Surly SurlyFest

Brewed by Surly Brewing Company
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

Can. Poured a clear copper color with a medium white head. Good lacing. Aroma is excellent, as it is hoppier than you’d imagine for an Oktoberfest (although for Surly, I guess it should be expected). As for that flavor, wow! I’m impressed. As a fan of the style, this is a much bolder flavor. It has the caramel and maltiness to it that I like, but it has a super hoppy finish to it. I had my doubts from reading other reviews, but this is very nice. Thanks theisti!!!

Enjoyed at Stubs.For those who dont like hops, dont drink this beer, it is Surly for god sakes, so what do you expect? Easily the best octoberfest beer i have ever had. Ultra hoppy with a nice rye flavor in there for sure. This is certainlly like no other o fest around, and if your a style geek you probably wont like it as its brewed quite a bit outside the ol lines, just the way i like it. Another top notch surly craft!

drank a ton of this stuff on tap last year and never got around to reviewing. Now that it’s canned, I may consume it within the comforts of home and the computer. Brilliant orange color, very shiny with a halo of yellow nearer the bottom and edges. Firmly stacked foam of spongy looking consistancy lathers up to a decent height of nearly two inches. Dwindles down slowly to let loose a pattern of thin inky strings across the glass as its consumed. Aroma is much like other O-fests with a nice firm realm of maltyness creating a sweet soft doughyness and a puff of dark grassyness and whole grains can be easily detected within. Very well-balanced aroma and well placed on the nose with good strength. Taste is a broadly detailed malt brigade of heavy toasted malty sweetness, doughy, crisp with a spectacular grassy grab at the midway point which then goes all hoppy and drys off the palate with a subtle ease and tone that is incredibly delightful and inviting with grass, toast, and whole grain nuttyness. Quite complexingly subtle and straight up damn yummy. Feel is about medium with a certain crispness to its malty body. For surely clean and easy. Has a creamy stained under carraige but stays mostly toasted and drys into the finish with a lushfully charming and soothing softness and cleanness with a willingness to venture more. Drinkable and then some. Enough said. Damn solid O-fest by Surly! Grab your lederhosen, a big Ol’ mug, pour a bunch of this in, and sing yourself a song until you fall asleep and do it again.

Poured from can into Nonic Imperial Pint. Clear bright copper with a very thin white head. Looks like a Marzen. Aroma of citrus, caramel, toast and smoky, spicy rye. Slightly sweet malt body of caramel, toast and biscuit with a slight citrus counterbalance. Almost smoky spiciness at the end due to the rye, although the malt also remains through to the finish. Extremely well balanced. Relatively low carbonation for a lager with an unusually smooth body. Semi-dry finish. Fantastic autumn beer. While the malts are somewhat reminiscent of a Marzen, the hops and rye clearly move it well beyond Marzen territory. That said, it beats any traditional Marzen by a wide margin.

Bryant Lake Bowl on tap. Out-frikkin-standing. The hops in this were alive and intensly aromatic. The malt body was true to style but thicker than your traditional marzen. I’m not a style stickler and have appreciated when brewers like FFF and Surly brew outside of the normal boundaries. I would much rather have this in my stein than anything they would serve in Munich. This is more balanced than the Furious and my favorite so far from these guys.

16oz can-pours an off white head and hazy amber color. Aroma is medium malt, then lots of sweet lemon/pine hops. Great out of the standard style (continental hops out, northwest in!) American interpretation. Taste is medium malt-caramel, then lots of sweet lemon/pine hops-slightly bitter, more aromatic. OK effervescence/soft carbonation. Nice. Thanks to Wasatch(BA).

Pours a deep burned orange with 2 fingers of soapy white head that dies slowly. I know this is a marzen but I know its a Surly marzen which makes alll the difference. Smells of piney hops, citrus, rye and malty. Ooooh yeah. Tastes of juicy, piney hops, malty balance and delicious rye. This is the brilliant nectar named Furious but tamed down with more flavors. If I could make a perfect octoberfest beer to suit my hophead tastes, it would be almost as good as this. Medium in the mouth with the perfect tickle of carbonation. Drinkability? If I had a case of this I would drink non stop and end up in a hospital and it would be so worth it.

Reviewed from a sample bottle provided by the brewers prior to release. SurlyFest is their take on an Oktoberfest, but, like most of their offerings, isn’t likely to satisfy style sticklers. Single-hopped, with Summit, and dry-hopped, using German malt and Crystal Rye. 40 IBUs, between 5 and 6% abv. One single batch brewed, lagered for about 3 months. Dark orange color, fairly hazed, with a fine slice of bubbly white froth above. Malty aroma, light fruit, some pumpkin, vegetal, grassy, ...an intriquing blend. Smells like an O-fest, for sure, but doesn’t hit me with hops like I anticipated. But definitely hoppier than than the normal Marzen. Taste: crisp, smooth, slightly sweet, well-balanced, streams through the senses with ease, without being the least bit light bodied or thin. Just delicious. Eternally tasty. Brilliant flavor. Just shines. My vocabulary and sense perception fails me. This is quite a new thing on the tongue and a real, true delight for the tastebuds. Hops really hang in there in the finish, staying on the palate for a spell like a good pale ale or IPA would. A refreshing switch-up for a malty lager! In other words, I like it! Can’t wait to try it fresh off the tap. Another excellent entry in the growing line of Surliness. Well done, guys!