Surly Smoke

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

GABF ’08. Hi Hapjy. A beast of flavorful smoky balance. Badass nose...scarier than the flavor. I dig it...now to wash it down with some furious.

This was a real treat to get on tap after getting 6 bottles of Darkness at D-day. If someone had said I would enjoy a beer that tastes like a campfire and charred meat, I would have smirked. But the dusty chocolate and roasted malts with almost a cookie like bite, somehow pulls this altogether. It is still impossible for me to say why a lingering palate of barbecue ribs in a beer could be so enjoyable, but I look forward to the next opportunity to find out.

Too much going on in this beer for me to fully enjoy it. A good beer tho, dark brown pour, tan head and fades immediately. Aromas of smoked and roasted malts. Flavors of the same with some alcohol presence. Sweet and thick. Rerate for Cask version aged on cedar oak. Much cleaner, oak rounds out the alcohol presence and mellows the brew. Cask is always better.

Nice black body with a solid tan head. Aroma is smoked ham, sweet chocolate, and goodness. The flavor is much of the same. There is quite a nice balance between the ’’meat’’ notes in the flavor and sweet, roasted malts going on. Finishes quite nicely, and is overall very well rounded and tasty.

Rich black pour with a generous tan head. Smells like burnt wood, smoked ham, and chocolate. The flavor is earthy, with a pronounced, but very manageable meaty smokiness. Also nice chocolate, wood, and bitter-sweet malt notes. Awesome palate - thick, and full, matches the beer perfectly. I wouldn’t mind seeing a palate like this on bender. Really good beer.

Sampled at the 2008 Great American Beer Festival. This was another awesome offering from Surly at GABF, alongside their Two ale. Aroma is loaded with smoke and charred wood. Big burnt flavor with notes of dark cacao, barbecue smokehouse and oak barrel. Very nice palate that makes the beer surprisingly drinkable. Earthy smoke lingers after each sip.

GABF 08: Thin, smokey nose in a meaty, slightly tangy way off this dark, almost black beer. just a halo of suds restrained the thick, mealty, chocolate, smokey flavors from escaping...This has a nice balancing hop character behind it as well. Definite smoke Bomb. Definitely meaty. Very well done!

GABF 2008. Pours black with an average, frothy, dark brown head, mostly lasting with good lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, caramel, chocolate, nutty), light hops (herbs), average yeast (leather) with notes of smoke and brown sugar. Full bodied, creamy texture, average carbonation, and a chalky finish. Average duration, moderate sweetness, light acidity and bitterness.