Surly Oak Aged CynicAle

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

A big improvement over regular Cynic. A cleaner tasting beer and the cask highlights the fruits and spices that taste nice. A little sweet on the palate but smooth.

Comes out of the cask with a hazy body. Has a rather nice bready and doughy aroma with spice and a little bit of fruit. The flavor was a little underwhelming to me with hints of spice and a little fruitiness. The oak seems to make the spiciness just a bit sharper I think that one would normally suspect. Nothing bad to drink though.

Looks similar to regular cynic, with a wimpy head. Very nice floral/fruit aroma, with a hint of spice in there as well. Flavor is similarly nice, and I would say is an improvement over the regular cynic. The oak seems to tie the fruit flavors together and maybe even intensify them. Pretty tasty. Palate is very soft, and a little underwhelming, but forgivable since its a cask beer. Nice beer.

On cask at Darkness Day ’08. Poured a bit cold for being on cask, with the tell-tale minimal head. Aroma is vibrant...plenty of floral notes, some apricot, a dose of tartness and some spice...very inviting. Flavor was spicy with notes of clove and maybe a dash of some cinnamon, apricot, biscuit and a bit of tartness. Good drink, but nothing I’d go running back to with amazing frequency.

(Draught) Pours a hazy golden orange body with a small white head. Aroma of coriander, oak, apricots, floral, and grass. Flavor of candi sugar, oak, hops (grass, earth), toasted grain, and spices.

on tap at some bar in madison. multiple pours....semi-transparent apple cider brown with a thin circulating white head.... aroma was very light on the oak to go with some tart fruits and gentle spices....flavors of citrusy fruits orange and apricots, lightly tart with low to medium carbonation....haven’t had the regular version so nothing to compare this to.

REAL ALE TENT @ GTMW 2008: Hazy coppery hue with a small but lasting creamy head. The aroma has notes of pear and apricot esters, grassy and herbal hops, biscuity malts, oak and vanilla beans. The taste is more of the same except there was a very spicy finish of clove and cumin. Fruity and pale malt driven beer. The mouth feel is soft and inviting. Not too shabby even if not towards style completely.

GTMW 08 on cask - Pours orange copper with a minor off-white head. The aroma has apricot nectar, oak and light funkiness., Medium body with little carbonation. The taste has more funkiness than the aroma and a lot more fruit. Okay saison.