Surly Oak Aged Bender

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

Dark brown pour, small tan head. Not much aroma, a little wood, and malt. The flavor is pretty odd - chocolate, oak, cough medicine, coke, rounded out by a slightly medicinal bitter finish. Palate is ok, but weaker than other versions of the beer. Not bad, but bender and coffee bender are both better.

On cask. Dark brown body. Rather sweet and woody aroma, which isn’t too surprising. The woodiness comes through pretty strong in the flavor with a little hop presence that kind of kills any possible cloy sweetness. It’s all right, but not the best version of Bender.

The oak comes out mostly in the finish in a nice way; it is toasty. Good hop bitterness in the flavor and finish, not much in the aroma. Slightly watery and under carbonated. Some good nuttiness. Tastes like one of my homebrews, which in this case is not really a good thing.

Very brown pour, no head. Strong oak aroma. Flavor is also dominated by oat, some nuttiness and a touch of hops. Watery and thin finish...eh.

GTMW 08 on cask - Pours deep brown with a crimson hue and no head. The aroma has deep roasted malt, very dark nuttiness and some oak. Medium slick body with no carbonation to speak of. The flavor starts with sweet nuttiness, toasted malt and oak. The finish gets a little on the sour side. An okay brown ale.

cask at GTMW....dark caramel and reddish brown pour with a soapy light brown head.... oaky and sweet malt and nutty nose.... flavors of caramel malt, slightly tart with somewhat of a bitter finish. very lightly carbonated. regular bender is so much better in my mind.
cask at DOLA...better this time around. tea and slightly charred wood and nutty caramel malt in the nose which continues on into the flavor.

Tap GTMW 2008 Aroma is slight oakiness, some nuts and coffee. Taste is very, very similar. Finishes smooth and slightly bitter. Good, but nothing special.

GTMW ’08. Poured a murky browm color, like dark iced tea. Soap bubble head. Smelled of molasses, brown sugar, and tobacco. Medium bodied and slightly sweet with mild bitterness. I tasted brown sugar, wood, mixed nuts, and light citrus.