Surly Two

Formerly brewed at Surly Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

On tap: Black in color with almost no head though there is a bunch of extremely fine bubbles when swirled. Aromas were of semi-sweet chocolate, roasted malt, tart red fruit and vanilla. In the mouth the cranberries really show themselves along with the roasted malt. The palate is very well-balanced with good weight and wondeful acidity, likely due to the abundance of cranberries. A very nice transition beer from the heavy winter beers to the crisp summer ones on the way.

pour is opaque black with a nonexistant tan head....smell is lightly tart but sweet with cocoa still....nice chocolate covered cherry flavor (I didn’t know it was cranberry until after the fact)....tart and sweet with a nice bittersweet cocoa finish

From the tap and served in a snifter: Good looking, a deep mahogany body with a dense tan head that hung around for the duration. The aroma was tart with a fruitiness that I didn’t readily identify as cranberry (although I drink the juice at least once a day), had some roasty malts, and a woody/fruit stone bitterness. The bitterness intensified somewhat during the drinking, but so did the fruity funkiness and now smoky malt flavors. It finished on a bitter, sour note, somewhat dry. Good stuff.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Brewing Company, Villa Park, IL<font size=-1>

On tap at Clark Street. Pours black with spotty tan head and nice lacing. Smell is odd and doesn’t seem to mesh well between the fruitiness and roastiness. Somewhat tart and strange from the cranberries. Taste is roasty and fruity with a medium body and light carbonation, but for some reason the sourness of the fruit didn’t seem to work with the roasty malt to my liking.

@ Arborfest, draft Dry cranberry aroma, dark brown and opaque color. Sour on the tongue. Definitely taste the cranberries, but not overwhelmed. Good brew, although not to my liking.

At the Maproom. Fruit and chocolate sharpness in the aroma. Plum, perfume, cream, sweet cigar tobacco, and peach scents. The aroma becomes quite sweet upon multiple sniffs. I do smell the cranberries, but I don’t necessarily smell them as cranberries. Pours an opaque dark brown with a moderate to large amount of peach-tan head. The head is soft in both color and texture, and it contains large bubbles. Produces pleasant, extensive lacing. The initial taste comes as an overwhelming but delicious cranberry explosion. It’s like unsweetened, concentrated cranberry juice, slightly sour and remarkably tart and tangy. Not my kinda beer!

On tap at the Maproom. Pours dark brown-black with a small beige head. Aromas of yeast, tart fruits and sweet malts. Chocolate and roasted malts peek out as it warms but they are secondary for this fruit beer. Flavors are tart and dry at first. This turns to toffee and cranberry with a dry chocolate finish. More of the chocolate rises with warmth. All around though, this is a strange one.

draft at sheffield’s...... poured a dark cloudy caramel brown with a decent sized light brown head.... aroma made up of sour tart red fruit and some oak qualities to boot. i don’t think this was aged in barrels but i did get a sense of that in the nose and also the flavor....flavors had red fruit, cranberries with a little barrel age influence it seems. some sour tart fruit on top of it all but it all ends right there. there was just something missing from this. i wish the flavors were a little more assertive and long lasting.