Surly Furious

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

Can. Very murky orange-red with a small off white head. Rich candied citrus and fresh cut pine hop aromatics. Earthy, and citric/metallic hop flavors dominate. Sturdy caramel maltiness peers through resinous hoppiness. Fruity and floral hop flavors linger in the finish, with a bracing bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium, rather dry.

Pours a nice deep reddish amber, with a short, taciturn head of sudsy foam. Okay head retention, pretty good lacing. Citrus hops are very noticeable in the aroma - very IPA-like - with a mild malt presence well in the background. If the aroma sounds unbalanced, rest assured that the flavor is exceptionally well balanced - lots of hops and lots of malt. Both of which are fresh and delicious. Hops are citrus all the way, with bitter orange and lime flavors. Well, okay, there is a touch of pine in there too. The malt is a caramel-toffee blend, sweet, robust, and delicious. A perfect combination. The body is just north of medium, and generous carbonation rounds out a fantastic brew. Twenty minutes after finishing a second pint, I could still conjure up citrus bitterness in the aftertaste.

1 pt can courtesy of tyteranderso. Thanks. Pours an amber color with a big clumpy off-white head that had fair retention and lacing. The aroma is bold with fresh hops, pine and a bot o grapefruit. The taste is nicely bitter caramel with some pine, oranges and sweet biscuit. The finish is long and bitersweet. The palate is smooth and even. Overall: A very tasty brew, love it.

Rerate: Tested this beer against 9 others, and this came out tiied for the 2nd best. Bitter orange/grapefruit flavor. Very nice!

Want hops...try this beer. It’s very hoppy and very good. It’s bitter, it’s piney, it’s not well balanced, but that’s the idea. If you don’t like hops, you won’t probably like this beer. Fortunately for me, I like hops, and therefore like this beer. I would say though that the variety of hops used is not at the very top of my list. Not that that makes this a bad beer, but there are better IPA’s out there. I don’t know how this gets classified as an amber ale. In my book, it’s an IPA all the way. Original Rating = 3.8

Can from nbutler11. Very standard. Color and bite of a double IPA but without the alcohol. So I guess its unique... but if youre going down the halfway road, I would just prefer a Hop Knot.

I split a couple of cans of this with Flyer and SurlySober, and I have to agree with the sentiment of Flyer’s review (below); this beer is agressively hopped, very bitter (99 IBUs according to the can), and quite dry. However, there wasn’t a lot else to its flavor (no citrus, pine, grass, flowers, etc - all the other stuff that IPAs taste like). However, it was a very smooth 99 IBUs, if that’s at all possible. Mouthfeel is quite smooth up-front, and the bitterness comes in slowly as the beer sits in your mouth and slides down your throat. I found this beer smooth but not quite to watery. The most drinkable very bitter beer that I’ve yet tried, although I agree that it would have benefited from the addition of some other flavor notes. The first thing that I noted about this beer was its packaging. The color and images of the can made me think that a lot of people must accidentally purchase this thinking it is some kind of energy drink; or perhaps a caffeinated drink like Sparks. Appearance of the beer itself is a clear-but-not-brilliant copper with lots of white head. Smell is highly hoppy. Flavor is as I described above. Mouthfeel is smooth and highly drinkable, almost to the point of being watery, but far enough from there to just be very drinkable. Given all the great choices out there, I can’t say I’d be in a rush to drink more of this, but during my next can-only expedition (canoeing, swimming etc), it might come along; or at least it would if we could buy it here in Milwaukee.

Scored this in a trade with Scubarex. Many thanks! The tall boy pours a translucent, copper, orange amber with a creamy, slightly beige head that laced the glass heavily. Spicy aroma of pine, lemons and grapefruit. Flavor is well rounded with nice doughy, sweet malts and oranges and lemons. Finish is slightly bitter and dry. Very drinkable.

From a pint sized can... Appears a hazy, semi-transparent orange toned amber with moderate CO2 streams that quickly rise to the top. A 2 finger, beige head of cream slowly fades into a mild cap and heavy collar. Tubular lacing is left all around the glass. Very nice. Smell is of caramel, pine, citrus, grass, and toasted biscuits. Taste is that of the aromas with a sweet, caramel covered biscuit flavor that has been toasted in a brick oven that’s been fired by cut pine with some tangerine peels thrown into the flame. Along with aforementioned journey through the brick oven, the beer offers some doughy yeast, and a touch of pepper and spice. Mouthfeel is silky upon the first sip, leading to a nice bite of spice in a medium bodied, sugary, bitter but balanced brew.