Surly Three

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

Poured draft in a small glass at the Bavaria Lodge (Lisle, IL). Pours a very dark, black with brown, largely opaque, with moderate brown bubbly head that laces. Aromas push some nice brownish malt, brown sugar, moving into dark fruits of plum, raisin, and a touch of spice that comes off well. Initial is sweet body, but not cloying, pushing heavy raisin, plum, and prune notes up front, some honey, a touch of spice. Pulls medium bodied, but tart in the finish, with a touch of chocolate in the finish. This is a raisin bomb, if such a thing exists, with decent underlying honey and spice, and other dark pit fruits, faint touch of lemon. Hard for me personally to pick out the ash, I feel like the flavors get drowned out by the dark fruit and malts, instead of enhancing them. This is decent, different, and an interesting and innovative choice. Happy 3 years, Surly! Glad to be a part of it! (Cough) Bring back the Two (Cough).

Draft at Sheffields. Nice brown pour. Aroma is sweet and spicy. Honey notes, cookies, very light chocolate, caramel and some boozy notes. Flavor is sweet but not cloying. Honey and spicy with a rich mouthfeel. Good stuff.

Draft at Sheffield’s. Deep brown color. Aroma of honey, dark fruit and spice. It is a strange and unique combination of fruit and spice along with the honey dominance. It tastes to me like someone mixed a mead with a St Bernardus Abt 12. Very sweet, but very unique and enjoyable, but in minimal quantities. The fruit and spice characteristics really show up as it warms, the honey still dominates, but it makes it a little more enjoyable.

On tap, snifter. Pours a dark brown/black with a small off white head. Aroma shows graham cracker, light cocoa, honey, and a lot of apple. Flavor is sweet with dark fruits, some chocolate, with a long honey finish. A nice pure honey flavor coats the mouth as this goes down. Though it is sweet and strong the body is relatively dry and not sticky or cloying. This beer is interesting but kind of all over the place. Unique but not one of my favorite beers from them.

on tap at the small bar chicago. deep brownish/black with a small tan head. sweet honey aroma along with toffee like characteristics. similar flavor, mich much more of a beer than a mead. pretty good and quite unique.

Hopleaf. I recognize the honey qualifies this as a "mead," but that descriptor is a bit misleading. This is not like the great Polish meads or other European varieties. This is really a quality beer, and one that must warm up from the cold draft temperature to truly appreciate its complexity.The dried fruit and honey notes are much more prominent when warm, whereas cold is dominated by toffee and caramel. Cold, this reminded me of an exceptionally made Altbier, warm, the notes of honey and some hops appear. The complexity and flavor profile is reminiscent of the Livery’s Trippelbock (non BA version). In terms of specific flavors, buckwheat honey, dried fig, demera sugar, candied orange peel, nutmeg, and toast. Very well done.

Draft at Small bar. Huge. Color is very nice deep brown with very small head. Aroma is strong dried fruits, burnt sugar, and brown sugar. Flavor is enormous. Tons of fermented honey, dried fruit, and old red wine. Three sips of this would have been plenty, 8oz nearly killed me...but I would do it again tomorrow.

Draft @ the Hopleaf 4/1. Right after a La Folie. $7 pint. Almost too much for one person. Murky dark ruby brown, with thin tannish head. Nose is sweet. Fruit, honey, sugar, dark malt. Taste is fruity. Honey, raisins or berries, and tons of sugary sweetness. Like a batch of kool aid made with a whole bag of sugar. It masks the 10%, but also takes away from the drinkability. Although, not sure what to expect from a mead. And after THIS and 16 grit, not really sure what to expect from Surly next. Possibly a slight spice here, though subtle. Served very cold, and did not last long enough to warm. I’d like to try this again with a fresh palate.