Surly Mild

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

On draught at the Happy Gnome in St Paul, Minnesota. Pours a clear reddish amber brew with a creamy off-white head that has excellent retention and thick/spotty lacing. Aroma of fruity caramel malt, a touch of tart pears, toffee and some citrus hops. Taste is smooth, medium bodied, very light carbonation with a fruity/caramel malty flavor. Finish is just as creamy and smooth as its taste along with a semi-dry finish, a light mild bitterness that quickly clean cuts to a crisp aftertaste. Another excellent brew by the Surly guys.

Tap at the nile. Solid biscuity malt aroma with chocolate hints. A faint hop in there as well. Toasted malts with a definite chocolate character and some hops for balance. Dark brown color.

On tap at the Happy Gnome during the 1/16/08 release. Dark ruby color with a thin head. Slight bready aroma. Nutty taste with a bit of a chalky feel to it. Very bready. It tastes like a dark grain bread, like rye. Really quite delicious as a session and every day beer.

Tap at the Pig.  Very nice biscuity malt and some tropical fruits as well as some light floral hoppy notes.  Nice balanced toasty biscuity sweet malt and tropical fruits fiinish it out.  I am sure this is a killer mild, but having only had one before, and an average one at that I am rating with no tipicity.

Two pints on tap at the Happy Gnome in St. Paul during the official release on 1-16-08. Sweet, malty aroma features cherry, light chocolate, and apricot scents. The smell is weak but nice. Pours a hazy maroon with a bright amber hue and a small amount of beige head. Cool, intriguing appearance. Malty taste, but not nearly as sweet as the aroma suggests. The heart of the taste comes in the yeasty finish, which features bread, cardboard, sesame seed, and other spice flavors. Medium body (heavier than I expected). Smooth and crisp in the palate. Easy to drink and sessionable. If this weren’t called Surly Mild Ale, I would have considered it an amber, but a good one. This is about what I expected (and I had cautiously high expectations): Surly has taken a rather boring style and made it interesting and tasty. If the folks at Surly wanted to go the mainstream, accessible beer route (which they don’t, thankfully), they could probably get this on tap all over Minnesota bars; Surly Mild Ale compares favorably to, say, Summit Extra Pale Ale. Is this a mind-blowing beer? No, but it is a damn fine effort for the style.

Surly Mild release at the Happy Gnome 1/16/08. Malty aroma; a little syrupy. Sweet & sugary. Murky, reddish brown with a thin, tan head. Nice lace. Very little hop. A little vacuous. Malty and dry. Sweetness in nose doesn’t translate. Has a nice yeast in the finish. A pleasant, easy drinking session brew that I’d order again. The yeast finish makes it.

On tap at Happy Gnome. Bright brownish red color, some lacing. Medium bodied. Smooth on the palate. Flavor is initially dry nutty malts, followed by a hint of underlying sweetness. Basic dry hop finish. Has that underlying soft Surly quality, but I’m not sure what to attribute that to, be it the water or yeast or whatever. So yes, this beer isn’t mind blowing. It shouldn’t be. It is, however, a solid session brew. Ironically, Surly came out with a "weaker" beer after coming out with a number of big delicious beers. I say for the style, this is well made.

I thought it was like a bitter, and a good one. Light red in color and very low carbonation. The aroma is simple malt. The flavor has abundant malt as well, and has a lightly roasted flavor to it. Good palate and fairly full bodied for a beer that is in no way complex. Very drinkable, like a mild or bitter should be.