Surly Furious

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

Crack! The minute the can is open you can smell this S.O.B., and that is a good thing Go ahead, sniff right out of the can, that aint no Coors Light. Ummmm, smells good. Lets get a glass, hopefully a a glass that is Surly Swag of course. Gluub, glub, glub, ahhh ain’t she pretty. Amber in color with a bit of haze. Your first gulp you can still smell this beer like crazy. Clean start, bite (big bite) of hops, and a clean finish. Where is my next can?

Aroma is a blast of hops, but the flavor isn’t too bitter. Just an amazing mouthfeel and look to these Surly beers. The flavors of spicy hops and pure grains practically freakin’ dance in the glass.

Thank you Shannon!!! Slightly reddish golden brown. Citrus! Some pine and tropical (pineapple-mango) in there as well. Bitter, and flavorful, perfectly balanced with a sweetness that would be too much in other beers but just right here. WOW. Smooth as mothers milk, coating the tongue with a marvelous flavor that lasts for minutes after a gulp. That it comes in a pint can makes it that much cooler.

Re-Rate: I have figured out that the lines at Old Chicago suck ass and hurt a beers flavor big time. I will not drink there again. This is now a go to beer for me after drinking it out the the can, (put poured in a glass). Just a monster hop of a beer but that surly twist that makes it stand out from the crowd.

Can from Eben. Thanks dude. This might just be one of my favorites... Amber color with great head, amazing lacing. Aroma is freaking amazing grapefruit and pine straight to the face. I almost can’t get over the aroma... Maybe I am fiending for more? Super bitter grapefruit and pine. Amazingly fruity too. A touch of toast. Creamy smooth mouth feel with a lingering resin coating in the mouth. One of the best IPA’s I have ever had! Check that; to me this might just be the best IPA I have ever enjoyed.

Courtesy of Oslo, Ratebeer tasting under the Bridge 12/9. Wow, a beer like this in a can, unbelievable. Looks like it should contain cheap bourbon & coke mix. Dark amber with white head, pine citrus aromas. Beautiful caramel sweetness balanced out with seppo hops galore. I wish they sold these here in oz i’d buy it by the carton.

Thanks to hellomynameis for this one - what a cool beer. Darker brown (looks like a Scotch ale) with an off-white head. Aroma is a nice mix of earthy-floral hops and smoky malts - lots of peat and wood in there. Flavor is really nice - smoky, peaty, woody, sweet malts mixing with a nice herbal-earthen-floral hop blast. A wonderful cross between an IPA and a good Scotch ale. Reeeealy good. Sorry Sly Fox and Oskar Blues, but I just found my #1 favorite canned beer.

16 oz. can. Powerful hops aroma, but also a floral presence, like a hops-scented candle. Pours a clear, dark, red/copper with moderate amount of beige head. Perhaps the darkest pale ale I’ve ever seen. Looks like a long-aged bourbon in the glass. Fruity hop bitterness in the flavor. The hops are quite strong, but, surprisingly, so is the malt. Very sweet for an IPA. The sweetness is welcome at first, but further sips made me wish that Surly had toned it down a little. Good, strong, bitter aftertaste. Smooth, soft texture. This is a very interesting beer. I love IPAs, but there are so many available that a lot of them tend to be forgettable. This beer, with its dark color, unique aroma, and supercharged hops and malt flavor, breaks from the standard IPA mold. I very much appreciate Furious’ individuality, but I do think that its taste is too sweet to let it rate as a truly top notch IPA. <P>Re-rate 12-16-06: I tried this beer again last night, and I realize that, originally, I was holding it to the standard of an IPA. Really, this is a unique beer that is a crossover between an IPA and a Scottish ale, and it deserves to be judged independently. Consequently, I am raising the flavor score from a 7 to an 8, and, in celebration of its originality, I am raising the overall score from a 15 to a 17. Thus, the total score rises from a 3.8 to a 4.1. This is an unforgettable and very good beer, and such a beer deserves a score in the 4s. 7/5/8/4/17:4.1. <P>Update 2-18-07: Surly Furious was included in a tasting of ten American IPAs that I attended last night. It finished in first place on my list, beating out Two Hearted, Avery IPA, Boulder Beer Mojo, and Victory Hop Devil among others. Frankly, the score probably deserves another boost to a 4.2 or a 4.3, but, as I did not do a formal rating of this beer last night, I will hold off on that. <P>Re-rate 4-21-07: I tried my last Surly can from my original November purchase. Surprisingly, this IPA has actually improved from several months of aging. The texture is stunningly smooth, making the beer a pleasure to drink. The challenge is in not chugging it. The flavors are superb, as I have described before. This beer literally gets better every time I try it, and hence its rating keeps moving up. 7/5/9/5/18:4.4. <P>Update 4-6-08: I tried Surly Tea-Bagged Furious for the first time at the Gitchee Gumee Brewfest in Superior, WI on 4-5-08. I am giving my review and rating for it here, but I am not changing my "official" rating for Furious. I had a small (approximately 3 oz.) sample poured from a cask. It was the sixth of 12 beers that I rated (out of about 20 total that I tried) at the festival. Pours a hazy, amber / light to medium brown. Large amount of fluffy, cream-colored head (rare for a cask beer in my experience). Great hops aroma that is very appetizing. Citrus and pine scents. This smells better than the standard Furious. Very malty-sweet with a good hops presence in the taste. Bitter aftertaste. Medium to full body. Soft in the palate. Undercarbonated and not as flavorful as it should be due to the cask. 8/4/8/2/15:3.7