Surly Three

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

Serve in Snifter

Sampled this at ABR this fall. A nice beer, but not on par with the rest of Surly’s beer.

Autumn Brew Review 2011. Outstanding! The only anniversary I missed the first time around! Dark red color with a medium head. Strong, monster honey aroma. Not really picking up the notes the clover honey gives off, just like you had popped the top on a glass of high quality clover honey, and it happened to be boozy. And that carries over quite nicely to the flavor. Light malt and fruitiness show up. Solid caramel character.

GTMW. Brown in color. Sweet/roasty/spicy aroma. Sweet brown sugar, roasted malt, caramelized/candied sugars, hint of smoke. Almost a touch of sour/tartness at the end that combined with the other flavors almost gives it BBQ sauce flavor. Tasty.

On tap at the Bavarian Lodge in Lisle, IL. A: Very dark with a deep tan head and plenty of lacing. S: Lots of sweetness with both dark and ripe fruits; some dried raisins and a honey sweetness. T: Over the top sweetness with honey, raisins, and other fruits coming to the fore. M: Medium bodied and quite creamy; mild hints of alcohol throughout. D: Not terribly drinkable, but this was my first of the style and I imagine most of them are this way. Serving type: on-tap Reviewed on: 10-01-2009

Draft. 2 year old keg at Common Roots on 10/27/10. Poued into a pint glass a dark brown rust color with a light tan 2 finger head that slowly recedes. Sweet fruit aromas waft from the nose like cinnamon apples and cider. Medium mouthfeel. Very, very sweet! The honey is very evident in the taste along with apple and fig fruit flavors. Almost mead like in taste. Nice lace as I drink this one down. Overall, very enjoyable but pretty sweet so if you don’t like sweet beer, I would stay away from this one.

Sampled from the tap at the 2010 GTMW. Poured a hazy dark brown with a gray brown head that was thin and dissipated quickly to the edges. Aroma was a combination of dark grain and honey with a hint of underlying dark chocolate. Flavor was similar with a combination of dark roasted grains and honey throughout with a bit of chocolate.

UPDATED: MAR 2, 2010 On draft at Sheffield’s. Due to poor lighting, it is difficult to get a good grasp on what I am seeing, but I think that it looks like a cloudy dark brown almost black color. As I drink more, I can see that there is a red tint to the beer. The head is minimal and off white. The initial aroma is of light caramel malt. There is a fruitiness as well, let’s call it prune juice-like. It also smells slightly sour. As far as flavor is concerned, I have never tasted anything like this before. It starts off like a very malty but friendly amber ale. On the middle palate, this beer really shows off how big it is, coating my whole mouth while chocolate notes come through. On the back of the palate the sour fruit flavors kick in and stick around for quite a while on the finish. As mentioned, this is a big oily coating beer with lighter carbonation. Overall, this is an extremely unique beer with great balance and drinkability. The complexity is not huge, but I still love it.

Milk chocolate aromas with a light smokiness. Dark brown colors. Sweet malty and candied sugars with some woodiness and brown sugar. Medium rich palate with a caramel duration. Good.