Surly Two

pour is opaque black with a nonexistant tan head....smell is lightly tart but sweet with cocoa still....nice chocolate covered cherry flavor (I didn’t know it was cranberry until after the fact)....tart and sweet with a nice bittersweet cocoa finish

From the tap and served in a snifter: Good looking, a deep mahogany body with a dense tan head that hung around for the duration. The aroma was tart with a fruitiness that I didn’t readily identify as cranberry (although I drink the juice at least once a day), had some roasty malts, and a woody/fruit stone bitterness. The bitterness intensified somewhat during the drinking, but so did the fruity funkiness and now smoky malt flavors. It finished on a bitter, sour note, somewhat dry. Good stuff.

<font size=-4>Lunar Brewing Company, Villa Park, IL<font size=-1>

On tap at Clark Street. Pours black with spotty tan head and nice lacing. Smell is odd and doesn’t seem to mesh well between the fruitiness and roastiness. Somewhat tart and strange from the cranberries. Taste is roasty and fruity with a medium body and light carbonation, but for some reason the sourness of the fruit didn’t seem to work with the roasty malt to my liking.

@ Arborfest, draft Dry cranberry aroma, dark brown and opaque color. Sour on the tongue. Definitely taste the cranberries, but not overwhelmed. Good brew, although not to my liking.

At the Maproom. Fruit and chocolate sharpness in the aroma. Plum, perfume, cream, sweet cigar tobacco, and peach scents. The aroma becomes quite sweet upon multiple sniffs. I do smell the cranberries, but I don’t necessarily smell them as cranberries. Pours an opaque dark brown with a moderate to large amount of peach-tan head. The head is soft in both color and texture, and it contains large bubbles. Produces pleasant, extensive lacing. The initial taste comes as an overwhelming but delicious cranberry explosion. It’s like unsweetened, concentrated cranberry juice, slightly sour and remarkably tart and tangy. Not my kinda beer!