Surly Bender

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

Serve in Dimpled mug

16 oz, can. I would have tried this much sooner, but beer in a can makes me hesitant. I however over came my narrow minded snobby view of beer in a can and gave her a whirl. Bender is dark brown with a red hue, and has a nice caramel-colored head that slowly fades. It has a slightly sweet chocolate/coffee aroma with a little hop in there. The flavor is very well balanced and much more complex than I was expecting. The complement of flavors that danced across my tongue was chocolate roasted malt, caramel, and a little bit of nuts. There is a slight hop in the middle that adds the right amount of bitterness to round out the smooth, long lasting finish of this excellent brew. The body is medium to full and feels creamy and substantial. As I drained the glass Bender left small tracks of lacing, which didn’t last long because I poured another can of Bender into the glass. I really do enjoy brown ales and overall I feel this is one of the best. I feel lucky to have happened across this most remarkable find. Hats off to Surly!

My first Surly beer and hopefully not the last....great beer. Pours a super dark brown with a small head. Aroma is really nice. Roasty, nutty, some malts and coffee. Flavor is just creamy and smooth as hell. Good coffee sweetness, nice malt. Damn this is good. MORE PLEASE!

From a can. Pours with almost no head. Not viscous at all. Deep brown, barely allows like through. Smells like malt, coffee, burnt toast. Delicious, rich, and complex. Flavor is malt, barley, coffee, and molasses. The best part of the beer is the way it fills your whole mouth. The flavor is greatly enriched by chewing the beer and allowing every part of your tongue to taste it. One glass lasted an hour and a half and was enjoyable all the way down. Here’s hoping Surly begins to take off. Can’t wait to try Darkness this winter.

Poured from can into Nonic Imperial Pint. Very dark ruby-brown with an inch thick tan head that very slowly recedes, leaving fine lacing down the glass. Aroma of sweet caramel, citrus hops, some roasted malts. Slightly sweet caramel, roasted malts, oats, slight coffee and chocolate, and a very nice citrus hop counterbalance. Finishes on a moderate bitter note. Low carbonation, rich medium body, dry body. Very smooth for such a low abv beer. At 5.1% abv, this is the ideal year round session beer in Minnesota. It is also the best Brown Ale (whether English, American, India or hybrid) that I have had.

This was my first beer from Surly and damn it was a good one. A: Brown with a thick and creamy head. S: Not a whole lot on the nose but consistent with the style. light, rich and nutty. Maybe a bit sweet. T: Nice and malty goodness. Only a small prescience of hop and sweetness. The nut brown and darker notes really work well. Finishes nice and clean.l M: Med carbonation and so smooth. Not creamy or viscous at all. D: The one drinks well. This is easily my favorite Brown Ale.

One pint can, contents poured into Sam Adams Specialty glass. Appearance is a clear, deep brown hue with amber highlights, big thick brown craggy head mostly sustains, thin spotty lacing. Smell is a nice mix of malts including sweet cocoa, roast, toffee, coffee, and caramel, tones of nuts and surprising amount of grassy hops, slight alcohol, very aromatic. Taste is amazing and follows the aroma, roast and cocoa malts initially intersperse with grass hops and ride a creamy milk backbone, midway comes tones of strong oatmeal, caramel, and vanilla, finishes dry and bitter. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied, creamy smooth texture, mild to moderate carbonation. This is probably the most flavorful brown ale I have ever had, the oatmeal, cocoa, and hops are all so well-balanced that i wish i had better access to Surly beers, looking forward to more of their beers very soon.

This is a tasty beer. Lots of bite and nutty at all. Much better as an oatmeal brown than those nutty ones. Don’t get any negatives from the can either. Excellent.

A- Body is nearly transparent mahogany hue. Pours with a 1-2 finger off-white foamy head. Head eventually fades to 1/2 finger and has perfect retention from there. Plenty of lacing left all the way down the glass. S- A bright citrus hoppy scent comes through first. This is followed by roasted chocolate and caramel malt accented with a touch of vanilla and toffee sweetness. T- The flavor initially has a big citrus hop accent but a nice balance of caramel and chocolate malt can be detected in the background along with a hint of vanilla. For the finish a bit of hop and roasted malt bitterness comes through but is balanced by the ever steady flavors of citrus hops, vanilla, and caramel malt. What lingers is some citrus hop flavor along with a subtle hint of everything else going on. P- Medium tingly carbonation and a medium weight body. Body is smooth and a good amount of hop oils can be detected. O- This is an awesome brown ale. One of my favorites so far. Reminds me a lot of Terrapin Indian Brown. Great hoppy characteristics accent a nice, complex brown ale with a good mouthfeel. Would trade for this again; though it is similar to the Terrapin which is locally available. Drinkability is great and ABV is undetectable. Serving type: can Reviewed on: 01-07-2009 05:34:11