Surly Wet IPA

Brewed by Surly Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

On tap at Binnys South Loop. Pours amber with a small white head. Aroma is of extremely bitter hops, citrus, and pine. The aroma is insanely hopped. Taste is straight up bitter, biting hops. After a few moments of the bitter hops kicking your ass, there is a moderate taste of citrus fruit and pine. The malt backbone is there, but killed by the hops. Long lingering hop bitterness. Fair amount of carbonation. The beer came off as rather thin, but I’m assuming that’s because of the hops. I actually found this one kind of hard to drink. I love me some hops, but if that’s all the beer is, it doesn’t do it for me. I was a little dissapointed.

Draft @ Stub & Herbs on Darkness "Black Friday". Jesus, what a tap list. I would have made rating #10 for this beer from my mobile, had I not been so distracted. Very dark amber pour. Pint was full, delivered to the table, so not much visible head. Some whitish trim up top. Wow! Smell is just. Wow. Huge huge leafy, herbal, grassy, and sweet danky hops. Cannot describe how appealing this is to the nose. Palate was nowhere near fresh, but this is the loudest, most in-your-face, harvest ale I’ve had all season. Freshness probably a factor here. Mouth is medium. Excellent. Great feel. Nicely carbonated. Not too thin or oily. Hops are a huge huge kick in the buds. Harsh citrus bitter, the way I like. Seems even more so than furious. Goes on. And on. Outdoes some DIPAs I’ve had. REALLY impressed by this one. Sits toward the top of my list. Would drink this all day, everyday. Hoping to see this again next season, along with Surly cans in the Chi. I can dream...

Holy bitter hops batman!!! tyler with the hookup. amber pour, fluffy white head. Bitter hops brashly hit your nose and tongue. Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy. Citrus, resin, and spicy. Wow this is in your face hops folks.

Handbottle shared by daknole. Pours orange color with minimal white head. Lots of grapefruit and pine hops aroma. Bitter hop flavors of pine and grapefruit rind with a little sweetness. Medium body with minimal carbonation and a resinous mouthfeel.

Draft at Jerry’s. Amber with big, foamy tan head / Nose of fresh pine, caramel, grapefruit, and bubblegum / Medium body, chewy, some sweetness, with good malt and bright hop balance, and with good, smooth, but spicy and slightly bitter finish / Flavors of cut pine, brown sugar, grapefruit, toast, and grain spice / Terrific.

Tap at Bavarian Lodge. Pours clear amber/brown with beige head. Fresh citrus, malty, piney. Big load of very fresh hops. Not bad, though I’m becoming less a fan of the style.

12 oz draft snifter, Bavarian Lodge. Reddish amber color, clingy, rough IPA type head. Majpr citrus and pine hop smell, even though the glass seems kind of cold. Hops in the taste are… Simcoe? The 3 C’s? Even their website won’t say. Whatever, they expectedly bold, a bit catty, but mostly pine cones and grapefruit. Resiny coating is a little thinner than other fresh IPAs, and the green hops character appears only halfway down. There is some malty backbone, even some sweetness, but it’s very respectful of hop dominance. If you like to taste hops in your burps afterward, this is ideal.

On tap at the Bavarian Lodge. On the aroma, there’s a good amount of spicy herbal notes and resins for sure. Also some light tangy citrus with a good backing of pale grains. Really though, a very high quality hop profile on the nose. On the pour, there was a good layer of thick white head that laced well, medium body appearance, and bright golden red in color. From start to finish, this was quite dry feeling and medium bodied with just the right amount of strength. Similar to the aroma, there are some great bitter notes with spicy zesty tropical citrus and grapefruit, bittersweet melon fruits. It was well balanced with some cookie grain malts, but it could just maybe just use a bit more excitement on the malt side of things. It finishes nicely with some zesty hops. This beer was overall pretty distinctive and one that liked quite a lot largely due to the great hop profile.