Surly Bender

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

Serve in Dimpled mug

16 ounce can split by cdumler with Alraomon and myself. Thanks! Pours a clear reddish brown color with a medium head. Average head retention and lacing. Aroma is chocolate, hops and a slight nuttiness. Taste is caramel, chocolate and mild bitter hops in the finish. Smooth mouthfeel, medium bodied.

UPDATED: SEP 25, 2011 New can rating thanks to Dansting. This is even better than I recalled. A little more malty and toasty in the finish. Solid. From a can, thanks badbeer and Erdinger2003. Dark brown body with some ruby highlights. The head is medium khaki colored. Chocolate and caramel smells come out initially. The taste has chocolate ice cream and raspberries. This has some notes of high quality tobacco. Nice.

Ahhh, my first beer to rate on ratebeer.com. As my first, Surly Bender is a good choice. Pours a great dark brown ale and holds a head even after the glass in half empty. Aroma does have a distinct caramel and vanilla scent. Taste has the nut toffee and nice touch of bitter hops. S Surly Brewery sells both pint and tulip glasses. Definitely use the Surly tulip glass to get the best aroma and flavor. I could see having a rib eye steak with mesquite marinade with this brown ale.

Big thanks to Quake1028 for bringing this cool 16oz can along.

Pours very deep amber with nice tan head. Slightly sweet caramelized malt and slightly nutty aroma. The aroma is a bit on the light side. The flavor has that nuttiness along with a soft rye-ish quality that I’ll take as being the oatmeal. Tasty brown ale with plenty of interest.

Chris_o’s GBBF Shindig 08. Dark red - aroma of damp washing on a warm day. American hops soaked into the malt. Smooth. Difficult to get a grip on what’s going on, but quite nice nonetheless.

UPDATED: JAN 23, 2011 In short: A milk-chocolate and toastiness abound in this very good but atypical Brown Ale
How: Can 16oz. Consumed relatively fresh, 2 months after receiving it from Stine. Thanks a lot Eben.
The look: Dark mahogany body topped by a very small beige head
In long: Nose of hot-chocolate that has cooled down. Taste has milk-chocolate, toasted whole-wheat bread, more milk-chocolate, pecans, some baked pie crust and a whole lot of leafy hops to perfectly balance it out. Very easy to drink. The fact that it’s a liquid helps in that regard.

Poured a reddish brown color with a small, light tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of caramel malts, roast, cocoa, nuts, and brown sugar. Taste of caramel, brown sugar, citrus fruits, some pine, light roasted malts, and a bitter hop finish. Thanks Tom!

Draft. Dark clear maroon color, thick small beige head, nice lacing. Aroma of chocolate covered caramel. Taste starts with sweetchocolate caramel then transitions to dry roasted coffe grounds at the finish. Very nice.