Surly Smoke

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

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.

Draught at GABF 2008. Black coloured with a small beige head. Roasted aroma of caramel, coffee, rye bread and chocolate. Light roasted flavour of caramel, rye bread and chocolate with notes of smoke and hops. Roasted and warming alcoholic finish.

Nearly 100% pitch black color with a creamy dark brown head. Smoke level is medium in the nose, there’s quite a bit of chocolate and coffee, a little roast and some small amount of creamy milk notes as well. Full and slick texture, chalky chocolate and resinous coffee, smoke is minimal... the meat of this beer is the creamy chocolate and wood... decadent stuff. Impressive.

On cask at Buster’s for the one year anniversary appreciation party. The beer was opaque black with essentially no head. In the aroma and flavor there was moderate smoke and moderate sweet burnt malt. (It was almost peaty.) The hops were almost non-existent. It was a bit watery with no carbonation, but very smooth. As it warmed the smoke got fainter. Very drinkable, one of my favorite Surly beers!

At the ABR. Pours black with beige head. The nose is dark chocolate and tons of smoke. Comes across the palate as medium bodied, with the taste of dark chocolate with smoke, and some light notes of caramel to balance it out.