Surly Coffee Bender

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

In short: An successful and original blend of nutty brown and a ton of fresh coffee beans. Very good beer.
How: Cans 500ml. A few cans sent to me by a few people. Thanks traders!! Consumed relatively fresh a month or two after receiving them. Tasting session with Montreal crew.
The look: Clear dark brown body topped by very small beige head
In long: Nose is intensely coffee. This one doesn’t have the type of roasted coffee beans that I get from coffee stouts. This beer really smells like walking into a coffee shop. Body is full and creamy and the carbonation is lively. Really nice mouthfeel. Malt base is very nutty, some brownies, toasted whole-wheat bread. That thing really packs a lot of coffee, and it Good to the last drop.

Can! Got in a trade from arminjewell, thanks Armin! Aroma: consists of roasted coffee, hazelnut, vanilla, and malty caramel. Appearance: Pours a hazy amber brown with great head retention and nice lacing. Head is a frothy tan cloud that sticks around for the entire experience. Taste: slightly sweet, then bitter with notes of chocolate that delves immediately into a robust coffee finish. Hints of vanilla and caramel blend the taste out nicely. Palate: medium bodied creamy texture with a soft carbonation and long bitter finish. Wow, so much pleasure from a beer out of a can, I didn’t know it was possible!

Courtesy of tytoanderso via trade

Can: The aroma consists of roasted nuts, coffee, hazelnut, and vanilla. It pours a dark brown with some orange highlighted transparency and a inch tall beige head. The flavor starts with chocolate and caramel. The finish has moderate roasted nuts and coffee along with some light-moderate piney hops and a hint of vanilla. Light-medium bodied with soft carbonation and a soft mouthfeel.

My Bottom Line:
Biscuity and nutty coffee wealth dwells in a beautifully cushy mouthfeel, ending up in a light roasted malt bitterness for a very convincing Coffee Brown Ale.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam tops the ruby-laced brown.
-Even though the coffee flavors are upfront, they blend in wisely with the grain bill.
-The overall flavor profile is more complex than, say, Cigar City’s Espresso Maduro Brown Ale.
-That mouthfeel is something else. These guys are really impressive.

Can.

( 16oz can thanks to mar) Pours orange-brown with head that fades fast. Nose of creamy coffee, nice hops; smells great! Taste of lightly bitter hops, coffee with a nice creamy finish that’s well carbonated. If this only tasted like it smelled.

Pours an all but opaque black under a creamy light brown head. The nose is coffee and light malt. The first taste is the bitterness of the coffee and that coffee is the dominant flavor. Interestingly, the ordinary brown ale light malt of the Bender base seems to be just about the right to balance this beer in the last half of its trip to the throat. I’ve liked this beer since my first, but I never really thought that hard about how it worked until this rating. It’s not especially complex: there are some chocolate notes that seem to be the result of the the malt and coffee, but it really just stands firmly on the malt/coffee blend and doesn’t demand a lot, but commands respect. Good but not great. Solid and steadfast.

My first brew from Surly and I was definitely not disapointed. Great coffee aroma and taste, add to that the roasty malts and the chocolate and this makes for a hell of a beer.

Late entry from Noogfest High Five. Light clear brown pour is attractive, as is the can. Good clean coffee notes. Not really for me as I don’t care for coffee, but good enough to drink