Surly SurlyFest

Brewed by Surly Brewing Company
Style: Oktoberfest/Märzen
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

Pint can courtesy of Maximum12 (Cory, Beeradvocate) from our fantasy baseball league, Thanks! Nice Tall can, love the design. Poured an amber orange with lots of bubbly head, some stayed. Aroma jumps out at you, with a hoppy and malty scent. The taste is earthy, rye, grainy, malty, and a nice hoppy piney taste, medium body. This has got to be one of the best oktoberfet beers I’ve had.

Not much to say, but a solid brew.

Surly Fest pours reddish amber color. A big head pours but quickly disappears into the glass. Spotty lacing everywhere. The smell on this beer won’t blow you away. Like in the Bitter Brewer up above I was first hit with a toasty or roasty malt aroma mixed in with small amount of citrus. But as this beer sits for a bit the Rye really picks up and drowns everything out. Taste is really nice and if I had to drink another lager today I might just pick this one up. The rye is spicy and gives a nice bit of rawness to the brew. The citrus and other fruit once in a while peaks it’s way through the rye. The beer finishes off with a slight hop bitterness that sits on the tongue. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, slick, and low carbonation. Goes down very easy.

Can thanks to brother. Pours dark orange with beige head. Aroma is earthywith hints of toasted grain and some floral. Flavor is toasted grain, some earth and pine, dry finish. Medium Body with high carbonation. Overall, I was a bit disappointed because it was so dry...

Had this at SurlyFest and it is one of my favorite fall beers now. Has a nice deep amber color and an extremely drinkable bitterness/taste.

Can thanks to motortoddhead. Deep orange. Good kick of floral/pine hops in the nose followed by a solid Munich/fruity malt backbone. Soft toasted malt, some grain, light fruit, and round, even hopping to balance. Slightly dry finish. If anything, can pick up a little of the rye spice in the finish, or may just be the hops. Flavor forgoes the sugar/caramel aspects that make other Oktoberfests so terrible - thank you for that Surly. A touch thin for my liking, but highly session-able. Another solid brew!

What can I say? It’s a good Marzen but I just don’t get into this style. If I had to drink a Marzen, though, it’d probably be this, though.......a bit better mouthfeel and smoother than some others. But what do I know?

Pour from a can into a tulip not a stein. Aroma is caramel, bread, and spicy german hops. Taste is very crisp and clean with a perfectly hoppy dry finish. Really great work on this.

Tall boy, great malty flavors, tons of saaz. These guys really nail the German styles. They are flawless