Surly Three

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

Serve in Snifter

Draft at Bavarian Lodge, Lisle. I wasn’t feeling well this day, but just the smell of this nectar made me feel better right away. Belgian-type smell of dark, but not bitter malts, and golden honey. Solid black color, with a slowly dwindling, creamy tan head. Taste is just amazing: the honey sweetness of a mead with chewy malt mouthfeel of a schartzbier of Belgian black wit. Yes, some vanilla, a bit of cinnamon, wood and then way in the back is some tart orange. And that lovely honey. Yes, I’m probably over-rating this, but this just exactly was what I needed when I’m feeling poorly. The country needs more braggots! And this site needs to give it its own category!

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.

Tap at ACBF. My first braggot, and honestly I didn’t know what a braggot was when having it, other than it was classified as mead on here. Aroma of decadent pastries with lots of blackberry and black currant filling, also prunes, earth, lots of dark fruit skins. Flavor an onslaught of sweetness, but very sip-able sweetness, addicting honey, nectar and pastry sweetness with lots of ripe fruits. Tantalizingly luscious, very glad I got the chance to try this.

On tap at Sheffield’s. Pours dark reddish-brown with a lingering tan head. Smells great- bourbon, honey, cherries. Caramel malt is more prevalent in the taste.

UPDATED: MAR 22, 2009 Draft at Kuma’s Corner. First of all, a black braggot. Just to throw that out there. Pours a great black with a brown head. Nose is honey, interlaced with nuts and chocolate. On taste, distinct honey/mead notes bolstered by a huge malt background. Bitter and floral, honey. Nutmeg and cinnamon comes through as well. Taste is very smooth and clean and couples very nicely with somewhat tangy chocolate note. Melds together flawlessly. Definitely, the malts come through. For as black as it is, minimal roastiness. Very drinkable and clean. Excellent anniversary beverage!

on tap at the Maproom. pours black with khaki head. nose of sweet honey, malty, currants, beerys, vanilla, and oak. flavors of sweet honey, raisins, very mild roast, caramelized malts, port wine, and vanilla. lots going on with this and i think it somehow works very well. i can’t believe it is 10% braggot cuz it drinks like a 7% porter. a really enjoyable combination of honey and carmelized malt that never get too sweet or syrupy.

draft at maproom. this was pretty crazy because i didn’t get a description at first. so i thought it smelled like fruit, chocolate, sweet, and alcohol, and i kinda wondered if it was a blend of 3 beers perhaps (in fact, i later saw that the maproom describes it as an american strong ale). but theni saw on my phone that it’s listed as a mead here, and that made it make a lot more sense. uber honeyed, uber sweet, a little bit of nuts and bourbon, perhaps. still fruity. really delicious.

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.