cities to reach Wisconsin and beyond. This should be the first thing they export.

Aroma / Appearance - An exploding head cascases out of the can into the glass. Initially there is only an inch of liquid and several inches of head but it settles over the course of a few minutes to the opposite. The body reminds me of rusty water. As I drank it, layers of lacing clung to the sides like layers of sediment tracing the buildup of a cliff. Hints of freshly mown grass, melon, grapefruit and wheat highlight a bright nose.

Flavor / Palate - Caramel and grapefruit precede a bitter explosion that washes across the tongue. When it fades traces of semisweet baker’s chocolate chips unfold into a nutty finish. The last traces of the glass tasted a little like coffee grounds which was a bit odd. On the whole, though, it was extremely enjoyable. I’m glad I have two more cans left. I will definitely be picking up more up this next time I go up to the Minneapolis area.

Bottle thanks to CanIHave4Beers... Andy is the best! Pours bright orange with one-finger beige head. Spicy but not too resiny citric hops on the nose. Nice tropical fruit aromas as well. Great malt sweetness that doesn’t get sticky or compete with the hops. Nice bitter finish. Light, slick palate but nicely carbonated. Crisp, refreshing, and easy to drink. Great.

can. mahogony/cranberry coloring. thin but frothy off white head. Big rich caramel, fresh hops, wet paper aroma. similar to a barley wine in fact. creamy, nicely hopped, big malt backing. bitter finish. light and big at the same time. very nice.

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.

Oh yeah, finally Surly brews in the store. Lots of hops are present,this is better on tap, and a good blending of malt. I clearly liked the tap version better but this still was a very nice IPA.