Surly Bender

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

Serve in Dimpled mug

can poured a dark ruby brown in color with a one finger light tan head. aroma has nutty brown malt, well integrated hops, and a bit of earthy richness with the oats. mouth feel is medium for the style and the carbonation on the lighter side. I was hoping for a little more thickness from the oats. flavor comes off with loads of malt, generous hops lending bitterness, earth, light bitter cocoa, nuts, and a light lactic finish. Interesting that the most oats are in the flavor. overall a nice take on a brown with nice bold malted flavors.

pretty darn good, dark and full bodied beer. moderate price, ive had it in can and tap form. better on tap, but good in the tall can too. good with food, good alone, all around good beer. not something id recommend for activity in hot weather, its too thick for that.

Can, thanks to tytoanderso. Aroma of fig, raisin, raspberry, caramel, subtle earthy hops, subtle coffee, generally malty and toasty actually with sweet fruit notes. Flavor has some very bitter chocolate and almost salty nuts, sort of different in subtleties from the aroma, but still very overall malty and mildly sticky as predicted by the malty fruitiness. Bitter, toasted toffee finish. Medium bodied and very drinkable. Tasty brown.

Good malty smooth brown ale. Not exactly a showstopper, but still tasty. Maybe a touch too sweet, but it all works. Furious is way better, but you wont hear me complaining if I am drinking this.

16 oz can from Daknole. Pours dark brown with tan head. Aromas of toasted malts and cocoa. Roasted malts, coffee and chcolate flavors with a slightly bitter finish. Medium body with moderate carbonation. A very good brown ale.

Somehow I’ve never tried this one. Near black pour with a medium sized light tan head. Aroma is chocolate and a bit of hops. Flavor is heavily malted, lots of toasty malts, molasses, coffee, chocolate, vanilla. Finishes creamy. This was pretty darn good for a brown, I usually don’t like that style.

Almost a reddish brown pour. Miniscule off white head. Smells, surprisingly floral, some pine with some malt and molasses. Light/medium body with a healthy dose of carbonation. Flavors of malt molasses and brown sugar. A surprisingly strong coffee note to me, would be curious to see how much more the coffee Bender has. Finishes real clean. Drinkability is not a problem for this one. Somewhere between a brown and a porter I guess. My friend did not like this one, I thought it was excellent.

Pours dark brown with white head. Smells strongly of hops and roasted malts. This one is overpowered by the delicious hoppy taste. An enjoyable beer that may be too hoppy for a brown ale.