Surly Two

Formerly brewed at Surly Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

Serve in Flute

[Tap] at Pigfoot’s 40th birthday party at the Blue Nile. Pours deep, deep brown with a medium tan head of fairly fine bubbles. Aroma is a little tart, malty but difficult to nail down a base style. Not a whole lot of hops in the nose, but the cranberries really come through, especially as it warms. Flavor is a bit sweet and malty, with the cranberries really coming through towards the middle and end. Somewhat of a lasting tartness from the cranberries. The biggest disappointment was the thin mouthfeel, but otherwise a decent beer.

Bottle shared with Doc, Not to be rude: Pours a very deep brown with a thin white head. Aroma is of tart cranberry and an undertone of cranberry. Taste is tart with cranberry, with slight tastes or carmel and choclate. Finish is very tart.

In short: Simplistic syrupy black ale of some kind
How: Tap at Clark Street Ale House (Chicago)
The look: Black body toped by a small beige ring of foam
In long: A big syrupy. The truckload of cranberries and black roasted malts turn into a sticky black liquorice flavour. So much so that the cranberries were not even the dominant flavour. Mainly I had an overall impression of a fruity tar. No complexity, not subtlety. Where are the hops? Finish is burnt rubber. Just a big brutal syrupy beer. Surly Two much for its own good.

On tap: Black in color with almost no head though there is a bunch of extremely fine bubbles when swirled. Aromas were of semi-sweet chocolate, roasted malt, tart red fruit and vanilla. In the mouth the cranberries really show themselves along with the roasted malt. The palate is very well-balanced with good weight and wondeful acidity, likely due to the abundance of cranberries. A very nice transition beer from the heavy winter beers to the crisp summer ones on the way.

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><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? 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.