Beer Review- Surly Bender

Surly Brewing Company is a small brewery located in a suburb of Minneapolis. In the two years it has been in existence it has built up quite a following and has a great buzz around it, including being rated the #1 brewery in Beer Advocate this past year. Surly has been a brewery I've had a weird reaction to, and I'm not too proud to say that I think my reaction to Surly was a bit immature. When Surly Furious came out, I tried it several times, as I was excited to have a new beer in the local landscape. I really didn't like it, it is an extremely bitter, hoppy beer, in fact I've heard owner Omar say it is the highest IBU or most bitter beer in the country! I gave it several tries, and so did a lot of my friends. I have friends who like it, and friends who really don't care for it. I think the other thing (and my immaturity) is that there is a really strong following of loyal Surly fans, and it creates a real fervor that I have to admit I was adverse to. In fact reading back over my Hop madness post, I realize it sounds like I'm bashing Surly. Which I'm not. I think that there are some really cool things Surly does, like pushing the limits of local beer taste, taking risks with some extreme beer, and it's awesome they have an annual disc golf outing. Plus they have really done a good job of building up a buzz through some DIY type marketing.

So, in an effort to be a more fair and balanced blog, I decided to buy a four pack (cans) of Surly Bender (I tried Furious a couple more times on tap...still not for me). I also tried their 2 (second annual beer) an 11% abv stout brewed with cranberries. I thought this was pretty good, but thought the cranberries were a little too overwhelming.

So I bought Bender, wanting to give it another chance. This beer is really intriguing because its kind of a porter/stout/brown ale, but hoppy and yet brewed with oats that give it a really interesting body.

Thoughts: This beer pours a dark brown with some ruby red hues and a thin tanish head. At first you really smell cocoa and some hints of citrus from the hops. This beer is quite complex and different, it has some nutty and coffee roastiness, yet at the same time has some chocolate tones to it. Also, there is quite a hop presence that gives it a slightly citrus finish and a nice balance to the other "darker" flavors that are going on. This is a really unique beer, and something I would drink again. Its hard to describe, which is good. Its kind of hoppy brown ale, with some stout like characteristics.

So...I'll admit I was wrong. And will steer clear of any Surly dissing in the future. I'll stand by my feelings of the Furious, but that doesn't mean I won't buy Bender again, or try other offerings that come out in the future (I've heard good things about Cynic, a saison, from Brian, who isn't a Furious fan either). I guess the theme of this weekend's posts have been: don't make blanket statements.

Salud!

The Bearded Brewer